Lucy’s Law to increase boater safety, crack down on reckless boaters, clears first committee

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee has OK’d a measure aimed at improving boater safety and cracking down on reckless boaters, dubbed “Lucy’s Law.”

The bill (HB 289), sponsored by Republican Reps. Vicki Lopez and Vanessa Oliver, passed the committee after passionate testimony from Andy Fernandez, whose 17-year-old daughter, Lucy, died after a 2022 boat crash that also injured other passengers.

The boat’s driver, George Pino, refused a breathalyzer at the time, after he violently struck a channel marker while operating the vessel.

“This bill has two main components. The first is to align the penalties and offenses for leaving the scene of a boating accident, reckless operation of a vessel and vessel homicide with the corresponding driving offenses,” Oliver said of the bill she is co-sponsoring.

“It also prohibits a person from knowingly providing false information to a vessel accident report, and finally it requires those operating a vessel who have not been a Florida resident for at least five years to obtain a boater safety card or equivalent while retaining the requirement that anyone operating a vessel born after Jan. 1, 1988, to have a boater safety card.”

Lopez said the effort “is personal for all of us that live in Miami-Dade County,” where the Fernandez family is from.

“They seemingly have taken a tragedy and have determined that Lucy would not die in vain, that her memory would stand as a way that we would all know that it is absolute mayhem on the water,” Lopez said.

A committee substitute filed Friday for the bill makes some minor changes, including adding leased or rented vessels and escalating penalties for leaving the scene of a boating accident — ranging from a misdemeanor for property damage to a felony for accidents leading to death, including of unborn children.

The legislation would make accidents in which property damage is involved a first-degree misdemeanor, up from second degree. If someone is hurt, but it’s not a serious bodily injury, prosecutors can charge a third-degree felony. In the event of a serious bodily injury, it’s a second-degree felony, up from a third-degree felony. And accidents involving death would be punishable as first-degree felonies.

Additionally, if a person is found to be boating under the influence or operating recklessly, their license “shall be suspended until all orders of the court have been satisfied.”

The committee substitute also would criminalize knowingly providing false information on boat reports, as a misdemeanor, and would keep boat safety education requirements.

The bill received praise in committee, with Rep. Taylor Yarkosky saying it “is needed more than ever.”

The measure has two committee stops remaining, Budget and Judiciary. If it becomes law, it would take effect July 1.

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