House backs discounts on boat registrations

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The House on Thursday approved expansion of a registration-fee discount that several hundred recreational boaters in Florida have used.

House members voted 116-0 to support the proposal (HB 711), which addresses discounts for boaters who own certain locator beacons.

Recommended Videos



An identical bill (SB 718) awaits a final vote in Senate.

Under the bill, the annual fee for boats between 12 and 16 feet would drop from $13.77 to $11; for boats between 16 and 26 feet, the fee would go from $24.83 to $20.40; and for boats between 26 feet and 40 feet, the fee would fall from $68.56 to $57.50.

The discount was created last year in reaction to the disappearance of Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, two 14-year-olds from Tequesta, who went missing in July 2015 after steering a 19-foot boat out of the Jupiter Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.

The discount, set up for people who have or buy emergency position indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, devices, also would be made permanent through this year's proposal.

The state's Revenue Estimating Conference in March projected the fee discount would result in an "insignificant negative recurring fiscal impact" to the state's general revenue fund, noting that fewer than 800 boaters are projected to take advantage of the discount in the current fiscal year.