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.