HB556: HB556 Watercraft; boat liveries and education courses; provide

Georgia law currently bars renting powered vessels of ten horsepower or more to anyone under 16 and requires renters 16 and older to complete a boating education course. This bill rewrites those rules in O.C.G.A. § 52-7-8.3. It raises the minimum rental age to 18 and requires that anyone who rents, leases, or operates such a rented vessel first complete a new 'rental education course' approved by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, separate from the existing general boater education course. Boat liveries (businesses that rent boats) would have to use department-approved course materials, and the course must include at least a ten-minute video on topics like navigation rules and safety equipment, plus a renter orientation checklist. Certificates from the course are valid for six months statewide. People with a U.S. Coast Guard master's license, an existing boater education card, or an equivalent out-of-state certification are exempt. Violations remain a misdemeanor.

• Raises the minimum age to rent, lease, or be let a vessel of ten horsepower or more from 16 to 18 years old.
• Creates a new required 'rental education course' that renters and operators of rented vessels must complete, separate from the state's general boater education course.
• Requires that if multiple adults 18 or older will be on a rented vessel, at least one additional person besides the renter must also have completed the course.
• Directs the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to approve rental education course materials and requires boat liveries to use only approved materials.
• Sets minimum content requirements for the course, including a ten-minute video covering safety, navigation rules, and proper identification.
• Keeps violations of these rental rules classified as a misdemeanor criminal offense.

Boat rental businesses (boat liveries), people who want to rent or operate rented vessels with ten horsepower or more, teenagers aged 16 and 17 who could previously rent boats after taking a boater education course, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which approves course materials and certificates.

Georgians who rent boats for fishing or recreation would face a new age floor of 18 and a mandatory short training course before renting or operating a rented boat, changing access for younger renters and adding a compliance step for rental businesses and their customers.

• Section 1 revises subsection (g) of O.C.G.A. § 52-7-8.3, banning rental of vessels of ten horsepower or more to anyone under 18, up from the prior age of 16.
• Paragraph (2) requires anyone operating a rented vessel to be 18 or older and to have completed a department-approved rental education course.
• Paragraph (2) also requires that if more than one adult will be aboard, at least one additional person besides the renter must have completed the course.
• Paragraph (3) requires rental education courses to be approved by the Department of Natural Resources and to issue a certificate valid for six months statewide, and requires boat liveries to use approved course materials.
• Paragraph (3) sets minimum course content: a ten-minute video on operator responsibility, safety equipment, navigation rules, waterway markers, and proper identification, followed by a renter orientation checklist.
• Paragraph (4) exempts Coast Guard-licensed masters, holders of a valid boater education card, and people with equivalent out-of-state certification from the rental course requirement.
• Paragraph (5) makes violation of the subsection a misdemeanor.
• Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
3. 2025-02-24House Second Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-21House First Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-20House Hopper (House)

• Brent Cox (R, HD-028)Primary sponsor
• Noel Williams (R, HD-148)
• Lauren McDonald (R, HD-026)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-008)
• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)

• boating safety
• boat rentals
• watercraft law
• Georgia Department of Natural Resources
• recreational boating age limits