BoatUS and the nonprofit Recreational Boaters of California are urging Golden State boat owners to contact their lawmakers and oppose a proposed 300% boat registration fee increase outlined in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2024 budget.

“We want to make sure the legislature is standing firm against this,” David Kennedy, BoatUS manager of government relations, told Trade Only Today.

Currently, California boat owners pay a registration fee of $20 every two years. Newsom’s proposal would hike that amount to $80 every two years, with additional plans to reevaluate the fee every four years afterward.

Kennedy acknowledges that, in the grand scheme of things, an $80 registration fee every two years is not out of line with fees in other states where boating is popular. In Florida, the fee is $78.25 for powerboats 26 to 40 feet with an EPIRB or whose owner has a personal locator beacon. Similar-size powerboats in Michigan have a registration fee of $168 to $244 every three years, while Texas charges $110 for powerboats in that size range.

The problem with what California is trying to do, Kennedy said, is that there are no assurances that the state will use the extra money from increased registration fees to fund programs and services that benefit boaters.

“It’s our position, us and RBOC, who we support, that fees that boaters pay need to go to boating programs,” Kennedy said. “We’re not seeing that in what they’re bringing forth in their budget. Their boating programs are part of their parks department, and it’s not all adding up.”

Gov. Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Trade Only Today.

The advocacy groups are not the only ones crying foul. George Skelton, the capitol political columnist for the Los Angeles Times — and a boater himself — skewered the proposal, writing that “if you’re a California boater, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants you to pay the state more and get less in return.”

Skelton noted that the fee hike is being proposed alongside a $6 million cut to funds for building and improving launch ramps in California, as well as a $5.3 million cut to funding the eradication of aquatic invasive species that can damage engines. The state plans to treat “only navigable waterways utilized by recreational boaters,” he wrote. “That might seem reassuring, except I suspect not every penny-pinching bureaucrat will agree on what’s a navigable waterway.”

Kennedy said comments he’s seeing in opposition to the proposal are coming from people who operate more than one boat — for example, a youth sailing program that uses five boats and will have to pay the increased fee for each one.

“All the sudden, this starts to get real for this volunteer program,” Kennedy said. “Most boats are under 26 feet. These are boats that middle-class families can afford, and we want to keep it that way.”

California boaters can contact their lawmakers through this BoatUS portal, and learn more at this page on the RBOC website.