By Greenberg H.B. No. 1151
75R3195 KKA-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation of personal watercraft.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 31.106(a), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) No person shall operate a personal watercraft in the
1-7 following manner or under the following circumstances:
1-8 (1) unless each person riding on or towed behind the
1-9 vessel is wearing a U.S. Coast Guard approved Type I, II, III, or V
1-10 personal flotation device;
1-11 (2) if the vessel is equipped by the manufacturer with
1-12 a lanyard type engine cutoff switch, unless such lanyard is
1-13 attached to the person, clothing, or personal flotation device of
1-14 the operator as appropriate for the vessel involved;
1-15 (3) during the period between sunset and sunrise;
1-16 (4) within 50 feet of any other vessel, person,
1-17 stationary platform or other object, or shore, [except another
1-18 personal watercraft, or] except at headway speed;
1-19 (5) if the operator is under 16 [13] years of age,
1-20 unless the operator:
1-21 (A) is accompanied by a person at least 18 [17]
1-22 years of age; or
1-23 (B) is at least 13 years of age and [the
1-24 operator] has successfully completed a boating safety course
2-1 prescribed and approved by the department;
2-2 (6) if the personal watercraft is a motorboat, within
2-3 any area prohibited for operation of a motorboat by state law or
2-4 local rule or regulation;
2-5 (7) while towing water skis, an aquaplane, a
2-6 surfboard, a tube, or any other similar device, unless the towing
2-7 vessel is designed to carry on board a minimum of two persons;
2-8 (8) by jumping the wake of another vessel recklessly
2-9 or unnecessarily close to that vessel; or
2-10 (9) in a manner that requires the operator to swerve
2-11 at the last possible moment to avoid collision.
2-12 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-13 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.