2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 23. Parks, Recreation, Sports, and Gambling › Chapter 2. Recreation › Part 5. Boats › 23-2-512. Identifying number

23-2-512. Identifying number.
(1) The owner of each motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft requiring numbering by this state shall file an application for number in the office of the county treasurer in the county where the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft is owned, on forms prepared and furnished by the department of justice. The application must be signed by the owner of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft and be accompanied by the fee prescribed in 61-3-321(10). Any alteration, change, or false statement contained in the application renders the certificate of number void. Upon receipt of the application in approved form, the county treasurer shall issue to the applicant a certificate of number prepared and furnished by the department of justice, stating the number assigned to the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft and the name and address of the owner. Validation decals verifying the identifying number for each motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft must be issued along with the certificate of number and must be displayed on the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft.
(2) The fine for failing to display the validation decals may not be more than the cost incurred by the justice's court.
(3) The department may give only verbal or written warnings until December 31, 2007, for failing to display validation decals in an attempt to educate the boating public.
(4) If the ownership of a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft changes, a new application form with the certification fee must be filed within 40 days with the county treasurer and a new certificate of number assigned in the same manner as provided for in an original assignment of number. New validation decals must be issued simultaneously.
(5) If an agency of the United States government has in force a comprehensive system of identification numbering for motorboats in the United States, the numbering system employed pursuant to this part by the department of justice must be in conformity.
(6) A certificate of number and validation decals issued under this part are effective unless terminated or discontinued in accordance with the provisions of this part. All motorboats, sailboats, or personal watercraft already numbered must exhibit validation decals by December 31, 2005. All validation decals expire on February 28, 2008. Validation decals must be obtained by the expiration date at any regional office of the department or through the department website and are in effect for another 3-year period ending February 28, 2011. The requirement of renewal validation decals must continue in subsequent 3-year periods, and renewal validation decals must be identified by color in accordance with the federal numbering system. Except as provided in 23-2-511(2) and subsection (4) of this section, the operation of a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft is prohibited without current validation decals.
(7) Validation decals must be approximately 3 square inches. The validation decals must be serially numbered in accordance with the federal numbering system and must be displayed on each side of the vessel.
(8) If ownership is transferred, the purchaser shall notify the county treasurer within 40 days of the acquisition of all or any part of the purchaser's interest, other than the creation of a security interest, in a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft numbered in this state or of the loss, theft, destruction, or abandonment of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft. The transfer, loss, theft, destruction, or abandonment terminates the certificate of number for the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft. Recovery from theft or transfer of a part interest that does not affect the owner's right to operate the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft does not terminate the certificate of number.
(9) A holder of a certificate of number shall notify the county treasurer within a reasonable time if the holder's address no longer conforms to the address appearing on the certificate and shall furnish the county treasurer with the new address. The department of justice may provide by rule for the surrender of the certificate bearing the former address and its replacement with a certificate bearing the new address or the alteration of an outstanding certificate to show the new address of the holder.
(10) (a) The identifying number assigned must be painted on or attached to each outboard side of the forward half of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft or, if there are no sides, at a corresponding location on both outboard sides of the foredeck of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft. The identifying number assigned must read from left to right in Arabic numerals and block characters of good proportion at least 3 inches tall excluding border or trim of a color that contrasts with the color of the background and be so maintained as to be clearly visible and legible. The identifying number may not be placed on the obscured underside of the flared bow where it cannot be easily seen from another vessel or ashore. Numerals, letters, or devices other than those used in connection with the identifying number issued may not be placed in the proximity of the identifying number. Numerals, letters, or devices that might interfere with the ready identification of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft by its identifying number may not be carried in a manner that interferes with the motorboat's, sailboat's, or personal watercraft's identification. A number other than the identifying number assigned to a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft or granted reciprocity under this part may not be painted, attached, or otherwise displayed on either side of the forward half of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft. A registration decal issued under this part must be placed next to the identifying number located on the left side of a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft or, if there are no sides, at the corresponding location on the left outboard side of the foredeck of the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft. The validation decal must be placed immediately aft of the registration decal on the left side and immediately aft of the identifying number on the right side of a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft.
(b) The certificate of number must be pocket size and available to federal, state, or local law enforcement officers at all reasonable times for inspection on the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft whenever the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft is on waters of this state.
(c) Boat liveries are not required to have the certificate of number on board each motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft, but a rental agreement must be carried on board livery motorboats, sailboats, or personal watercraft in place of the certificate of number.
(11) An owner of a motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft shall within a reasonable time notify the department of justice, giving the motorboat's, sailboat's, or personal watercraft's identifying number and the owner's name if the motorboat, sailboat, or personal watercraft is transferred, lost, destroyed, or abandoned or within 60 days after a change of the state of principal use or if a motorboat becomes documented as a vessel of the United States.
(12) The department shall reimburse the department of justice for any programming costs necessary to implement the provisions of this section that are incurred in fiscal year 2005.
History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 285, L. 1959; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 219, L. 1961; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 336, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 348, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 45, Ch. 391, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 51, Ch. 511, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 514, L. 1973; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 52, L. 1974; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 124, L. 1977; amd. Sec. 45, Ch. 566, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 69-3504(1), (2), (3), (6) thru (14); amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 136, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 277, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 312, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 649, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 577, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 728, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 126, L. 1993; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 257, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 131, Ch. 574, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 592, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 237, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 21, Ch. 542, L. 2005.