No, we didn't go "red", :-)

We have just passed a law that will help discourage the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a boat.

From today's e-mail:

Good morning WAMBE:
At approximately 11 AM this Saturday morning SSB-5145 was finally
passed by the Washington State Senate, as Amended by the House. The
Bill is on the way to the Governors desk for her signature. HOORAY.

As Rick Rizz of the Mariners would say, the "Happy Totals" are below.

Have a great weekend everybody and thanks again for all of your
support. We did it! (Totals Below)
-David Kutz
Secretary, WAMBE
President, Recreational Boating Association of Washington
-------------------------------------
SSB 5145
Senate vote on Final Passage as Amended by the House
4/16/2005

Yeas: 28 Nays: 13 Absent: 1 Excused: 7
Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Deccio, Eide, Esser, Fairley, Finkbeiner,
Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kline,
Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McCaslin, Pflug, Poulsen, Pridemore, Rasmussen,
Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Swecker, Thibaudeau, and Weinstein.

Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Hargrove, Hewitt, Honeyford,
Morton, Parlette, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Wyss, and
Zarelli.

Absent: Senator Carrell.
Excused: Senators Brown, Delvin, Doumit, Mulliken, Oke, Prentice, and
Schmidt.

Why do you think it will remove the "the totally and dangerously ignorant
from operating a boat"? Licensing has not stopped the the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a car.
Bill

wrote in message
ups.com...
No, we didn't go "red", :-)

We have just passed a law that will help discourage the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a boat.

From today's e-mail:

Good morning WAMBE:
At approximately 11 AM this Saturday morning SSB-5145 was finally
passed by the Washington State Senate, as Amended by the House. The
Bill is on the way to the Governors desk for her signature. HOORAY.

As Rick Rizz of the Mariners would say, the "Happy Totals" are below.

Have a great weekend everybody and thanks again for all of your
support. We did it! (Totals Below)
-David Kutz
Secretary, WAMBE
President, Recreational Boating Association of Washington
-------------------------------------
SSB 5145
Senate vote on Final Passage as Amended by the House
4/16/2005

Yeas: 28 Nays: 13 Absent: 1 Excused: 7
Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Deccio, Eide, Esser, Fairley, Finkbeiner,
Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kline,
Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McCaslin, Pflug, Poulsen, Pridemore, Rasmussen,
Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Swecker, Thibaudeau, and Weinstein.

Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Hargrove, Hewitt, Honeyford,
Morton, Parlette, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Wyss, and
Zarelli.

Absent: Senator Carrell.
Excused: Senators Brown, Delvin, Doumit, Mulliken, Oke, Prentice, and
Schmidt.

Shhhhh ...someone will find out it's just another tax!

Brian



"Bill McKee" wrote in message
ink.net...
Why do you think it will remove the "the totally and dangerously ignorant
from operating a boat"? Licensing has not stopped the the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a car.
Bill

wrote in message
ups.com...
No, we didn't go "red", :-)

We have just passed a law that will help discourage the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a boat.

From today's e-mail:

Good morning WAMBE:
At approximately 11 AM this Saturday morning SSB-5145 was finally
passed by the Washington State Senate, as Amended by the House. The
Bill is on the way to the Governors desk for her signature. HOORAY.

As Rick Rizz of the Mariners would say, the "Happy Totals" are below.

Have a great weekend everybody and thanks again for all of your
support. We did it! (Totals Below)
-David Kutz
Secretary, WAMBE
President, Recreational Boating Association of Washington
-------------------------------------
SSB 5145
Senate vote on Final Passage as Amended by the House
4/16/2005

Yeas: 28 Nays: 13 Absent: 1 Excused: 7
Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Deccio, Eide, Esser, Fairley, Finkbeiner,
Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kline,
Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, McCaslin, Pflug, Poulsen, Pridemore, Rasmussen,
Regala, Rockefeller, Shin, Spanel, Swecker, Thibaudeau, and Weinstein.

Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Brandland, Hargrove, Hewitt, Honeyford,
Morton, Parlette, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Wyss, and
Zarelli.

Absent: Senator Carrell.
Excused: Senators Brown, Delvin, Doumit, Mulliken, Oke, Prentice, and
Schmidt.

On 16 Apr 2005 20:53:10 -0700, wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

We have just passed a law that will help discourage the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a boat.

The real question is, much like Connecticut, is enforcement.

And not just on Memorial Day, 4th of July or Labor Day weekends
either.

Later,

Tom

Bill McKee asked:

Why do you think it will remove the "the totally and dangerously
ignorant
from operating a boat"? Licensing has not stopped the the totally and
dangerously ignorant from operating a car.
Bill


*************

Let's begin by correcting your misquote. I never said it would "remove"
the totally and dangerously ignorant from operating a boat. The correct
word was "discourage".

The new regulation is not a license, so it's hard to find a similarity
to the driver's license argument on that basis. The regulation requires
that people either attend a USCG Aux or Power Squadron course or pass
an equivalency exam and carry a card demonstrating that they have done
so. The law sets the fee for the card at $10, and unless a boater loses
his or her card and needs to order a replacement that $10 is the total
lifetime expense.

Now lets look at your driver's license argument a little more closely.
Let's imagine that all one needed to do to operate an automobile on a
public street was to be able to afford to buy or rent one. Period.
Let's pretend that nobody had to know what yielding the right of way
meant, or how and when it was done. Let's pretend that nobody had to
know what red, yellow, or green lights meant or exactly what to do at a
stop sign. Sure some people would know, but the absence of any official
requirement mandating that same basic type of knowledge would increase-
not decrease, the number of clueless drivers.

The worst scofflaws will, of course, ignore the new regulation. Just as
the worst scofflaws ignore most regulations. The Boating Education bill
will be effective because it will motivate the vast *majority* of
people, who really want to do the right thing, to get some education
early on in their boating years.

Regulations against murder and robbery haven't eliminated killers and
thieves, just as driver's licenses haven't eliminated traffic
accidents, seat belt laws haven't eliminated vehicular deaths and
injuries, and just as boater education won't eliminate all of the
idiocy on the water. In all cases, it is the reduction that makes the
exercise worthwhile. If the performance standard for a regulation were
100% elmination of dangerous or anti-social activity, we might then
just as well take the laws against murder and robbery off the books as
these activities continue and therefore the laws must be failing.

Shhhhh ...someone will find out it's just another tax!


Brian


*******

Yeah. A once-in-a-lifetime assessment of ten bucks.
Heck, I could buy a very short mooring line for the same money.
Probably drive most people right out of the sport.
What a shame.

The real question is, much like Connecticut, is enforcement.

And not just on Memorial Day, 4th of July or Labor Day weekends
either.


Later,


Tom


**************


Failure to carry the education card will be considered a "secondary"
infraction.

In other words, the authorities aren't going to stop you just to check
and see whether you have the required document. If you get stopped for
no running lights, doing 40 in a restricted speed zone, leaving a trail
of empty beer cans floating in your wake, or other primary infraction
the water cop will then ask for the education card. If the boater is
required to carry one, (those born before 1955 will never be required
to carry a card) and can't produce a card that will earn the boater an
additional ticket.

The boater education requirement will also inspire insurance companies
to insist that their
policy holders meet the mandatory state minimum education standards.

How do laws like this work when you come from another state? Unlike
driver's licenses, where every state requires one, the same isn't true of
for boats. I live in California and boat in Arizona and Neveda all of the
time. None of these three states have education laws as far as I know,
but I'm sure its not too far off.


wrote in news:1113750129.412844.114100
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The real question is, much like Connecticut, is enforcement.

And not just on Memorial Day, 4th of July or Labor Day weekends
either.


Later,


Tom


**************


Failure to carry the education card will be considered a "secondary"
infraction.

In other words, the authorities aren't going to stop you just to check
and see whether you have the required document. If you get stopped for
no running lights, doing 40 in a restricted speed zone, leaving a trail
of empty beer cans floating in your wake, or other primary infraction
the water cop will then ask for the education card. If the boater is
required to carry one, (those born before 1955 will never be required
to carry a card) and can't produce a card that will earn the boater an
additional ticket.

The boater education requirement will also inspire insurance companies
to insist that their
policy holders meet the mandatory state minimum education standards.

On 17 Apr 2005 08:02:09 -0700, wrote:

The real question is, much like Connecticut, is enforcement.

And not just on Memorial Day, 4th of July or Labor Day weekends
either.
**************

Failure to carry the education card will be considered a "secondary"
infraction.

In other words, the authorities aren't going to stop you just to check
and see whether you have the required document. If you get stopped for
no running lights, doing 40 in a restricted speed zone, leaving a trail
of empty beer cans floating in your wake, or other primary infraction
the water cop will then ask for the education card. If the boater is
required to carry one, (those born before 1955 will never be required
to carry a card) and can't produce a card that will earn the boater an
additional ticket.

That's the way it is supposed to work here too, but it doesn't. You
can give boater education classes and require licenses or certificates
until you are blue in the face - a jackass is a jackass regardless.
If you don't enforce the laws that are presented in the class, then
what's the point?

The boater education requirement will also inspire insurance companies
to insist that their
policy holders meet the mandatory state minimum education standards.

Right. That additional 3% goes a long way to pay for my gas and
maintenance bills. :)

Later,

Tom

That's the way it is supposed to work here too, but it doesn't. You
can give boater education classes and require licenses or certificates
until you are blue in the face - a jackass is a jackass regardless.
If you don't enforce the laws that are presented in the class, then
what's the point?

**************

Jackasses come in two basic varities. First is the deliberate jackass-
the guy who really does know better but insists on playing the craphead
anyway. Education won't do anything for the deliberate jackass. The
second is the ignorant jackass- the guy who isn't out to see what he
can screw up in the world, and would change his ways if he knew better.
Promoting boater education will reduce the number of ignorant
jackasses, and therefore make a dent in the total number.