Slow-No-Wake Law Shut Down In Oregon!
 

If you live in Oregon you may have heard about house bills 4099 and 4038! Here's a bit more about it:

Oregon Legislator will pass or deny House Bill 4099 and House Bill 4138 next week. The bills will implement laws prohibiting boaters from using wake enhancement devices (WED) and require boats to abide by the Slow-No-Wake law within 200 feet of docks, boathouses or moorages. These laws will be enforced within Willamette mile 50 (Roger's Landing in Newberg) and Willamette mile 30 (10th Street in West Linn) if the bills pass.

If you love to boat and participate in watersports, email your local representative and the Oregon transportation committee with the subject line "NO on HB 4099 and HB 4138" now to voice your concern of these potential laws! Go to the Oregon Legislature website and type in your address to discover who your county representative is. Also, if you want to stay up-to-date on the status of these bills, find them using the search bar, then sign up for the email subscriptions.

If these two bills pass, boaters with WED within the mile mark 50 to 30 radius or boaters that do not follow the Slow-No-Wake laws will face a fine of up to $2,000 on the first offense and up to 30 days in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both, and prohibition from operating a boat for two years on a second offense within three years.



Well, turns out so many people emailed into the legislature that they decided to not pass it as a law, but instead send the topic to an advisory panel to discuss how boaters and home owners can both be happy. Definitely a step in the right direction. Great work Oregon boaters!

awesome! congrats on the W

Great to hear so many people got involved!

what is meaning of wake enhancement devices (WED)? just the items making surf wakes? Are they singled out?

I signed petition on Malibu crew or axis site and then the organizers emailed us a request for personal emails to two committee members and 4 other legislators. Was glad to do it and with copy and paste of the message it took 10 minutes.

I simply wrote to not disciminate against any particular boat owners including the land owners boats you would have to establish a no wake zone for everyone to pass responsible legislation that didn’t discriminate against any particular class of boaters. and that FOOL boat drivers going dead slow with nose up and stern down can cause a massive wake

A wake enhancement device includes ballast and surf wedges to increase the size and length of the wake. So yes, they are singling out wake boats with these enhancements because homeowners are upset that the big waves destroy their docks or erodes the river. But by banning these in certain areas pushes everyone to the same parts of the river and causes a safety concern for riders.