HB 556: Watercraft; boat liveries and education courses; provide

Current Georgia law bars renting a vessel with ten or more horsepower to anyone under 16, and lets 16-year-olds rent one if they complete a boating education course. This bill rewrites that section (O.C.G.A. § 52-7-8.3) to raise the minimum rental age to 18 and to create a new, separate 'rental education course' requirement distinct from the existing general boater education course. Under the bill, no one under 18 could rent a powered vessel, and anyone who rents, operates, or is a co-passenger age 18 or older on a rented boat generally must complete the new rental course and get a certificate valid for six months. Boat liveries (rental businesses) must use department-approved course materials, including a ten-minute video covering safety, navigation rules, waterway markers, and identification. People with a Coast Guard master's license, a valid boater education card, or an out-of-state equivalent are exempt. Violations are misdemeanors.

• Raises the minimum age to rent a vessel with ten or more horsepower from 16 to 18 years old.
• Creates a new 'rental education course' separate from the general boating education course, required for renters and operators of rented boats.
• Requires boat rental businesses (boat liveries) to use department-approved course materials, including a ten-minute safety video and a renter orientation checklist.
• Sets rental education certificates to expire six months after issuance but be valid statewide.
• Exempts Coast Guard-licensed masters, holders of a valid boater education card, and people with an equivalent out-of-state certification.
• Makes violating the rental and course requirements a misdemeanor criminal offense.

Boat rental businesses (boat liveries) and their customers, teenagers and young adults who want to rent motorized watercraft, boaters who accompany a renter on the water, and the state department that must approve course materials and issue certificates.

Georgians who rent motorized boats, especially those aged 16 and 17 who currently can rent with a course, would no longer be allowed to do so. Adults renting boats would face a new, shorter mandatory training requirement, and rental companies would need to adopt state-approved video and checklist materials.

• Section 1 rewrites subsection (g) of O.C.G.A. § 52-7-8.3 to bar renting a vessel of ten horsepower or more to anyone under 18, up from the prior age 16 cutoff.
• Paragraph (2) requires anyone 18 or older who operates or rents such a vessel, and at least one additional adult passenger if present, to complete the rental education course.
• Paragraph (3) requires the course to be department-approved, include a ten-minute video on operator responsibility, safety equipment, navigation rules, waterway markers, and identification, followed by an orientation checklist; certificates last six months.
• Paragraph (4) exempts Coast Guard-licensed masters, holders of a valid boater education card, and people with an out-of-state equivalent course or exam.
• Paragraph (5) makes any 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-28)Primary sponsor
• Noel Williams, Jr. (R, HD-148)
• Lauren McDonald III (R, HD-26)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-8)
• Alan Powell (R, HD-33)

• boating safety
• watercraft rentals
• boat liveries
• water recreation law
• minors and boating