It looks like boat owners in the Santa Barbara Harbor will have to show proof of general liability insurance beginning in January.

The city’s three-member Ordinance Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to require insurance. Santa Barbara is one of only four working harbors in the state that don’t require insurance. The full City Council still must vote on the proposal.

“It’s way overdue,” committee member Mike Jordan said. “We should in no way be one of the three or four ports that is not requiring the same protections we are requiring of other participants using our public spaces.”

About 80% of boat owners already have insurance, according to the city. However, those boats that are uninsured “present a significant financial liability risk to the city and to the greater boating community in general,” said Nathan Alldredge, harbor operations manager.

Santa Barbara has about 1,140 slips in the harbor. According to a harbor survey with 400 responses, more than 80% of respondents already had a vessel insurance policy in place, and a majority favored requiring insurance to moor or anchor a boat in the Harbor District.

The requirement would be for general liability coverage and would not apply to vessels looking to moor or dock in an emergency. Vessel owners would be required to carry $300,000 of coverage and have 60 days to show proof of insurance once the law goes into effect.

Alldredge said insurance costs range, but that for a 25- to 30-foot sailboat, insurance could be as low as $250 to $300 a year. It would be several thousand dollars a year for a yacht, he said. The ordinance would not apply to boats 15 feet or less in length.

Chris Voss, president of the commercial fishermen of Santa Barbara, expressed some concerns about the ordinance.

“My concern is that whatever the ordinance requires us all to do doesn’t become exceedingly difficult to do down through time,” he said. “In my conversation with an agent, there was an indication that there is volatility in this market. If there are large losses, the company has to incur the cost and the market could change in time in a burdensome fashion.”

He also said insurance is on a sliding scale based on what fishermen gross annually.

“Some years we make a lot of money, and some years we make very little money,” said Voss, who said he does have liability insurance. “It should be recognized through time that it may become more difficult for us to hold the insurance.”

He said there is the possibility that fishermen may start an insurance pool to lower costs.

The city also wants to require insurance to guard against damage from storms.

When those uninsured vessels go aground during storms, the city is left responsible for disposal and environmental costs.

In back to-back storms in 2024, three uninsured vessels went aground on East Beach, costing the city close to $40,000 to dispose of and remove associated hazardous materials, Alldredge said.

One of those boats washed up near the mouth of Mission Creek, threatening sensitive
wetlands and water quality.

“I am surprised that we haven’t already required this,” Ordinance Committee member Kristen Sneddon said. “It is not just a matter of risk to individual vessels. It is risk to our pristine waters, to our protected channel, marine life, the environmental impacts.”

She added that with climate change, “there are more risks with storms and rising sea levels that we should be requiring operators of vessels to share in that responsibility.”