85R6590 AAF-D
By: Klick H.B. No. 2117
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring certain persons to wear a personal flotation
device while a passenger on motorboats.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 31.066(b), (d), and (e), Parks and
Wildlife Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) The operator of a motorboat less than 26 feet in length,
while underway, shall require every passenger born on or after
September 1, 2003, [under 13 years of age] to wear a wearable
personal flotation device of the sort prescribed by the regulations
of the commandant of the Coast Guard. A life belt or ring buoy does
not satisfy this requirement.
(d) A person born on or after September 1, 2003, who is
[under 13 years of age] on board a vessel described by Section
31.073(a) or (b) must wear a wearable personal flotation device of
the sort prescribed by the commandant of the Coast Guard while the
vessel is under way.
(e) An adult operator of a vessel described by Section
31.073 may not permit a person born on or after September 1, 2003,
[under 13 years of age] to be on board the vessel while the vessel is
under way if the person born on or after September 1, 2003, [under
13 years of age] is not wearing a wearable personal flotation device
required by Subsection (d).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.