Harbors and Navigation Code, 1937

The licensing examination may include questions or tests on safety rules, operating control, mental and physical fitness, and an inspection of the for-hire vessel.

After the examination, the department may issue an operator’s license, issue it only for part of the requested privilege, and attach safety-based terms and conditions.

An operator’s license is valid for five years and can be renewed every five years unless it is suspended or revoked.

The department may suspend or revoke licenses for for-hire vessel operators, and it may not renew a revoked operator’s license for one year unless the reason for revocation has been removed.

The department must administer licensing for operators of for-hire vessels and enforce this article; it may also inspect for-hire vessels, except on waters declared navigable by federal agencies.

The department may borrow funds from the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund, but only with the Director of Finance’s approval and when a borrower has defaulted and the funds are needed to protect the department’s security interest.

The department may sell or otherwise dispose of certain default-related property, or operate, contract to operate, or let it, on terms it considers proper.

The division must make rules and regulations for this article and may set a fee schedule for reasonable fees tied to its exam, licensing, renewal, and other service costs.

After April 1, 1964, any person who violates or fails to comply with any provision of this article commits a misdemeanor.

The department’s powers under this article must not be read to conflict with or reduce the Public Utilities Commission’s jurisdiction over for-hire vessels or common carriers.

The section says charter boat safety regulation is needed because the industry operates in the public interest and Pacific Ocean conditions can become hazardous.

This section says the article is called the Charter Boat Safety Act of 1983 and may be cited by that name.

This section defines terms used in the charter boat safety article.

A person may not take or offer to take seven or more passengers on a charter boat unless the vessel is licensed by the United States Coast Guard.

Operators and charterers must not stop anyone from following this article, require anyone to violate it, or order the captain to get underway when the vessel or weather makes the trip inadvisable.

A charter boat operator, or the operator’s employee or agent, must require passengers to wear life preservers when specified weather, casualty, or navigation hazards are present.

An operator or the operator’s employee or agent is treated as complying with Section 773.5 if they direct passengers to the life preservers, tell them they must don them for safety, give at least one passenger who does not don a preserver the instruction to do so, and keep the preservers unwrapped, ready, and easy to access.

A charter boat operator, employee, or agent must brief each passenger on emergency procedures before getting underway and make a safety announcement at the start of each trip.

Charter boat operators must tell passengers about life jackets and use care to secure loose objects near passengers.

Charterers and charter boat operators must put a specific safety statement in all advertising for charter trips in the coastal zone.

A for-hire vessel operator must not leave or enter Morro Bay after the harbor harbormaster has directed otherwise because of weather, sea, or vessel conditions.

This section says specified vessel-operation provisions are suspended when a federal agency adopts and enforces a conflicting, substantially similar regulation.

Violating any provision of this article can be a misdemeanor and can also trigger civil liability for operators.

This section says public entities are not required to monitor sea or weather conditions or warn or stop vessels from entering or leaving a harbor entrance during unsafe conditions, and they are not liable for injuries from actions or omissions that prohibit a for-hire vessel operator from leaving or entering a harbor.

Vessels with toilets must comply with federal standards for marine sanitation devices.

This section defines key terms used in the vessel sanitation chapter.

Vessel terminals must be equipped with pumpout facilities when required by the regional board, and newer pumpout facilities must have a meter. Some facilities are exempt, and violations are misdemeanors.

Vessel pumpout facilities must be operated and maintained to prevent sewage discharge, kept in good working order and cleaned, and post a notice naming the enforcing local authority and a reporting phone number.

The state board must adopt standards for vessel pumpout facilities.

Specified peace officers and public health officers must enforce this chapter and any regulations adopted under it.

This section bans discharging sewage from marine sanitation devices into state waters, and adds extra rules in no-discharge areas.

The Attorney General must ask the superior court for injunctive relief when requested by specified agencies or an aggrieved person, if appropriate to secure compliance with this chapter.

Vessels are generally exempt from other state or local rules about marine sanitation devices, except sewage-discharge laws; local agencies may adopt sewage-discharge rules, and peace officers may enforce and inspect under stated conditions.

This section says the chapter does not stop houseboats from being regulated under other laws.

The state board and regional boards may regulate nonsewage discharges, but not vessel washdown water, galley/shower/bath waste, or water needed for propulsion or stability.

This chapter does not stop the state board from taking action under subdivision (f) of Section 312 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Certain loans, leases, and concession contracts are conditioned on compliance with vessel sanitation requirements, including pumpout-facility and restroom-related conditions.

This division applies only to the extent California has legislative power, and it does not apply where federal constitutional or congressional law permits otherwise.

“Writing” includes any recorded message that can be understood visually. Notices, reports, statements, and records required or authorized by the code must be in writing in English unless another language is expressly allowed.

This section keeps the Boating and Waterways Commission in existence and limits it to the powers and duties given by this chapter.

The Governor appoints the seven commission members, with Senate consent, and must follow the section’s membership and term requirements.

Commission members may be paid $100 per day for their service, up to 14 days per year, and may be reimbursed for actual and necessary duty-related expenses.

The Governor may remove commission members from office for specified misconduct or poor performance.

The owner appoints the vessel’s master, and the master serves at the owner’s pleasure.

A vessel’s master must be on board when the vessel is entering or leaving a port, harbor, or river, unless a licensed mate is in charge.

A vessel master must take on a pilot when entering or leaving a port, harbor, or river if the vessel is not already under the charge of a licensed pilot and a pilot offers himself.

The master of a vessel may use confinement or other reasonable corporal punishment to enforce obedience to lawful commands, but is responsible for abuse of that power.

The master of a vessel may confine a person on board during a voyage for wilful disobedience to lawful commands.

If a vessel runs out of supplies during a voyage, the master may, with the officers’ advice, require people with private supplies on board to give them up.

The master of a vessel must not abandon the vessel during the voyage unless advised by the other officers.

If a vessel’s master abandons the vessel, the master must take the money and the most valuable goods on board, as far as possible.

A vessel master who shares in cargo profits must not trade for personal account, and if they do, they must account to their employer for those profits.

The master of a vessel must use great care and diligence in performing the duties of the job.

The commission must promptly choose a chairman and vice chairman from its members, and then elect those officers every year.

The commission must adopt a seal.

The commission may not take action unless a majority of its members supports it.

The Department of General Services must provide suitable offices and equipment for the commission.

The deputy director must act as the commission’s secretary.

The master of a vessel acts as the owner’s general agent for all matters concerning the vessel.

A vessel’s master may borrow money on the owner’s credit when needed to complete the voyage and when consulting the owner or proper agent would cause injurious delay.

During a voyage, the master of a vessel may act to preserve cargo owners’ interests, but may not sell or hypothecate the cargo except as this chapter allows.

The master of a vessel may arrange necessary repairs and supplies, hire cargo and passengers for carriage, and, in a foreign port, enter into a charter-party.

A vessel master may hypothecate the vessel, freightage, and cargo, and sell part of the cargo only in the cases allowed by bottomry and respondentia rules, with a separate allowance to sell cargo before the destination port if it is perishable or badly damaged.

A ship master may sell a vessel without the owners’ instructions if it is seriously damaged or the voyage has broken down beyond continuation, and necessity requires it.

The master of a vessel may sell the cargo only if the voyage has been broken up, no other vessel can be obtained, and the sale is absolutely necessary.

If a vessel is captured, its master may agree to pay a ransom, including in money or part of the cargo.

The master of a vessel’s power to bind the owner or cargo owners ends if the vessel and freightage are abandoned to insurers.

The master of a vessel is personally liable for contracts relating to the vessel unless there is an express agreement otherwise or the parties give exclusive credit to the owner.

The division must send certain proposed regulations, project proposals, funding-determination projects, annual budget reports, and harbor study materials to the commission for advice and comment.

The commission has multiple duties, including staying informed, meeting at least four times a year, holding public hearings and meetings, reviewing proposals and budgets, and submitting periodic reports.

Commission meetings must be open and public, and everyone may attend.

The commission’s records must be open for public inspection during regular office hours.

A vessel’s master can be liable to third persons for negligence or acts of people employed in navigation. The owner and master are not responsible for a pilot’s negligence when the pilot must be employed by law, except in stated cases.

The vessel owner must pay the cargo owner the market value of cargo sold to cover necessary vessel repairs and supplies when the vessel arrives at its destination port.

A ship’s general agent for the owners is called the manager; if the agent is also a part owner, the person is also called the managing owner.

Unless otherwise directed, the manager of a vessel must make the vessel seaworthy, care for it in port, and ensure it has the required papers, a proper master, mate, crew, provisions, and stores.

A managing owner is presumed not to have a right to compensation for his own services.

A manager may make contracts and carry out related shipping arrangements needed to perform his duties.

A manager may not, without special authority, borrow money, give up the freightage lien, buy cargo, or bind the vessel’s owners to insurance.

The department must deposit all money it receives into the State Treasury and credit it to the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund.

The fund’s money may be used, if the Legislature appropriates it, for boating-related programs and certain agency activities, and the Department of Parks and Recreation must file an annual report by January 1.

Local public agencies must annually certify harbor facility conditions or explain why they cannot, and the department must monitor compliance. Cities, counties, and districts receiving harbor funds generally may not block certain vessel use unless specified alternatives or findings are provided.

The mate is the officer next in rank to the master. If the master is disabled, the mate becomes the master, and that does not take away the mate’s rights.

People employed in a vessel’s navigation or on a voyage are treated as seamen, except the master and mate.

The master engages the mate and seamen, and may discharge them during the voyage only for wilful and persistent disobedience or gross disqualification.

A mate or seaman does not have to go to sea in an unseaworthy vessel, and may refuse to proceed if there is reasonable doubt about seaworthiness until a proper survey is done.

A seaman cannot be stripped by agreement of the vessel lien, wage-recovery remedy, or salvage-related rights described here.

A seaman may not use a special agreement to reduce legal rights or increase legal obligations unless he understands the agreement and is fairly compensated.

Seamen’s wages are due only when freightage is earned, unless another law says otherwise or the loss of freightage is the fault of the owner or master.

A mate or seaman is entitled to wages and provisions starting at the earliest of work start, the agreed start time, or presence on board.

If a voyage is broken up before the vessel departs, the seamen must be paid for the time they served and may keep any advances they received as indemnity.

A mate or seaman wrongfully discharged, or forced off the vessel by the master’s cruelty during the voyage, may recover full wages.

The department must consider funding small craft harbor projects that are financially feasible and help existing harbors under its jurisdiction substantially meet Section 86.

A seaman is entitled to wages up to the time of a vessel’s loss or wreck if he does his utmost to save the vessel, cargo, and stores.

A certificate from the master or chief surviving officer stating that a seaman did his utmost to save the vessel, cargo, and stores is presumptive evidence of that fact.

A mate or seaman who cannot work because of qualifying illness, injury, wrongful discharge, or capture of the vessel is still entitled to wages.

If a mate or seaman becomes sick or disabled during a voyage without fault of his own, the vessel must pay for suitable medical care and other needed provision until the voyage ends.

If a mate or seaman dies during the voyage, their personal representatives can recover the wages earned up to death, if the seaman would have earned them by the voyage’s end.

A mate or seaman who deserts the vessel without cause, or is justifiably discharged for misconduct, theft, or wilful injury, loses all wages due for the voyage.

A mate or seaman may not ship goods on his own account without the master’s permission.

Certain small craft harbors or boating facilities are not liable for damages tied to vessel use or operation, but this immunity does not cover their negligent acts.

References to this code or any other state law include all amendments and additions made now or later.

This section says the Division applies to navigable waters of the United States unless that application conflicts with U.S. admiralty and maritime jurisdiction and laws.