No. SB 900
Filed under Transportation.
Boating Safety; Revising the conditions upon which the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles must include a certain symbol on identification cards; requiring the department to issue original, renewal, or replacement identification cards that include a certain symbol in certain circumstances; authorizing the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to provide the department with certain information relating to the applicant; providing a mandatory minimum sentence for a person who willfully commits such violation resulting in the death of another while boating under the influence (BUI), etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDBoating under the influence now covers anyone in physical control of a vessel, not just someone operating it, lowering the threshold for a BUI charge. Refusing a breath or urine test triggers a one-year license suspension instead of a $500 fine.
A third boating-under-the-influence conviction now requires a court-ordered ignition interlock device on every vehicle and vessel the person owns or leases, installed at their own expense for at least two years. Certain repeat or aggravated offenders must also carry vessel liability insurance.
Starting in 2028, every operator of a vessel with a motor of 10 horsepower or more must carry proof of boating safety education, not just those born in 1988 or later as required today.
Willfully leaving the scene of a fatal boating accident now carries a mandatory four-year minimum prison term only when the operator was also boating under the influence at the time. Leaving the scene after property damage alone becomes a more serious misdemeanor.
AIThe offense of boating under the influence no longer requires that the person be operating the vessel. It now applies whenever the person is in physical control of it while impaired, a broader standard than actively piloting.
AIA willful violation resulting in another person's death used to carry a four-year mandatory minimum sentence regardless of intoxication. It now applies specifically when the person was also boating under the influence at the time of the offense.
AIRefusing a lawful breath or urine test used to draw a $500 civil penalty. It now suspends the person's privilege to operate a vessel for one year on a first refusal, or 18 months if previously suspended or fined for refusal.
AIA third conviction within 10 years requires the court to order an ignition interlock device on every vehicle and vessel the person owns or leases, for at least two years at the person's own expense. A first or second conviction with a blood- or breath-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher, or with a minor aboard, also requires one.
AIA person convicted of BUI along with one or more other criminal violations under this chapter, whether from the same incident or within the preceding 12 months, must maintain liability insurance of at least $100,000 for injury or death and $50,000 for property damage. Operating without it is a new misdemeanor.
AICurrently only people born on or after January 1, 1988 must carry proof of boating safety education aboard a vessel with a motor of 10 horsepower or more. Starting July 1, 2028, that requirement applies to every operator regardless of age.
AIThe department must issue a lifetime boater-safety symbol on an ID card or driver license at no extra fee once someone presents a boating safety card or the wildlife commission confirms one was issued. The commission may also share boating-education records with the department to verify applications.
AIA person who violates a navigation rule and causes a boating accident with serious bodily injury or death, without it rising to reckless operation, used to commit a second-degree misdemeanor. That conduct is now a third-degree felony.