Provides for titles of certain vessels and outboard motors. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 213 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 34:852.3 and 852.4(A) to establish mandatory titling requirements for certain vessels and outboard motors while preserving voluntary titling options for others. The bill transitions from an optional titling system to a dual system: vessels valued in excess of five thousand dollars that are required to be numbered and all outboard motors purchased or transferred on or after January 1, 2027 must be titled with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, while vessels below that threshold and those meeting other criteria remain eligible for voluntary titling. The legislation maintains the existing prohibition against issuing state certificates of title for vessels that hold valid United States Coast Guard documentation. For mandatory titling scenarios, owners must submit applications within sixty days of acquiring the vessel or motor or experiencing a change in certificate information, whereas voluntary titling applications may be submitted at any time without temporal restrictions.

The practical effect of this legislation impacts vessel and outboard motor owners, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and marine industry participants. Owners of vessels valued at or below five thousand dollars retain flexibility in titling decisions and face no deadline requirements. Owners of vessels exceeding five thousand dollars in value that are subject to numbering requirements, as well as all outboard motor owners making purchases or receiving transfers on or after January 1, 2027, must now comply with a mandatory sixty-day filing deadline or face potential non-compliance issues with state titling authority. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will experience increased administrative activity processing mandatory titling applications beginning January 1, 2027, and will need to establish mechanisms for tracking compliance with the sixty-day deadline. Dealers, brokers, and others involved in vessel and motor sales will need to advise clients of the new mandatory titling requirement and associated deadlines for vessels and motors falling within the statutory scope.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's vessel registration and titling framework codified in Title 34 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The bill builds upon existing titling statutes that previously authorized voluntary titling for certain vessels valued above twenty-five hundred dollars transferred after July 1, 2008 and outboard motors transferred after January 1, 2011, substantially raising the mandatory titling threshold from twenty-five hundred dollars to five thousand dollars and establishing binding deadlines. The interaction with United States Coast Guard documentation requirements remains central to the statutory scheme, as the prohibition against dual state and federal titling protects the primacy of federal maritime documentation while allowing state titling for non-federally documented vessels. The effective date of August 1, 2026 provides a substantial lead time before the January 1, 2027 mandatory requirement activation, allowing the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the regulated community to prepare administrative systems and implement compliance procedures.