Florida Senate - 2019                                     SB 436
       
       
        
       By Senator Hooper
       
       
       
       
       
       16-00829A-19                                           2019436__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to use of vessel registration fees;
    3         amending s. 328.66, F.S.; authorizing a portion of
    4         county or municipal vessel registration fees to be
    5         used for specified additional purposes; providing an
    6         effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 328.66, Florida
   11  Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         328.66 County and municipality optional registration fee.—
   13         (1) A Any county may impose an annual registration fee on
   14  vessels registered, operated, used, or stored on the waters of
   15  this state within its jurisdiction. This fee shall be 50 percent
   16  of the applicable state registration fee as provided in s.
   17  328.72(1) and not the reduced vessel registration fee specified
   18  in s. 328.72(18). However, the first $1 of every registration
   19  fee imposed under this subsection shall be remitted to the state
   20  for deposit in the Save the Manatee Trust Fund created within
   21  the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and shall be used
   22  only for the purposes specified in s. 379.2431(4). All other
   23  moneys received from such fee shall be expended for the patrol,
   24  regulation, and maintenance of the lakes, rivers, and waters and
   25  for other boating-related activities of such municipality or
   26  county, which may include channel and other navigational
   27  dredging, the construction, expansion, or maintenance of public
   28  boat ramps and other public water access facilities, and
   29  associated engineering and permitting costs. A municipality that
   30  was imposing a registration fee before April 1, 1984, may
   31  continue to levy such fee, notwithstanding the provisions of
   32  this section.
   33         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.