Amended life jacket bill goes to House

A bill that would require children to wear life preservers is on the House floor. SB93 passed the full Senate Jan. 21 with a 30-10 vote and moved to the House.

On March 3, the bill passed the Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by a 13-9 vote after three amendments were tacked onto it.

Originally, the bill would have required all children age 12 and under to wear life preservers while aboard a boat that is underway. It would only apply to boats on waterways, such as Smith Mountain Lake, that have concurrent state and federal jurisdiction. A violation penalty was set at $100.

The amendments lowered the age to 10 or younger and the penalty to $25. It also would only apply to vessels that are less than 26 feet in length.

Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County, who sits on the committee, said the bill was in danger of being killed.

"There was a motion to refer the bill back to somebody, somewhere to kill it," he said. "A couple of us stepped in. ... We killed the referral motion and then voted to move it to the House floor."

Before the amendments, SB93 was identical to HB168, which passed the same committee on Jan. 27 with a 19-3 vote. When HB168 moved to the full house floor, a motion was made to refer it to the Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety.

On Feb. 4, the committee voted 3-2 to leave the bill on the table, effectively killing it, said Poindexter. On Tuesday, the House voted to send SB93 to the same committee that killed HB168.

SB93 was introduced by Sen. Frederick Quayle, R-Chesapeake to eliminate confusion between state and federal life preserver laws. Virginia law requires a properly sized preserver on board for each person. Federal law requires children 12 and under to wear the preservers while the vessel is underway.