                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

BOATING SAFETY EDUCATION REQUIRED; BOARD TO PROMULGATE REGULATIONS (§
29.1-735.2)

A. No person shall operate a motorboat with a motor of 10 horsepower or greater
or personal watercraft on the public waters of the Commonwealth, unless the
operator has met the requirements for boating safety education in accordance
with the age provisions established in subsection D.

B. A person shall be considered in compliance with the requirements for boating
safety education if the person meets one of the following:

   1. Completes and passes a boating safety course approved by the National
   Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) and accepted by the
   Department;

   2. Passes a proctored equivalency examination that tests the knowledge of
   information included in the curriculum of an approved course;

   3. Possesses a valid license to operate a vessel issued to maritime personnel
   by the United States Coast Guard or a marine certificate issued by the
   Canadian government;

   4. Possesses a state-approved nonrenewable temporary operator&#8217;s
   certificate to operate a motorboat for 90 days that was issued with the
   certificate of number for the motorboat, if the boat is new or was sold with a
   transfer of ownership;

   5. Possesses a rental or lease agreement from a motorboat rental or leasing
   business, which lists the person as the authorized operator of the motorboat;

   6. Operates the motorboat under onboard direct supervision of a person who
   meets the requirements of this section;

   7. Demonstrates that he is not a resident, is temporarily using the waters of
   Virginia for a period not to exceed 90 days, and meets any applicable boating
   safety education requirements of the state of residency, or possesses a
   Canadian Pleasure Craft Operator&#8217;s Card;

   8. Has assumed operation of the motorboat due to the illness or physical
   impairment of the initial operator, and is returning the motorboat to shore in
   order to provide assistance or care for the operator;

   9. Is registered as a commercial fisherman pursuant to &#xA7; 28.2-241 or a
   person who is under the onboard direct supervision of the commercial fisherman
   while operating the commercial fisherman&#8217;s boat;

   10. Provides documentation that he is serving or has qualified as a surface
   warfare officer or enlisted surface warfare specialist in the United States
   Navy; or

   11. Provides documentation that he is serving or has qualified as an Officer
   of the Deck Underway, boat coxswain, boat officer, boat operator, watercraft
   operator, or Marine Deck Officer in any branch of the Armed Forces of the
   United States, United States Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine.

C. The Board shall promulgate regulations by July 1, 2008, to implement a
boating safety education program for all motorboat and personal watercraft
operators to meet boating safety education requirements.

D. Such regulations shall include provisions that phase-in the requirements for
boating safety education according to the following:

   1. Personal watercraft operators 20 years of age or younger to meet the
   requirements by July 1, 2009;

   2. Personal watercraft operators 35 years of age or younger to meet the
   requirements by July 1, 2010;

   3. Personal watercraft operators 50 years of age or younger to meet the
   requirements by July 1, 2011;

   4. All personal watercraft operators, regardless of age, to meet the
   requirements by July 1, 2012;

   5. Motorboat operators 20 years of age or younger to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2011;

   6. Motorboat operators 30 years of age or younger to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2012;

   7. Motorboat operators 40 years of age or younger to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2013;

   8. Motorboat operators 45 years of age or younger to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2014;

   9. Motorboat operators 50 years of age or younger to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2015; and

   10. All motorboat operators, regardless of age, to meet the requirements by
   July 1, 2016.

E. Such regulations may include, but not be limited to, provisions for
compliance, statewide availability of NASBLA-approved courses including through
the Internet, the issuance of certificates to document successful course
completion, duplicate certificates, recordkeeping, requirements for course
providers, instructor certification, student name and address changes,
equivalency exam criteria, provisions for an open-book test for classroom based
courses, requirements for motorboat rental and leasing businesses, issuance of a
temporary operator&#8217;s certificate, and the establishment of fees (not to
exceed the cost of giving such instruction for each person participating in and
receiving the instruction) for boating safety courses and certificates.

F. The Board shall consult and coordinate with the boating public, professional
organizations for recreational boating safety, and the boating retail, leasing,
and dealer business community in the promulgation of such regulations.

G. The Department shall, by July 1, 2018, establish and thereafter shall
maintain a database listing every person who, at any time prior to that date,
has completed and passed a boating safety course pursuant to subdivision B 1.
The database shall list each person&#8217;s full name and date of birth and the
date on which he passed the safety course, and it shall allow any person who
completes and passes the course after July 1, 2018, to add his own information.
The Department shall make the database available to law-enforcement officers
and, to the extent possible or appropriate, shall maintain the confidentiality
of information in the database.

H. Any person who operates a motorboat on the waters of the Commonwealth shall,
upon the request of a law-enforcement officer, present to the officer evidence
in physical or electronic form that he has complied with subsection B. The
law-enforcement officer shall not issue a citation until he has checked the
boating safety course passage database created pursuant to subsection G. The
listing of the operator in such database shall constitute satisfactory evidence
that he has complied with subsection B.

I. Any person who violates any provision of this section or any regulation
promulgated hereunder shall be subject to a civil penalty of $100. All civil
penalties assessed under this section shall be deposited in the Motorboat and
Water Safety Fund of the Game Protection Fund and used as provided for in &#xA7;
29.1-701.

J. The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers
while they are engaged in the performance of their official duties.

HISTORY: 2007, cc. 615, 732; 2013, c. 48; 2015, c. 160; 2017, c. 360.