Heads Up Alaska Boats

A new law took effect yesterday that no one knew about. If you are a USCG documented you must now go to an Alaska DMV office and register your your boat. In the past if you were a documented boat, no registration needed. No longer. The new Derelict Act requires all boats that are documented to register which means all tugs, commercial fishing etc.

So here I sit in the Sitka DMV. I am number 18, one person behind the counter and she is on number 8....

Say WHAAAATTT???? Could you please post a URL reference to this "law"? And by "law", I presume you mean an Alaskan State law? And who is enforcing this "law"?

Regards,

Pete

Here is the news story. I will find the actual law.

https://www.adn.com/business-econom...mv-gauntlet-for-thousands-of-alaska-mariners/

Here is the link to the actual law.

http://doa.alaska.gov/dmv/reg/boat.htm

It actually took effect Jan 1. As far as summer pleasure craft are concerned, no one in the state is taking names of who is here and when they got here. Not an easy thing to enforce unless Harbormasters enter the fray and report to the state out of state documented vessels. This is the case of a law that should have a sunset provision if it doesn’t help removal of abandoned vessels.

According to the link ...

Exemptions:

• 
  Registered elsewhere

That should cover most visiting boats.

I was speaking in terms of boats here longer than 90 days. A lot of the fishing vessels from the NW are here longer than 90 days as are a few pleasure boats.

So those darn Alaska politicians have followed up on other states registration requirements. And since you and Kay are technically Alaskan residents, LOL, you gotta pay the Man!
Have fun in that DMV line!

No way to do it on line for initial registration so yes you have to stand in line. Next, if you live in two different places, the instructions on the renewal notice say do not forward the renewal notice or the new stickers. So don't renew if you are forwarding mail from the registration address to a different address, you won't get the notice, but you might get a card after it expires saying it seems you have moved, please go change you address at DMV. You can't just do a single address change, you have to one for each vehicle, trailer, boat, ATV, snow machine, etc you have registered at DMV.

Our state is not backwards, it just seems to be. The legislature can't decide where to meet in special session, the governor just wacked $440M out of the legislature's budget, and oil production is down. But it has been sunny and warm (hot) in SE for the last week and the neighbor's at the dock at Thorne Bay were inside taking advantage of their air conditioner.

tpbrady said:

I was speaking in terms of boats here longer than 90 days. A lot of the fishing vessels from the NW are here longer than 90 days as are a few pleasure boats.

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Troopers are walking the docks in Sitka issuing warning tickets Yachtie's and commercial fish alike. The main fishing season opens up on Monday morning and many are delaying departure due to this. It was the harbor masters and marina associations that pushed for this law. Hardly anyone even knew the law had changed.

I would feel better if:

1. Money collected would go into a specific account for use on only derelict vessels. However, the money is being sent to the "General Fund" where the dirty politicians will get their grubby hands on it.

2. The DMV should have been ready. The rollout for this program was very poorly implemented.

Crusty Chief said:

So those darn Alaska politicians have followed up on other states registration requirements. And since you and Kay are technically Alaskan residents, LOL, you gotta pay the Man!
Have fun in that DMV line!

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So you would think the State would anticipate a crowd. Not in Sitka. One person overwhelmed. What did the crowd do? Everyone was friendly. We all chipped in to get her lunch. I waited for over 4 hours.

tpbrady said:

But it has been sunny and warm (hot) in SE for the last week and the neighbor's at the dock at Thorne Bay were inside taking advantage of their air conditioner.

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Guilty as charged TP. Had a nice driving trip to Coffman Cove, Klawok and Craig yesterday. Nice to catch up with Thorne Bay friends. Too bad Eric isn't still here. This is a great place.

ASD,

Wait till the local store runs out of numbers. If the fishermen in Sitka want to complain, Bert Stedman is their senator. I don't know whether he followed the Governor's call to meet in Wasilla or the Alaska House call to meet in Juneau. For all I know he might be at his cabin in Rodman Bay waiting for the troopers to arrest him and take him to Wasilla. However the troopers seem to be busy in Sitka at the time.

Tom

This is the first I’ve heard about this.

No documented vessel in seward also has Alaska tags yet

Well you AK'ers just caught up with WA. We've had to register documented boats for years. Seems the politicians here are as bad as elsewhere; they don't know how to limit spending, only know how to find new ways to ding their constituents for more tax money.


Call it registration, call it tax, it's all the same.

What's bad is Sitka is the training center/academy for the State Troopers which include Fish and Game LEOs.

I did write my state senator and representative, along with the new governor.

Somewhat more lenient than Washington. You are exempt if registered elsewhere and not operated more than 90 consecutive days "on the water of the state". Leave for a day and you've broken the consecutive days. That is more like BC where you are allowed 12 months, but leaving for a day resets the calendar. Washington has a 60 day rule, after which you must leave for the rest of the year.

Hi Alaskan Sea-Duction,

I'd appreciate some clarification of your statement that "Troopers are walking the docks in Sitka writing warning tickets (to) yachties and commercial fish alike..." Unless I miss-understand the regulation, you need not register your documented vessel in AK until you have been in-State more than 90 days.

So are the Troopers issuing these warning tickets to ALL, or just those that can't demonstrate their compliance (presumably with a Customs clearance number and associated date, or log entry, or???) with the 90-day exemption?

And what the heck is a "warning ticket"?

Regards,

Pete

Florida has been doing the same thing for years. You don't have to put registration numbers on the boat, just display the sticker that you've contributed to the state coffers. Just under $200 for "Slow Hand " per year.

Ted

jungpeter said:

Hi Alaskan Sea-Duction,

I'd appreciate some clarification of your statement that "Troopers are walking the docks in Sitka writing warning tickets (to) yachties and commercial fish alike..." Unless I miss-understand the regulation, you need not register your documented vessel in AK until you have been in-State more than 90 days.

So are the Troopers issuing these warning tickets to ALL, or just those that can't demonstrate their compliance (presumably with a Customs clearance number and associated date, or log entry, or???) with the 90-day exemption?

And what the heck is a "warning ticket"?

Regards,

Pete

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Well Sitka is the training center for Alaska State Troopers. I believe they were on the docks as part of a education process. If the stern of you boat has Sitka Alaska or another Alaskan town they seemed to zero on that. Then the whole thing spread like wild fire here on the docks.

I'd criticize the state and the press. It was a January 1 law and they allowed until June 30 or July 1 before enforcement, but no one knew. Normally that sort of thing gets all sorts of press and everyone then whining and posting on forums and everyone knows.

BandB said:

I'd criticize the state and the press. It was a January 1 law and they allowed until June 30 or July 1 before enforcement, but no one knew. Normally that sort of thing gets all sorts of press and everyone then whining and posting on forums and everyone knows.

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God point.

When entering AK by water through Ketchikan CBT does not automatically provide an entry number. In fact they have told us we don’t need one. Just like entering by air into US or cruise ship.

Better keep a good log book to show the AK Troopers.

Louisiana has the registration law for documented boats too, $75 for 2 or 3 years, can’t remember. No state numbers needed on the bow, just the sticker on starboard/port windows.

Gulf Comanche said:

Louisiana has the registration law for documented boats too, $75 for 2 or 3 years, can’t remember. No state numbers needed on the bow, just the sticker on starboard/port windows.

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You cannot put state numbers on the bow of a documented vessel in any state, only stickers allowed.

At the time I went through this baloney with Louisiana (2011?) The state required the sticker to be displayed with the #. Violation to display sticker alone. I just pay my $ and throw the sticker, envelope and all, in the boats document binder.

Alaska does seem to be an interesting state.

$24 for 3 years of registration? I bet that barely covers the state’s cost to administer the program.

Isn’t Alaska raising taxes so they can continue to give its residents their annual oil money rebate?

dhays said:

Alaska does seem to be an interesting state.

$24 for 3 years of registration? I bet that barely covers the state’s cost to administer the program.

Isn’t Alaska raising taxes so they can continue to give its residents their annual oil money rebate?

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We do not have taxes in Alaska. No corporate tax, no personal tax.

Right now we are trying to get the oil money back that the last governor stole from the people.

Back when they started producing oil, a portion of the original money received was put into a fund we call the “permanent fund” as a savings account, not for government operations, but to be paid out annually to the people that live here.

Our last governor stole some of that money, to fund ever increasing state government and the new governor is working hard to give it back.

ksanders said:

We do not have taxes in Alaska. No corporate tax, no personal tax.

Right now we are trying to get the oil money back that the last governor stole from the people.

Back when they started producing oil, a portion of the original money received was put into a fund we call the “permanent fund” as a savings account, not for government operations, but to be paid out annually to the people that live here.

Our last governor stole some of that money, to fund ever increasing state government and the new governor is working hard to give it back.

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Just keep cutting out State government services until the petroleum revenues continue to cover it.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well Sitka is the training center for Alaska State Troopers. I believe they were on the docks as part of a education process. If the stern of you boat has Sitka Alaska or another Alaskan town they seemed to zero on that. Then the whole thing spread like wild fire here on the docks.

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Ann's stern:

dhays said:

Alaska does seem to be an interesting state.

$24 for 3 years of registration? I bet that barely covers the state’s cost to administer the program.

Isn’t Alaska raising taxes so they can continue to give its residents their annual oil money rebate?

Click to expand...

There are two taxpayers in Alaska. Both are oil companies. Period. The fact that the price of crude is low, coupled with the fact that production is a small fraction of what it once was seems irrelevant. The current governor was elected on a promise to triple the unsustainable dividend. Those people will starve in the dark before they will tax themselves for an essential government service.

I'd like to tell you that I was prescient enough to leave before the crash, but it was much more mundane: My wife threatened to leave before one more Alaska winter.