(a) "Aquatic animal" means any animal that lives or grows only in water during any life state and includes that animal's eggs, larvae, or young.
(b) "Aquatic plant" means a submergent, emergent, floating-leaf, or free- floating plant or any part thereof. "Aquatic plant" does not mean wild rice.
(c) "Highway" has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (22), except that it does not include public boat access sites or parking areas for public boat access sites.
(d) "Law enforcement officer" has the meaning given in s. 30.50 (4s).
(e) "Local governmental unit" means a city, village, town, or county; a special purpose district in this state; an agency or corporation of a city, village, town, county, or special purpose district; or a combination or subunit of any of the foregoing.
(f) "Public boat access site" means a site that provides access to a navigable water for boats and that is open to the general public for free or for a charge or that is open only to certain groups of persons for a charge.
(g) "Vehicle" has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (74).
(2) (a) No person may place or operate a vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object of any kind in a navigable water if it has any aquatic plants or aquatic animals attached to the exterior of the vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object. This paragraph does not require a person to remove aquatic plants or aquatic animals from a vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object during the period of time when the vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object is being operated in the same navigable body of water in which the aquatic plants or aquatic animals became attached.
(b) No person may take off with a seaplane, or transport or operate a vehicle, watercraft, or other object of any kind on a highway with aquatic plants or aquatic animals attached to the exterior of the seaplane, vehicle, watercraft, or other object.
(3) A law enforcement officer who has reason to believe that a person is in violation of sub. (2) may order the person to do any of the following:
(a) Remove aquatic plants or aquatic animals from a vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object of any kind before placing it in a navigable water.
(b) Remove aquatic plants or aquatic animals from a seaplane before taking off with the seaplane.
(c) Remove from, or not place in, a navigable water, a vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object of any kind.
(d) Not take off with a seaplane, or transport or operate a vehicle, watercraft, or other object of any kind on a highway.
(4) Subsection (2) does not prohibit a person from doing any of the following:
(am) Transporting or operating commercial aquatic plant harvesting equipment that has aquatic plants or animals attached to the exterior of the equipment if the equipment is owned or operated by a local governmental unit, if the equipment is being transported or operated for the purpose of cleaning the equipment to remove aquatic plants or animals, and if the person transports the equipment to, or operates the equipment at, a suitable location away from any body of water.
(b) Transporting or operating a vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object of any kind with duckweed that is incidentally attached to the exterior of the vehicle, seaplane, watercraft, or other object.
55,10
Section
10. 30.124 (1) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
30.124 (1) (a) Cut aquatic plants, as defined in s. 30.715 30.07 (1) (a)
(b), without removing them from the water, for the purpose of improving waterfowl nesting, brood, and migration habitat.
55,11
Section
11. 30.1255 (3) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
30.1255 (3) (b) The department shall submit the first report required under par. (a) before July 1, 1994, and shall submit subsequent reports before July October 1 of each even-numbered year thereafter. Beginning with the report due before July 1, 2004, the department shall submit each report required under par. (a) as part of the corresponding biennial report under s. 23.22 (6).
55,12
Section
12. 30.715 (title) and (1) to (4) of the statutes are repealed.
55,13
Section
13. 30.715 (5) of the statutes is renumbered 30.07 (5).
55,14
Section
14. 30.715 (6) of the statutes is renumbered 30.07 (6) and amended to read:
30.07 (6) No person may refuse to obey the order of a law enforcement officer who is acting under sub. (4) (3).
55,15
Section
15. 30.80 (5m) of the statutes is created to read:
30.80 (5m) Any person violating any provision of s. 30.07 (2) or (6) shall forfeit not more than $500 for the first offense and shall forfeit not more than $2,000 upon conviction of the same offense a 2nd or subsequent time within 3 years.
55,16
Section
16. 66.0407 (1) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
66.0407 (1) (b) "Noxious weed" means Canada thistle, leafy spurge and, field bindweed
(creeping Jenny), any weed designated as a noxious weed by the department of natural resources by rule, and any other weed the governing body of any municipality or the county board of any county by ordinance or resolution declares to be noxious within its respective boundaries.
55,17
Section
17. 287.07 (7) (cm) of the statutes is created to read:
287.07 (7) (cm) The prohibition in sub. (2) does not apply to the disposal of plants that are classified by the department as invasive species under s. 23.22 (2) or their seeds, if the plants or seeds are not commingled with other yard waste.
55,18
Section
18. 345.11 (1j) of the statutes is created to read:
345.11 (1j) The uniform traffic citation or the citation form under s. 23.54 may be used for violations of s. 30.07. When the uniform traffic citation is used, the report of conviction shall be forwarded to the department of natural resources. When the citation form under s. 23.54 is used, the procedure in ss. 23.50 to 23.85 applies.
