Ryan Nicol
Lucy’s Law is not law yet, despite each chamber passing a version of the legislation.
The House unanimously voted for the bill (HB 289) in late March. But the Senate waited for over a month to take up the legislation, and still has not accepted the House’s full language.
The Senate voted unanimously, 37-0, for different language.
The measure is called “Lucy’s Law” after 17-year-old Luciana Fernandez, who died during a September 2022 boat crash that left other passengers injured, including 18-year-old Katerina Puig, who is now permanently disabled. George Pino is facing homicide charges for operating a boat Fernandez, Puig and others were aboard when it violently struck a channel marker. Pino refused a Breathalyzer at the time.
The bill language aims to sharpen some of the penalties associated with dangerous boating.
Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin guided the Senate bill (SB 628) through the process. On the floor Wednesday evening, he agreed to adopt the House bill, but offered an amendment to replace the House language with the Senate’s version, plus a few changes.
“This bill aims to align boating laws more closely with motor vehicle laws to increase accountability on our waterways,” Martin said. “It also expands the definition of ‘vessel homicide’ to include the death of an unborn child caused by injury to the mother.”
Per the legislation, if someone leaves the scene of an accident where someone is hurt, but it’s not a serious bodily injury, prosecutors can charge the person with a third-degree felony. In the event of a serious injury, it’s a second-degree felony. Accidents involving death would be punishable as first-degree felonies.
Reckless boating that causes a serious bodily injury would also be treated as a second-degree felony.
The language adopted Wednesday would also set minimum standards for online boating safety education courses.
“The standards must, at a minimum, align with the education standards set by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and may include additional requirements as necessary to promote effective and accessible online boating safety education in this state,” the bill reads.
The bill also requires a $500 fine and boater safety education courses for certain offenders involved in accidents or boating infractions.
Republican Reps. Vanessa Oliver and Vicki Lopez carried the House bill. The Southern Group’s lobbyists, Edgar Castro and Avery Mazur, have also been behind the legislation.
Martin pointed to a key difference between the bills, with the House requiring those born before 1988 to take boater education courses.
Lucy’s parents, Melissa and Andy Fernandez, have also advocated strongly for the provisions as it moved through both chambers.
“This is a very important bill to keep our waterways safe, hold those accountable who take unnecessary risks with the lives of boaters on their own boats or other boats,” Martin said in his close.
“Lucy’s parents have been phenomenal through this whole process. I want to thank them for their advocacy to get this across the finish line here in the Senate. And I believe this language is a good compromise between what we’ve heard from the House and what we’ve heard from the Governor’s Office.”
