EDITORIAL: New rule may cripple boat rentals

OUR POSITION: The Legislature needs to kill or adjust a new law that would be a hardship on boat and personal watercraft rental businesses.

King Fisher fleet owner Ralph Allen does not rent boats or personal watercraft from his base at Fishermen's Village.

But, if he did, he said he would "be up in arms" over a state law that is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The Boating Safety Act was passed in the last legislative session and its aim is to keep boaters safe.

It's impact, however, could hurt boating operations' bottom line and either force them to raise rates or maybe even shut down small mom and pop businesses.

The new regulations will force Florida boat businesses, for the first time ever, to not only carry insurance on the business but also to cover injuries on people who rent boats and personal watercraft (think Jet Skis).

Insurance companies aren't wild about the idea, and we can't imagine boat rental businesses would be either.

There are estimates, according to Axios, that the cost to businesses would increase the annual insurance rates per boat from about $1,500 to about $8,000.

Katrina Towns, of Abe's Boat Rentals in Englewood, was unhappy to say the least.

"We were unaware of the requirement for covering our renters as well as our boats. I even reached out to our insurance agent. He was unaware and did further investigation and at this time we can't get coverage for renters, just our boats," Towns said. "The underwriter is not writing that coverage."

She said after reading the law and reviewing items on FWC website, she believes the new regulation is an overreach.

"Those three words (and boat renters) need to be removed from this regulation," she said. "We do our best to educate our renters about operating the boats and safety on our waterways."

Towns said, and we agree, that the regulations just add more hardship for the boat rental industry — especially now when some members are recovering from Hurricane Ian and readying for the winter season.

"Almost all of the boat rental companies in our area are small business, not big corp companies" Towns said. "We all work well together and help each other out when we can, and unless this regulation wording is changed, it will hurt all of us."

Towns said she has reached out to state representatives to get the wording changed.

She was especially upset that, to her knowledge, boat and personal watercraft business owners were not asked about what regulations were needed to improve boating safety.

We tried to talk to other personal watercraft and boat rental businesses but either did not get a call back or were told there is not a lot of knowledge out there about a law that will put a financial hit on boat businesses.

It's disappointing that boat rental businesses seem to have such little knowledge of a new law that will so greatly impact their bottom line. How publicity about the law was handled, we're not sure, but word on the changes obviously was not communicated well throughout the state.

We're sure there were good intentions behind such legislation. But lawmakers need to go back and consider the impact the extra costs will have on small boating operations.

And, they need to use the next couple of weeks to spread the word that a big jump in insurance costs for boat rental businesses is on the books.