SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jet skis are one of many watercraft that Doug Byrd rents out at Bada Bing Water Sports in downtown St. Pete.
But he fears that a new Florida law that goes into effect on Jan. 1 could cripple the entire boat rental industry.
"I don’t even think they understand the magnitude of what it is they’re trying to do," said Byrd.
He’s referring to the Boater Safety Act, that’s intended to make boating and jet skiing safer.
The massive bill forces boat rental companies to carry insurance on their vessels “and the renter.”
Three little words that most insurance companies say creates too much risk, and they refuse to cover them.
"They basically want to put us all out of business," said Byrd.
Peggy Mathews is with the American Watercraft Association. She lobbies for boaters in Florida.
"It was one of those things, unintentional consequences happen all the time in legislation, it's not a unique occurrence, and then you fix it in the next session," said Mathews.
Mathews said lawmakers are on board with changing the language of the bill next session by removing the renter part, but it likely won’t take effect until early summer.
It's something that makes Byrd uneasy.
"I’m nervous. What do I tell my employees? If FWC decides to enforce this, people are not going to be going out on jet skis, not going out on the water. It's the end of our water industry," said Byrd.
FWC said they will take an educational approach to enforcement for the first six months of 2023 until legislators are able to fix the language of the bill. In the meantime, they’re issuing a Marine Enforcement Alert to bridge the gap for insurance companies.
"Right now, it's up to FWC to get that language finalized and make it strong enough to give the insurance companies confidence that they can continue to write language for the boat rental companies until then," said Mathews.
