After some last-minute debate over the language in Lucy’s Law, the Florida House and Senate came to an agreement to crack down on dangerous boaters. NBC6’s Laura Rodriguez reports
After some last-minute debate over the language in Lucy’s Law, the Florida House and Senate came to an agreement to crack down on dangerous boaters.
The Florida Legislature passed the bill late Friday night with a near-unanimous vote.
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WATCH HERE“Today, we will now end our 60 days with the same bill that we started session with,” said House Speaker Rep. Danny Perez.
Disagreement over boater education requirements threatened to upend Lucy’s Law.
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“We’re so happy with how the bill turned out. Even though certain provisions were removed, we believe it’s really strong,” said Lucy’s mother, Melissa Fernandez.
The House wanted to require boater safety courses for anyone who has not been a Florida resident for at least five years. The Senate wanted to stick with current law, only keeping courses for people born after 1988. In the end, the House agreed to keep the current law on boater education.
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Rep. Vanessa Oliver and Rep. Vicki Lopez sponsored the bill.
“I think our marine industry and our boat rental folks, I think that it is really incumbent upon them to emphasize the importance of taking this class,” Oliver said.
Lucy’s Law will, however, require boating safety education for any boat operator found guilty of a criminal or non-criminal boating infraction.
The law, named after 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez, who was killed in a boat crash in September 2022, creates a clear structure of penalties for reckless boating in line with what’s on the road. It also adds a mandatory minimum 4-year prison sentence for boating under the influence manslaughter.
“I kind of look at it like a race and the other moms and the other dads and the other families that have tried this year after year just took us one step closer and we just grabbed the baton and took it to the end but now it’s up to Gov. DeSantis to get us through the finish line because you know it’s not over yet,” Fernandez said.
The Fernandez family hopes DeSantis will sign this into law, given the near-unanimous support in the Legislature. Aside from advocating in Tallahassee, the Fernandezes are planning a boater safety summit in July in the Florida Keys.
