Title 27 — Transportation

(a) (1) No person shall operate a personal watercraft unless each person aboard is wearing a United States Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device to be used in accordance with the label on the personal flotation device.(2) Provided, no person aboard a personal watercraft …

(a) No person shall operate a personal watercraft towing another person on water skis or other device unless the personal watercraft has on board, in addition to the operator, an observer who shall monitor the progress of the person being towed. (b) No person shall operate a pers…

(a) A personal watercraft livery shall carry liability insurance in an amount of not less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000). (b) Operators of rental personal watercraft shall be required by livery operators to view a personal watercraft instructional video approved by…

(a) The provisions of § 27-101-602 shall not apply to a person participating in an officially sanctioned regatta, race, marine parade, tournament, or exhibition. (b) Law enforcement officers and emergency response personnel engaged in the performance of their duties shall be exem…

Each violation of this subchapter shall be punishable by a fine not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), except that the fine for violating § 27-101-602(e) shall be no less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than two hundred fifty dolla…

The provisions of this subchapter shall be supplemental and in addition to any other laws, rules, or regulations relating to boats or other watercraft.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Boat Identification Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) “Boat identification number” means a number assigned to boating equipment by the manufacturer of the boating equipment or the Boating Law Administrator's Office of the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission.(B) “Boat identification number” …

(a) A person shall not knowingly buy, receive, dispose of, sell, offer for sale, or have in his or her possession boating equipment on which the boat identification number has been removed, defaced, covered, altered, or destroyed for the purpose of concealing or misrepresenting t…

(a) It is unlawful for a person with fraudulent intent to deface, destroy, or alter the boating identification number or to place a boating identification number on boating equipment that was not assigned by the manufacturer or the Boating Law Administrator’s Office of the Arkans…

(a) It shall be unlawful for a person or other entity to have in his, her, or its possession boating equipment with a boating identification number that has been mutilated to the extent that it cannot be read. (b) If a piece of boating equipment has been stolen and recovered with…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Boat Dock and Marina Safety Law”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Boat dock” means a man-made structure that:(A) Protrudes into a body of water for the purpose of mooring a boat or for other water-related recreation; and(B) Is connected to an electric power source in any way; and(2) “Marina” means a dock or b…

The owner and operator of a boat dock or marina in the state shall install and maintain electrical wiring in accordance with NFPA 303, the National Fire Protection Association Standard for Marinas and Boatyards, and NFPA 70, the National Fire Protection Association National Elect…

(a) Each boat dock and marina in the state that is not located on a federal impoundment owned or managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers shall have signage that warns of electric shock hazards in the waters surrounding the boat dock or marina and the risk of swimming…

The violation of this subchapter is admissible in a civil action against the owner or operator of a boat dock or marina if the violation results in bodily injury to or the death of a person.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Paddlesport Activities Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Canoe” means a watercraft that has an open top and is designed to hold one (1) or more participants;(2) “Canoeing, rafting, kayaking, or tubing” means riding, training, using, paddling, or being a passenger in or on a canoe, kayak, raft, or tub…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section:(1) (A) A participant assumes the inherent risk of a paddlesport activity by engaging in the paddlesport activity.(B) A participant or a participant's representative shall not make a claim against, maintain an action agains…

An outfitter shall post and maintain signage in a clearly visible location at or near areas where the outfitter conducts paddlesport activities and in black letters at least one inch (1″) high containing the following warning: “WARNING — Under Arkansas law, an outfitter is not li…

When any boat, vessel, raft, or other property shall be lost or wrecked and in a perishable condition upon any river in this state, or any river making a boundary of the state, any person may take up and secure it at or near the place where found.

When any person shall set up a claim to salvaged property and shall prove his or her title to it by competent testimony before any justice of the peace of the proper county, the taker up shall restore the property to the owner if he or she pays the taker up a premium for salvage,…

The taker up of a boat, vessel, raft, or other property shall be entitled to retain it against the rightful owner until salvage be paid, or he or she may have and maintain a civil action against the owner for the amount of salvage due in accordance with this chapter.

When any salvaged property shall be taken up and secured, if it exceeds ten dollars ($10.00) in value, the taker up shall immediately go before a justice of the peace of the county and make an affidavit that the property was wrecked or lost and was in a perishable condition, as h…

(a) Within twenty (20) days after making the affidavit, the taker up shall cause to be inserted in some newspaper printed in this state, for three (3) weeks successively, a correct account of the time and place when and where the property was taken up and the description and valu…

When rafts are taken up, consisting of logs, firewood, rails, or other timber, the person taking up and securing them and complying with the requisitions of this subchapter shall, on the owner's claiming them, be entitled to salvage not exceeding twenty percent (20%) of the value…

(a) When any raft or boat with produce therein shall be taken up, which raft or the cargo of the boat consists of articles that are usually taken to the states of Mississippi or Louisiana for sale and the owner does not apply for or make demand of the property within twenty (20) …

When boats are wrecked or staved and property is found afloat on any watercourse in this state, and the value thereof does not exceed one hundred dollars ($100), the taker up of the property shall be entitled to salvage not exceeding one-fourth (¼) part thereof for taking up and …

If no demand shall be made within one (1) year from the taking up of any property under this chapter and the taker up has complied with the provisions of this chapter in all respects, then the property so taken up or the proceeds when sold shall vest in the taker up.

When any person shall make oath before any justice of the peace that he or she has lost any property by wreck or by flood, storm, or other accident, give a description of the property, and further state that he or she has reason to suspect that the property so lost is secreted in…

(1) As used in this subtitle, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Aeronautics” means the act or practice of the art and science of transportation by aircraft and operation, construction, repair, or maintenance of aircraft, airports, landing fields, or air navigation facili…

Any person violating any of the provisions of this act shall upon conviction before a court of competent jurisdiction be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200) and the cost of prosecution or undergo imprisonment fo…

In any proceeding for violating the provisions of this act or the rules of the Division of Aeronautics adopted pursuant to this act, the federal license number or identification mark displayed on the aircraft shall be prima facie evidence that the owner of the aircraft was operat…

Any certified copies or certified photostatic copies of any records, books, papers, documents, determinations, rulings, or orders of the Division of Aeronautics, when certified under the seal of the division, shall be acceptable as evidence in the courts.

There is created a commission to be known as the “Division of Aeronautics”, which shall maintain an office in the City of Little Rock.

The Division of Aeronautics is established and authorized to represent the State of Arkansas in the promotion and development of landing fields, airports, hangars, and other aeronautical projects and to cooperate with and secure the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administrat…

(a) The Division of Aeronautics shall be composed of seven (7) members appointed by the Governor. (b) One (1) of the members shall be appointed from each of the four (4) congressional districts, and three (3) members shall be appointed from the state at large. (c) Appointments sh…

Any person employed as Director of the Division of Aeronautics shall possess the qualifications of a multi-engine commercial pilot. No other flight or pilot qualification shall be required for such director.

(a) The Director of the Division of Aeronautics shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Commerce with the approval of the Governor and shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor. (b) The director shall report to the secretary.

The Division of Aeronautics shall administer the provisions of this chapter and § 27-116-101 et seq. and is authorized and directed to promulgate rules, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, as necessary to execute the powers invested in the division b…

(a) The Division of Aeronautics shall have the right to:(1) Receive grants and donations, appropriations, and other funds or materials on behalf of the state, county, municipality, or other eligible applicants for utilization in the development of aeronautics, provided that the d…

(a) It shall be the duty of the Division of Aeronautics to:(1) Provide for the examination, rating, and licensing of airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities available for the use of aircraft;(2) Adopt, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Commer…

(a) The Division of Aeronautics shall assist in the location of landing fields and the promotion and development of aeronautics throughout the state. (b) The division may use for the construction and development of these fields and for the grading and construction of highways lea…

(a) All revenues derived from the levying of the Arkansas Gross Receipts Tax, as amended, § 26-52-101 et seq., upon aircraft and aviation fuel, aviation services, aircraft parts and accessories, and other gross receipts taxes remitted by aircraft dealers, airports, and flying fie…

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to:(1) Operate or navigate aircraft while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or habit-producing drug, or permit any person who may be under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic or habit-producing drug to…

(a) The ownership of the space over and above the lands and waters of this state is declared to be vested in the owner of the surface beneath, but this ownership extends only so far as is necessary to the enjoyment of the use of the surface without interference and is subject to …

The public safety requiring and the advantages of uniform regulation making it desirable in the interest of aeronautical progress that any person engaging within this state in navigating or operating aircraft in any form of navigation or while in charge of the inspecting, overhau…

The public safety requiring and the advantages of uniform regulation making it desirable in the interest of aeronautical progress that aircraft operating within this state should conform with respect to design, construction, and airworthiness to the standards prescribed by the Un…

(a) The provisions of this subchapter and § 27-116-101 et seq. and § 27-116-301 et seq., insofar as they relate to registration and license, shall not apply to aircraft owned and operated within this state by nonresidents of this state for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days …

(a) The licenses of airports, landing fields, air navigation facilities, and other licenses or certificates that the Division of Aeronautics may issue under authority of this subchapter and § 27-116-101 et seq. and § 27-116-301 et seq. shall be denied or revoked only after the ap…