TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – An effort to impose stricter penalties on reckless boaters, spurred by a 2022 crash in the Florida Keys that resulted in the death of a 17-year-old girl, continued moving forward Wednesday in the Senate.
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But while the Senate bill has cleared two committees, differences remain with a House proposal for what is known as “Lucy’s Law.”
The Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday backed the Senate bill (SB 628), filed by Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers. Like the House version (HB 289), the Senate bill would make it a first-degree felony when a boat operator leaves the scene of a crash that results in the death of another person or an unborn child without first offering aid, providing identifying information or contacting law enforcement.
Martin said his bill “balances” the ability to enjoy boating in Florida with the consequences of not being a responsible operator.
Also like the House version, the Senate bill would make it a second-degree felony when a boat operator leaves a crash scene that results in serious bodily injury. An additional third-degree felony charge would be imposed if the boat operator makes a false statement to an investigating law enforcement officer.
But Martin’s bill would require suspension of boat operators’ driver’s licenses if they are convicted of reckless boating or boating under the influence. That was in an original version of the House bill but was removed.
“It’s just a little bit odd that some of the penalties that we might suffer if we’re breaking the law driving recklessly in a car don’t match up with somebody doing the same thing, simply because the vehicle that they’re driving is a little bit different,” Martin said.
Florida requires boat operators born after 1988 to take a National Association of State Boating Law Administrators-approved boating safety course, even if they are renting vessels. Under Martin’s proposal, people born before 1988 would have to take the course if they are charged with reckless boating or if they receive two non-criminal boating violations within a 12 month period.
Both proposals are named after Lucy Fernandez, a 17-year-old killed in 2022 when a 29-foot boat she and 13 others were on hit a channel marker near Boca Chita Key. The operator of the boat, Doral real-estate broker George Pino, faces a vessel homicide charge after initially being charged with three misdemeanor counts for careless boating. He pleaded not guilty to the homicide charge in November.
In backing increased boater education, Lucy’s mother, Melissa Fernandez, told the Senate committee that Florida leads the nation in registered vessels along with boating fatalities and that “most operators responsible for these deadly accidents have never had formal boat or safety education, nor are they required to.”
“Lucy’s law will bring meaningful, lasting change to the boating community, a community woven into the very identity of Florida, a way of life that Lucy herself cherished,” Melissa Fernandez told the committee. “We have an opportunity right now to make our waters safer, to prevent tragedies, to ensure that what happened to Lucy never happens to another child, another parent, another friend.”
The House State Affairs Committee is scheduled Thursday to consider the House bill.
The proposals have advanced as Gov. Ron DeSantis last month called on the Legislature to halt law-enforcement officers from using boat-safety inspections as a pretense for “intrusive” checks of “people that are acting responsibly” on Florida waters.
DeSantis’ proposal, filed as part of bills (SB 1388 and HB 1001) by Sen. Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City, and Rep. Griff Griffitts, R-Panama City Beach, would change a state law that allows law-enforcement officers to pull over boaters for safety inspections when no probable cause or suspected violations have occurred.