A bill filed Friday would lower the state’s legal intoxication limit for Georgia boaters.
The measure follows the deaths of two boys in June during an accident on Lake Lanier involving a man alleged to have been boating while drunk.
Senate Bill 136 would make it a crime to pilot a boat with a blood-alcohol content of at least 0.08 — the same limit for operating a motor vehicle on the state’s roadways.
Most states require the blood-alcohol content of a boat operator to be lower than .08. But in Georgia the legal alcohol limit for boat drivers is 0.10.
SB 136, sponsored by Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, would tighten rules about boating and increase the penalties for those caught boating drunk — making it a felony if someone is convicted at least four times. It would also lower to 0.08 the legal intoxication limit for hunters.
Boating under the influence in Georgia is currently a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and possibly 12 months in jail.
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