HB 195: Watercraft; require probable cause for summonses and boarding vessels

Current Georgia law lets officers enforcing boating rules stop, board, and inspect any vessel to check compliance, without first needing a specific legal reason. This bill, titled the "Constitutional Rights for Hunters and Boaters Act," changes that standard. It amends O.C.G.A. § 52-7-25 so that officers may stop and board a vessel or issue a summons only when they find a violation or have probable cause (a reasonable, fact based belief) that state boating law or a Board of Natural Resources rule has been broken. It applies the same probable cause standard to warrantless searches of vessels away from their mooring and to inspections of marine toilets and holding tanks aboard boats. The bill also updates a reference from the "Board of Natural Resources" to simply "the board." It repeals conflicting laws and does not state a separate effective date.

• Adds a probable cause requirement before officers can stop, board, or issue a summons to a vessel under Georgia's boating enforcement law (O.C.G.A. § 52-7-25).
• Replaces the subjective standard of an officer's personal belief with an objective probable cause standard for warrantless searches of vessels away from their mooring.
• Applies the same probable cause standard to warrantless inspections of marine toilets, holding tanks, and related compliance records aboard boats.
• Renames the short title of the amended law provisions as the 'Constitutional Rights for Hunters and Boaters Act.'
• Updates a statutory reference from 'Board of Natural Resources' to 'the board' for consistency.

Boaters and vessel owners operating on Georgia waters, and law enforcement officers and conservation rangers who enforce watercraft registration, operation, and marine sanitation rules under the Department of Natural Resources.

Boaters would gain a legal standard limiting when officers can stop, board, or search their vessels, similar to protections used in other law enforcement contexts. Officers would need a specific, articulable reason tied to a suspected violation rather than general authority to board any vessel for inspection.

• Section 1 names the Act the 'Constitutional Rights for Hunters and Boaters Act.'
• Section 2 revises subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 52-7-25 to require that an officer find or have probable cause of a violation before stopping and boarding a vessel or issuing a summons.
• Section 2 also revises paragraph (4) to replace an officer's subjective belief with a probable cause standard for warrantless vessel searches away from mooring.
• Section 2 revises paragraph (4.1) to apply the probable cause standard to warrantless inspections of marine toilets and holding tanks.
• Section 3 repeals all laws and parts of laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-03House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-30House Hopper (House)

• Jordan Ridley (R, HD-022)Primary sponsor
• Jason Ridley (R, HD-006)
• Mitchell Horner (R, HD-003)
• Steve Tarvin (R, HD-002)
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Noelle Kahaian (R, HD-081)

• boating law
• law enforcement searches
• probable cause
• watercraft regulation
• Department of Natural Resources