California · Harbors and Navigation Code - HNC

HNC §1125: (a) Pilots licensed by the board have exclusive authority, to the extent not provided otherwise by federal law, to pilot vessels from the high seas to Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San P

What this law says, in plain English

Licensed pilots have exclusive authority to pilot vessels from the high seas into specified California bays, subject to federal law limitations.

Read the full statutory text
(a) Pilots licensed by the board have exclusive authority, to the extent not provided otherwise by federal law, to pilot vessels from the high seas to Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun and the ports thereof, and from those bays and ports to the high seas. They shall also have exclusive authority to pilot vessels within and along the waters of those bays, except as otherwise set forth in this division. (b) Nothing in this division shall interfere with pilotage regulations of Monterey Bay and of the Ports of Sacramento and Stockton, nor prevent the regulatory authority of those ports from utilizing the pilots licensed pursuant to this division.

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