Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Derelict Vessels Registration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sponsor seeks to remove duplicative DMV registration for CFEC-registered commercial vessels; bill would repeal derelict vessel fund
Summary
House Bill 31 would exempt U.S. Coast Guard-documented commercial vessels with CFEC licenses from separate three-year DMV registration, and would repeal the Derelict Vessel Prevention Program Fund and transfer $1,670,000 to the general fund. Committee members pressed state agencies about cleanup activity and fund use.
Representative Louise Stutes told the Senate Transportation Committee on April 27 that House Bill 31 would eliminate duplicative registration for commercial fishing vessels and repeal the Derelict Vessel Prevention Program Fund created in the 2018 derelict-vessel legislation.
“For the record, I’m Louise Stutes representing House District 5,” Stutes said. “House bill 31 would remove duplicative registration requirements, which were created by the passage of senate bill 92, the derelict vessel bill in 02/2018.” She told the committee the bill would remove the requirement that U.S. Coast Guard-documented vessels holding current Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission licenses register every three years with the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Stutes said the CFEC annual licensure already provides publicly accessible ownership and contact information, so requiring a separate DMV registration “only to provide information that the state already has” is redundant. The bill would also repeal the Derelict Vessel Prevention Program Fund and transfer $1,670,000 from that fund to the state general fund.
Stakeholders from the fishing community supported the change. Nels Evans, executive director and UFA statewide committee co-chair, said HB 31 “will remove a layer of duplicative registration on commercial fishermen” and described the current requirement as confusing for fishermen and DMV offices. Jerry McCune of Cordova District Fishermen United said the exemption would “save us a lot of time for fishermen.”
Committee members pressed state officials on derelict-vessel cleanup activity and use of the fund. Aaron Timmian, natural resource specialist with the Department of Natural Resources Division of Mining, Land and Water, told members that the department has “directly paid for to remove, I believe that number would only be, 2 vessels out of our our operating fund over the last 3 years,” and said he could provide more complete numbers to the committee upon request. Senator Sedman and others expressed concern that communities shoulder costs when vessels sink or become derelict in local harbors.
The committee set House Bill 31 aside for a future meeting and asked agencies to follow up with requested information, including a more complete accounting of recent removals and examples raised by members. The transcript records no committee vote on the bill; staff directed stakeholders to work with the sponsor and committee chair on possible amendments ahead of a future hearing.
