This month, Florida Representative Jayer Williamson (District 3) and Senator Ed Hooper (District 16) introduced companion legislation in the state legislature to add powerful consumer protections to Florida’s existing boat titling requirements – improvements that were welcomed by the recreational boating industry. The legislation is supported by NMMA, the National Association of Boating Law Administrators, BoatUS and other boating interests.

Strong, uniform titling laws provide critical protections to the entire boating community – including consumers, dealers, and manufacturers. They require a special alert be added to the titles of totaled or substantively damaged vessels, letting potential buyers know the boat has a checkered history. Reducing the number of inferior products on the market also incentivizes banks and insurance companies to issue more loans and policies, often improving access to reasonable financing and insurance options for consumers.

This legislation also would align Florida’s titling law with uniform language being adopted by other states, which will make it easier to transfer boat ownership across state lines, resolve disputes and other key protections already found in car titling laws but often lacking in marine applications. NMMA and other advocates for the boating industry support the adoption of the uniform language to replace the often mismatched requires between the states. Both of the Florida bills will achieve these objectives.

NMMA thanks Representative Williamson and Senator Hooper for their leadership on this issue and will provide updates as the bills advance. For more information, please contact NMMA vice president of state government relations, David Dickerson at ddickerson@nmma.org or NMMA director of state government relations, Libby Yranski at lyranski@nmma.org.