H.B. 54 Boating Safety Education

What this bill does

The bill would combine Utah's existing yearly quagga mussel boater course with a new boating safety course into one shorter course covering life jackets, alcohol, speed and distance from other boats, and invasive species. Boaters who can show they already know the material could take only the test, and rental companies (liveries) would be exempt from the separate safety course.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 50 yes, 19 no, 6 absentFinal House vote · Jan 22, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee: vote, which it did not pass · Feb 4, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 4 absentSenate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 4 absentSenate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 26, 2026Who voted how
• 20 yes, 5 no, 4 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 6, 2026Who voted how
• 57 yes, 6 no, 12 absentHouse vote to accept the other chamber's changes · Mar 6, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Jan 22, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)28:27

     House Bill 54, boating safety education by representative Mike Peterson, Representative Peterson.

  2. Rep. Michael J. Petersen28:35

     Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Uh, I gotta tell you, this is, uh, I don't think I've had a bill that's had as much caused as much commotion for me as this one. Um, I sometimes joke that my, one of my favorite summertime activities is to sit on the edge of the, of the dock there at Bear Lake, where I have my sailboat to watch the circus as boaters who have no idea what they're doing, try to navigate in and out of the marina. Um, those who are regular boaters, and I don't know if you are Mr. Mr. Speaker if you own a boat, but if you own a boat, you know that every year, every year, you're required to take the most long boring qua muscle aware course you can imagine. Well, I hate that course. And in fact, when DNR came to the transportation committee, I told, I told them how much I can't stand that, that course. And, uh, but they proposed another additional course, a 90 minute voter safety course. And I can't remember my exact words were this way, it was close to over my dead body because we have a long enough course as it is, and why are we gonna add another 90 minutes? So, uh, I agreed to take the, to take this committee bill. And what we've worked out is a, we've agreed that we could put the QA muscle awareness course and their 90 minute course into 20 minutes because motor safety really comes down to three things, although they wanted to anchoring and all kinds of things. I said, look, what we need to do is identify what are the three causes of, of accidents and death in the, in, in boating life. Sa not wearing a life preserver and by being an alcohol, and then issues with speed and distance of a boat. So, uh, we've put together, uh, so this bill, what this bill says is that we're going to create a, a course that's going to combine the two muscle and safety awareness. It's gonna be just a few minutes. And in fact, one of the wonderful things is if you already know the information, skip the course. Just take the test. You don't have to be bored for however long, right? So, um, I've done boaters a favor and please bless me for that. Don't, don't, I, this is a good thing. This is a move towards, towards less government. This is a move towards easier, easier, uh, opportunities for voters. And so with that, Mr. Speaker, I'll conclude my presentation.

  3. Speaker (presiding)31:29

     Thank you, representative discussion to the bill. See none back to your Representative Peterson for summation.

  4. Rep. Michael J. Petersen31:38

     The that's awesome. I'm really surprised, but I've answered a lot of questions the last week or so from all kinds of folks coming outta the woodwork, wanting to know what the heck I'm doing with this bill. Um, again, this is a blessing. This is a, this, this makes it easier on boaters. And so I'd appreciate your support. Thank you. Thank

  5. Speaker (presiding)31:56

     You. Representative Peterson Voting will now be open on HB 54. Seeing all President, having voting. Voting is now closed. HP 54 passes this body of 50 yes votes, 19 no votes and will be sent to the Senate for its consideration.

• Feb 4, 2026 Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (31 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:10:49

     You. All right. House Bill 54 bolding safety education Representative Peterson Floor is yours.

  2. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:11:04

     How Are you? Nice to see you. Thank you. Short is good. Um, I gotta tell you, I've, I've, and you all know I've had some bills that were a little controversial over the years, and I don't think I've received more inquiries on a bill in six sessions that I have on this one. So I hope that I can clarify for you what this boating safety education, uh, bill is. Um, lemme start by saying this. I I, in the summer or late fall, uh, the transportation committee, um, heard from outdoor recreation, uh, proposal to add a new course for boaters. Uh, originally it was a 90 minute course to teach boater safety, everything from anchoring to, you name it, all kinds of things for boating. And you may not know this, but already, if you're a boater, you're already, if you, if you own a boat you're already required to take every year, uh, it's called muscle aware. It's a course to teach you about the qua mussel. We can prevent that from, uh, becoming more prolific across our state. Um, so as I heard the presentation, I said, holy cow, there's no way I'm gonna continue to do that. Muscle aware. And then another 90 minute course. So, um, I agreed to take, uh, this, this committee bill and said, look, what we're gonna do is we're gonna, we're gonna put these two bill, these two courses together and shrink this and shrink this down and get to the heart of, of what the ma uh, of what the issues are. So as you look at your bill, you'll see that, um, the course. So, so there's going to be a single course that's going to teach the three things that cause problems. Uh, not wearing a, a life jacket, uh, uh, using alcohol and, and going too fast and too close to other boats. That's what the, that's what the voter safety portion is going to be about. And then there's going to be a piece still on this invasive, uh, species, the muscle, the muscle. Um, now there's a lot of folks who, who don't, who who've sort of misunderstood what we're doing, and they're, and they're a little uptight that you're doing another course and blah, blah, blah. Uh, but in that, in reality, this is gonna be a blessing because right now you take a course that might take, uh, 30 or 40 minutes, and then they wanted to add a 90. And so I'm saying we're gonna do it all. And it's gonna be, I, I think the bill says it's gonna be 20 minutes. And actually, uh, what we're going to do is that if you have taken the course before and you want, you can just go in and just take the, just take the test. Don't worry about taking, if you can prove that you know, these, these simple points, then let's just, let's just move you on. Um, I think that's, I think that that probably ought to be a good start for a presentation. Thank you.

  3. Committee chair1:14:18

     Okay. Uh, questions from the committee, Senator Ipson?

  4. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:14:26

     Yeah, I'm, I'm a little concerned about it. I think common sense tells you these things. You know, you're not gonna vote when you're drunk and, you know, not gonna get run by other boats and a test's not gonna stop somebody from doing those stupid things if they do 'em anyways. What's the, I don't, I don't think I see the value.

  5. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:14:47

     That's a great question. Uh, you, you, you're right. I think there, I don't think it's gonna stop everybody but it, but the, the constant reminder, and especially as, as folks from a younger age as they're told these important principles, one of my favorite activities, I, I, it's, I shouldn't tell you kind of a sick, kind of a sick activity, but I sit at the, we have a, we have a boat at, at, uh, a Bear Lake, a sailboat. And so I like to spend my time at sitting at the end of the dock and watching the boats come in and out. And it's, it's a circus. Um, it's crazy, especially on holidays to see what happens. Uh, and, and, and if we could, if we could, uh, if we could help people think about this speed and proximity, for example, in the marina and, and, and having just, just been reminded about it, maybe we'll reduce the number of folks. Or I've heard people say, well, I, I've, I've not seen an accident. I, I have seen many times when boats have hit another boat. Many I've seen many times when people have, have had their wake that it's just going crazy. I've seen, anyway, uh, you're, you're right, Senator Ipson, it's not gonna solve, it's not gonna solve it, but it might make a dent.

  6. Committee chair1:16:04

     Okay. Senator Millner, just,

  7. Sen. Ann Millner1:16:07

     Uh, I'm trying to understand. Did you say are already other courses and you're trying to consolidate this into one course?

  8. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:16:15

     Yeah. So there's a, so there is a, a muscle aware course to teach you about the qua muscle that you take. And I'm, and I'm saying, let's don't, let's don't make, uh, this don't have that 30 or 40 minute course and a new 90 minute course. Let's consolidate them. Let's get rid of all the stuff you don't really need. Right. I, I call, I, I classify everything in the need to know. Nice to know. Let's just put the need to know into a course. That's 20 minutes And we're already, we are already requiring a course. Correct. So this Is an annual course, this is Revising, correct. That course. And, um, and making it shorter. Correct. Thank you.

  9. Sen. Ann Millner1:16:53

     There. So my guess is there will be a statute at some point honoring this bill because it's going to reduce the amount of time you have to spend every year taking this course. You are hopeful. I'm hopeful.

  10. Unknown speaker1:17:09speaker not certain

      Okay. Um, when I read this, I was a little bit, uh, I don't know where my frame of mind was. I read it different. And, um, so right now a person has to have proof that they've gone through the required training. Right now, safety courses. And down here on There isn't a safety course. Right now, There isn't one.

  11. Unknown speaker1:17:37speaker not certain

      I, I had, um, an email from an operator up on Bear Lake. Yep. He ransom people don't, you know, and, and your bill says now that, uh, an individual may not operate it unless the individual has, uh, individual's immediate possession. Um, uh, and you owning a boat can't let somebody else take your boat unless they can prove to you. So now you've become the police for this, right? Well, if you're, if you're a livery, that would be true.

  12. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:18:15

      If, if I'm gonna let my son take my boat, I don't, I I'm certainly not gonna be the guy that's, uh, that's, that's required of that. But if I was a livery, like it says in here Yeah. Then you are.

  13. Committee chair1:18:27

      Okay. Well, I, all right, we'll let that one go. Senator Kwan.

  14. Sen. Karen Kwan1:18:36

      Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, as I age, we've talked about this as I age, years go by really quickly, and it seems like when I'm taking these yearly trainings that we all have to do, it seems like we just take it and then we turn around and we take it again. Now, I, I think that um, you know, there's, there's some value to having, um, younger voters do this. And I don't mean to be ageist, uh, but I am wondering if it needs to be yearly. I mean, why, why can't it be every three years, every five years? I mean, what, what's the magic number there?

  15. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:19:23

      So, so the reason why I, I, the, for right now, the reason the bill is, is every year is because that's the way we do it, is it's every year. I didn't adjust the time, the timeframe. It happens every year. The, the QA once that's right. Yeah.

  16. Sen. Karen Kwan1:19:36

      But, and that's my question too. Like, what, what's the person, if we're gonna change this, why don't we change it? But then, you know, the other thing is, um, this is something that Senator Ipson brought up. Are we sure that this is the answer to the questions of safety? I mean, perhaps it is, but do we have data? And maybe somebody here is gonna testify and Yeah, They will. Okay. Yep. Thank you.

  17. Committee chair1:20:05

      Okay. All right. We've come to the end of the questioning from the committee. Let's open this up to the public. Is there people in the audience that would like to address this bill? We got one, two. Okay.

  18. Ty Hunter, Manager, Boating Program, Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation1:20:27

      Uh, thank you committee and thank you chair for this opportunity to, to, uh, kind of provide a little bit of insight. Um, my name is Ty Hunter. I'm the boating program manager for the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation. Um, I have had an opportunity to work with, with Representative Peterson here through this bill. And this is something that Utah themselves, we do, the only boating education courses that we have are for youth, um, that operate personal watercraft from the ages of 12 to 17. Um, Utah itself, along with a couple of our bordering neighbors, Wyoming, Arizona, and even New Mexico. We are, in essence, an island for boating safety, for not having a mandatory boating safety course. Um, boating education and boating safety courses do make a difference, um, out there with the awareness. Um, that's there. As we talked about, um, and has been talked about. One of the items that we were looking at addressing life jackets, um, seven of the eight, um, voting fatalities last year that occurred, um, was a direct result of not wearing a life jacket. We are trying to instill the, the, um, uh, importance of why to wear a life jacket and that importance of keeping families together and keeping loved ones here with us at this time. Um, the secondary thing with, with the speed and proximity, um, our complaints this year have skyrocketed. Our citations have doubled, um, in, in dealing with this particular law. We need to do a little bit more in having the public understand, um, this part, this, this piece, and how, um, important it is and how it's a large factor of preventing crashes and, and, and any type of injuries or fatalities. Lastly, um, I don't think we, I, I need to really say much about it, but DUI laws, we just need to, to make sure that we can have boaters understand that the DUI law does pertain to them on the waterway. Um, we get asked a lot of times is, you know, really, can, can alcohol be used on a boat? Well, yes, but a boat is treated much like a, a motor home or a limousine. It needs to be kept out of the arms reach of an operator. And we also need to be thinking about those folks going home at the end of the day. Do they have a, um, designated driver to get them home after, after they've had fun out, out on the water? Um, so that's, with this being said, um, we, we are believe, and I said I believe that voting education does matter and it does make a difference.

  19. Committee chair1:23:17

      Thank you. Okay, come on up. And then we've got two online also. Yes, yes. Go ahead. And Senator.

  20. Unknown speaker1:23:29speaker not certain

      So, uh, this is just point of understanding 'cause isn't this bill, it says, completion of a watercraft operator safety course does not satisfy the requirements of the personal watercraft safety course. So we would have, does that mean we, well, I, I don't understand the differences in those two.

  21. Ty Hunter, Manager, Boating Program, Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation1:23:54

      So to give clarification on that, is the youth that are already required to take the safety course. Okay, so, which are personal watercraft operators, this is not going to change their requirement. So for the first year, they would have to take a national recognized course, um, that can be hours for them to go through, plus take this course here. There are opportunities in taking that course that there are free opportunities in taking those courses. And we have those available, But those are only for under 18. It is from 12 to 17 years of age that operate personal watercraft only. That's your wave runners, jet skis and Such there. Okay. Alright. So they take that course, but then they would have to also take this course Or year one Or year one after that. They would, After that they would have to just take this course from year every year on as Is this is written, but of course not. They of course, they were taking. Correct. Okay. Thank you.

  22. Committee chair1:24:52

      Alright, Mr. Stewart, go ahead. And then we, the ones online, we've got, um, Brian Hershey and Brent Hershey. So go ahead.

  23. Brett Stewart, President, Utah OHV Advocates1:25:06

      My, my name's Brett Stewart with Utah OHV advocates. And um, first I want to thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion. I don't vote as much as I used to. I used to be so obsessed with it that I actually burned out and gave up, but I could still remember a lot of the rules and laws from 30 years ago. And so I also worked on the off highway vehicle education class, and it's been very successful. Um, it's mandatory, the in-state and outta state, um, youth and adults take that course once in a lifetime. And what that's done is it they get a little card when they, once they take it, it's free. And once they've taken it, and it's only a 20, 30 minute course, um, if they ever get busted out going off trail or damaging a pinch point or whatever, um, if they get caught doing that, if they've taken the course and they prove it, they can't use the excuse that I didn't know better. Because all of our points that we put in that 20 minute course hits pretty much everything. And if we find anything that's needed beyond that, we're willing to adjust the course. But I, I think we're in the 300,000 somewhere in there. That's just a wild number of, of people that have taken it. And it's once in a lifetime and it keeps getting stronger and stronger because people will sit around the fire and talk about it, Hey, that stupid course and whatever they want to say, or they'll say it's the greatest thing ever. And so I'm in support of the, of the education course safety is number one. The registration of the stickers is not gonna be messed with, but this is overkill, doing it once a year. And I would ask, uh, Senator Riebe, I mean, she's a teacher, she teaches if I'm correct. I remember over the years, um, she's taught her classes and do we have repeats of whatever classes it was, come back and learn the same thing every year. No. And so that's why I oppose it. I, I support the direction you're going. I I would ask you to do a sub that maybe goes once a lifetime or maybe every 10 years, every five years at the very most, but once a year is overreach. So that's my opinion. And anyway, thank you. Thank you.

  24. Committee chair1:27:24

      Okay, let's go online. Brian Hershey, if you'll unmute yourself, turn on your camera, we will give you some time. And then Brent, if you want to get ready.

  25. Brian Hirschi, Owner, Bear Lake Fun Enterprises Inc.1:27:36

      Hello? Yes, my name is Brian Hershey. Yes, go ahead. Okay. Alright. So yes, I own a watercraft rental business in Utah, and it's the largest one that I'm aware of. In Utah, we have, uh, uh, seven locations throughout Utah. So as far as this bill, um, there's uh, three lines in the airlines, 52 through 54 that, uh, reference, uh, watercraft Liberties, which is a rental boat rental company, which is what I do. That's been my business for 28 years. So I have issue with this that it requires each boat renter to take an online course. I fear the devastating and effect it would have on my business of people not wanting to rent or huge lines at our boat rental business at the marina, as senator mentioned, of, um, you know, people wanting to rent a boat. And then we tell 'em, oh, we have to take this 20, maybe 30, 40 minute course depending on how quickly you can take it. And then they just don't wanna rent. Or we have huge lines of people. Uh, I feel that section could be altered to say that, uh, watercraft deliveries, uh, can have the option to check, to go over the rules and the laws as contained in the, the online or the course. Um, we feel that we can do a better job at that than an online course. Which other ones, which were just mentioned, can sometimes seem long fluffy, not to the point. We just want to get to the bare essentials. So we fill our in-person eye-to-eye checkout with the customers right before they're renting. It's fresh in their mind. They know the rules. They haven't taken the course months or 11 months beforehand. Um, then, uh, we fill, that would be sufficient to basically alter those, that one sentence that's on those lines, 52 to 54, give that option that, you know, a watercraft liberty can just do the same basically checkout procedure as the course would do. Basically go over the, they would contain the same rules and laws that the course has. And of course, we would obviously do it. In addition to that, we don't just do the bare minimum. So like I said, we've been in business 28 years, we've never had a serious, um, uh, boat accident. We feel our renters are safe. Uh, we monitor them, we enforce our rules. And, uh, that's what I'm asking at this point. And then just one more question on that last question that was brought up on what is the definition of watercraft. I understood reading the section that it said watercraft is defined in this section as motorboat or sailboat, which would exclude personal watercraft. I just wanted to confirm that, that it's just for boats, motor boats, not personal watercraft, which is WaveRunners seadoos. But that's all I had. Thank you for letting me talk. Thank you.

  26. Committee chair1:30:17

      Okay. And Brent, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Okay, go ahead.

  27. Brent Hirschi, Owner, Bear Lake Rentals1:30:27

      So just a point of clarification that I wanted to bring up. Right now. Uh, we're required to do a yearly QA certification as liveries or boat, oh, sorry to introduce myself. I'm actually Brian's brother. I own a boat rental business up here in Bear Lake two. I've only been doing it for 19 years, but, uh, been in the industry about 25 years. Um, so right now the QAs certification is per, it's not per individual, it's per, uh, boat or watercraft. So right now, all of us as rental companies, we take care of all of our boats and watercraft yearly. We do that test. So this new law will actually, uh, create a new test for all of our customers that they're currently not having to do to be able to rent from us. Um, you know, we take that QAs seriously. We're the la we're the, you know, last ones in the world that want QA muscles in our lake. 'cause this is our livelihood. So we take care of all that ourselves, get all of our boats certified, and then to make our customers all of a sudden now have to do a 20, 30 minute test. That's just a, it's a huge burden. Like when I started this business, one of my biggest fears is that one day the government just at the stroke of a pen will essentially shut down your business or greatly harm it. Now, right now, you know, the crowds up at Bear Lake are already big enough. If anyone's been up here seeing all the lines, and if you add on a 20, 30 minute test that everybody has to take before they go out there, it's just gonna make things worse. Um, we can try and prepare 'em as much as they can, but we all know that people aren't gonna listen to their email or the last minute reservations. So I figure there would be a lot, a lot of people that would just opt out of renting. It's gonna greatly harm our business, greatly harm how many employees we can hire. Um, just as another side note, the, um, the checkout procedure. So I've been doing this for about 25 years, and like my brother said, I have never seen, we've never in the voting rental industry have seen a major accident. And I, I attribute that to our checkout procedure. We want to have the safest and most thorough checkouts procedure possible. So we extensively train our employees, you know, teach 'em about the, uh, speeding and proximity and the no wait zones, and the, you always have to wear a life jacket, actually go above and beyond what the state requires, uh, for life jacket. Uh, we, we make, you know, older people wear life jackets too, where's the state doesn't make, uh, older people do that. So, uh, I think, yeah, like Brian said, if there's some sort of except exemption for, uh, liveries or, or Boat Rentals, I, I support, like, I support safety hands down. We need to all be working together to, uh, to be safe. And oh, and the other big, big problem with, uh, these accidents is alcohol. And we just don't allow alcohol on our boats, and then we make sure everybody's wearing, wearing the life jacket. So, um, I just, you know, I fear that this will put a huge undue burden on our customers, on our business, on our, uh, the amount of employees that we can hire. A lot of 'em, college students, helping 'em get through college. Um, I feel that this yearly course, uh, it's just too much. It's just too much government, uh, make, you know, trying to solve something that yeah, we can, we can definitely help, but I just don't think this is the way to, to do it, at least in the livery sense. So, um, I support Brian and the, the Oh froze up there, but we got the gist of what he's saying.

  28. Committee chair1:33:40

      So, um, we'll come back now to, okay, we'll take one more comment here. Apologize. Thank you.

  29. Wyatt Bubak, Deputy Chief, Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement1:33:50

      Uh, deputy Chief Wyatt Bullock, department of Natural Resource Law Enforcement. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Committee. There's a committee member that asked about the annual testing for a IS or why we do the annual testing. Uh, our division kind of oversees that program. And really the, the main reason for that and the interest in that is just the volatility of that program as far as if caucus spreads to another water, having the ability to educate the public on new waters that may be deemed infested or otherwise affected by quaggas is really the intention of, uh, the need or interest in the annual aspect as far as it pertains to the EAS site.

  30. Committee chair1:34:29

      Thank you. All right. We're gonna close public comment, come back to the committee for further considerations. Deep in thought.

  31. Sen. Karen Kwan1:34:56

      Senator Kwan, Mr. Chair, I move that, uh, we move on to the next agenda item Discussion.

• Feb 26, 2026 Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (33 turns)

  1. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:47:55

     We'll call House Bill 54 boating safety education represented to Peterson.

  2. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:48:03

     Thank you. Um, I appreciate you giving us, uh, another, uh, another try at this. Um, once we, once we, uh, met here, we, as you, as you might recall, we had some, uh, folks, uh, voice some concerns. And so we've addressed the concerns and the, and, uh, so in first substitute you'll see that, uh, the real issue was deliveries. And, um, they're concerned that if they had to, uh, uh, uh, put people through our, through our online course, that would gum up their processes. And so, uh, what we learned is that deliveries have, uh, have their own training right on right on site when they, uh, you know, when they rent a, a, a boat. And so, um, so we are, we are, we are exempting them from having to do this, this, uh, this requirement that we've added to the, that we're trying to add to the statute because they're, they're getting it anyway. So I think that answers the, that questions that we're, that were posed before.

  3. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:49:09

     Okay. And you have a substitute bill, correct? Yep. Yep. First sub and the difference is what you just stated then? Yep. Okay. Alright. To the committee. Are there questions? Senator Ipson?

  4. Sen. John D. Johnson1:49:23

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now if I read this bill, right? This is consolidated with the quada muscle.

  5. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:49:32

     That that's correct. Senator.

  6. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:49:34

     I'm not sure that the language completely replaces it. I I wanna make sure it doesn't appear in both pl that, that we're not required to do it anyway. I, I hope that this language does, but I'm not sure that it does that. If, if I can meet with you afterwards, I'd be happy to show you the differences in statute and show how that accomplishes it. But I can assure you if if we look at it and we feel like that it's additive, we'll fix it. I, I I think we need to be careful that we have replaced the need for the quada muscle test with this test. And

  7. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:50:18

     Well, this will, this will include both. Yeah.

  8. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:50:21

     Right. I, okay. I just wanna make sure this, this does in fact replace the earlier test. Yeah.

  9. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:50:29

     We'll have DNR come up and address that, if you would.

  10. Ty Hunter, Manager, Boating Program, Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation1:50:45

      Right. Uh, thank you. Thank you. Committee and chair. Uh, my name is Ty Hunter. I'm the voting program manager for the State of Utah. So, to, to talk with you on this one here is, it is a, um, the way we have understood this bill and been looking and working together with, and when I say this is working with multiple agencies, but also working with the, the sponsor here, um, of combining these courses together. Great. They're there to be married together and they are not to be set outside of the footprint that the already the time commitment footprint that the, uh, the KGA test is. Okay. And

  11. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:51:23

      Court. I just, I just wanna make sure that that's in fact does replace it

  12. Ty Hunter, Manager, Boating Program, Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation1:51:28

      In, in our minds. It does.

  13. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:51:29

      Okay. I hope it does in everybody's minds. That's what I'm after. Yeah.

  14. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:51:35

      Okay. Us too. Alright, Senator Rebe for a question then.

  15. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe1:51:40

      Thank you Mr. Chair. On line 39, it says, we're gonna do this every year. That was the pushback that most of the people provided with me. Um, we do it ethics training every year after the third year, you're like, are you kidding me? I can don't even have to read the questions anymore. I just answer it. It's kind of cumbersome. It's annoying. I I don't take a driver's test every year. Um, there's lots of things I do that require some sign of certification that isn't required every year. So that was the biggest concern I've heard. Can you change it to every three years, every four years?

  16. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:52:13

      We, we are open to options. Okay. Uh, Senator, let me, let me tell you, uh, the purpose of starting with every year at first, okay, uh, I have been on, I'm a boater, uh, and I've got my kids all drive the boat and all this stuff, right? Uh, it is every time that I am on a reservoir or lake here in the state, that someone breaks the safety protocols. I mean, it is, it is every time. And that also happens on the road, right? Um, it's not always you, but other drivers are also, you know, breaking those safety rules. I'm just kidding. But you get, the idea is initially the proposal is every year. And the reason we thought every year would be helpful 'cause one, the quagga muscle is required every year from awareness perspective. We're hopeful that in the short term, this constant reminder will improve boating safety and boating behavior for, you know, in the short term, just like the Quagga Mus bringing that, uh, you know, to the forefront. But if, uh, I feel like in a year, you know, in a couple years or something, once we've kind of seen some of these behaviors taper down, which is what we hope will happen with the public information campaign, with this test, that we will not have a need to do it every year. I think that's the intent. And we could even build it that way so that for the first five years of the effectiveness of this bill, it's this. And then after five years, it's every three years.

  17. Sen. Kathleen A. Riebe1:53:40speaker not certain

      I, I'm open to that proposal. That doesn't, that's not offensive.

  18. Rep. Michael J. Petersen1:53:44

      I think the key for us is, as people are aware of the qua mussel, which is really, really important for all of our infrastructure here in the state, if we keep that, and I don't know how, I don't know what the percentage is of how many boats go. I mean it would, this would be interesting, but how many boats go to Lake Powell and then go somewhere else in Utah? I'd be surprised if it was less than 80%. Right. But if, uh, and so having that, having that qua mussel and those stations and all the other influences that we're doing with Quam mussel, adding this safety component, it doesn't feel like it's that big of a burden comparatively. 'cause we're within that same time. But we're open.

  19. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:54:25

      Thank you. Thank you. Um, do you have anything else for your presentation? No, no. Thank you. Okay. All right. Let go to the public. Who here wants to in the room, wants to speak to this bill? We have one person and we have two online.

  20. Mike Swenson, representing Brian Hirschi and BLH Enterprises1:54:42

      Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Mike Swenson. I represent Brian Hershey and BLH Enterprises. Um, they are the largest, uh, concessionaire, livery concessionaire in the state of Utah with about 150 personal water crafts and 50 boats. Um, we were initially concerned with the first iteration of this bill, but we, uh, have to commend Representative Peterson and Senator McCay. We reached out to them with our concerns and, uh, in this substitute, or at least I think there's another one coming, potentially they have fully addressed our issues. And we just want you to know that we now support the bill.

  21. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:55:12

      Thank you. Online, we have, uh, Brett Stewart.

  22. Brett Stewart, President, Utah OHV Advocates1:55:18

      Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. First I wanna say good morning. Thanks for allowing me to voice my opinion, as you know. Uh, oh. Brett Stewart, Utah, OHV advocates. Um, as you know, last time I testified on this, and the biggest concern was doing it once a year. Um, I'm definitely in favor of education. I was one of the architects and helped put together the off highway vehicle, uh, program for education. And it's a once in a lifetime and it works very well. And that's for in-state and outta state before they operate on any trails in Utah. And I would like to see this one, uh, amended to once in a lifetime for anybody in state or outta state to operate on any waters. Um, with that, once the bill was, uh, became, uh, effective, it, everybody would be required to take it immediately before they hit the water. So the concern of going from one year to three years to five years, I don't think that would make sense. Um, also if you go to line 40, it says once every year, we'd like to see that amended to, to once in a lifetime. And also on line 45, it says it expires on December 31st every year. So if I took that on December 31st, or I took it on December 1st, um, and then I went and I'd have to take it a month later on January 1st because it expired. So that means a month later I'm going to take it again. And so I think you ought to keep the Quadra muscles, uh, course separate because I think that is needed every year, uh, because it does change with education on how it works. Um, but I think the education we ought to do it adopted as once in a lifetime. And the OHV program has gained traction. It's doing very well, and there's no concerns. And what it does is make it so that if anybody breaks the law, um, they can't say that they didn't know better. So I'm a believer in education, but the way this language is here is just, it's too much overreach in my opinion. So with that, thank you.

  23. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:57:30

      Thank you. Now we'll go to, uh,

  24. Brent Hirschi, Owner, Bear Lake Rentals1:57:33

      Brent Hershey. Go ahead. Yeah. Can, can you hear Me? Yes. Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair and committee members for your time. Um, I own a boat. I'm Brent Hershey. I own a boat rental business in Bear Lake, and my brother owns a handful of businesses, um, uh, up here in Bear Lake and, and in other places in Utah. And, but first we were really concerned about this affecting our business negatively. But we've been, uh, working with Representative Peterson and Senator McKay and they've been great to work with. And putting the, uh, clause in there to, to allow the deliveries to be able to self-educate their their customers has been really helpful. So we just wanted to give our support to this bill as it is and, uh, commend them for the great job that they did and the, uh, the easiness that it was to work with them. So we support this bill as it is written and thank you for your time.

  25. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:58:25

      Thank you. Uh, that concludes public comment. We'll bring it back to the committee for discussion or action. Senator Winterton.

  26. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton1:58:33

      Now we need to adopt the first sub, right? The first sub. Yeah, that's correct. So I would make a motion that we, uh, delete title and body of the original bill and replace it with first sub.

  27. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:58:45

      Okay. The motion to lead and title and Body House bill 54. Replace it with first substitute House Bill 54. Seeing no discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? I rule that passes Senator Winterton. Okay.

  28. Sen. Ronald M. Winterton1:58:58

      I'll make a motion then that, uh, we favorably recommend first substitute house bill 54 Discussion. That motion.

  29. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:59:06

      Senator Ipson?

  30. Sen. Don L. Ipson1:59:09

      Yes. It states in here that the division shall ensure that an individual may complete the course in an average of less than 20 minutes. So I include the muscle portion that Includes Cora muscle, so it combines those two. The Cora muscle is 20 minutes. Now, now we'll take both of them and do it in 20 minutes. 20 minutes. Okay.

  31. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:59:28

      Okay. Further discussion. Seeing none. Senator McKay for summation.

  32. Sen. Daniel McCay1:59:32

      I just appreciate the committee giving this a second chance. Um, uh, you know, I'm hopeful that we'll make a big difference, uh, you know, from a safety standpoint. Thank the committee for their time.

  33. Sen. Wayne A. Harper (presiding)1:59:42

      Thank you. Senator Winterton for summation waive all in favor of favorably recommending House Bill 54. First sub to the floor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'll rule that passage unanimously. Senator Riebe for a final motion. Oh, should adjourned. All in favor say aye. Aye. We stand adjourned.

• Mar 6, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Daniel McCay1:55:38

     Thank you very much. President House Bill 54 is a, uh, is a simple bill, really. Uh, we, we've taken the sponsor. Originally the plan was to create a safety test and add it to the QA muscle test. The difference though, uh, when, you know, we reviewed it with the committee, uh, there were concerns about having a second test and working with DNR. What we ended up doing was taking the QA muscle test, compressing the time on both where we said both should take no longer than 20 minutes. So we're basically adding a couple of safety oriented questions to the boatings, uh, to the QA mussel exam that every boater will take to get on Utah's waterways every year. Um, this safety will help focus on speed and proximity. Those are the two major safety issues on our waters today. And we will have no additional time added. Again, it's just added to the qua mussel and it will still be a 20 minute test to get on, uh, on the waters. Um, we've also got an exemption in the bill for deliveries so that, uh, for companies that are renting out boats, they have their own safety process that they push people through before they rent a boat. And so adding this to, and the quagga mussel thing to that process didn't make any sense because they're not taking the boats and in and out and cleaning them. They're leaving 'em in the same body of water, believe it or not, actually it's mostly just Bear Lake. Um, but they're taking 'em in and outta the same body of water. And for that purpose, um, we didn't feel the need to add the rental services, uh, to, uh, that rent on the lake. We didn't feel the need to add them to the safety requirement. Interestingly though, DNR is during this process, going to create a sticker, uh, that's gonna be added to, uh, the boats, uh, that are rented on Bear Lake, so that they will have a reminder of speed and proximity safety requirements as it relates to, uh, rental boats, um, so that we can help improve our speed and our proximity issues on the lake. I mean, honestly, uh, you know, we have more accidents than we should on Utah's waterways just for violation of those two things. Um, and then obviously we want to keep up to public information campaign on QA mussels. Um, you know, somebody estimated at one time that 80% of the boats in Utah spend time in Lake Powell and, uh, at least what's left of Lake Powell. Uh, and, um, the idea here is that, uh, they'll just, we'll just continue to keep up that reminder on the QA mussel maintenance program and making sure that they, the votes stay qua or that our la other, our other Utah waterways stay gua muscle free. With that, Mr. President, I'm happy to yield for questions,

  2. Senate President (presiding)1:58:22

     Saying no questions. I'm gonna go to you for summation and a motion.

  3. Sen. Daniel McCay1:58:27

     I feel like I should drag this out a little bit, don't you? I think we're ready for a motion. Alright, Fine. First I, I'll move the first substitute house bill 54 voting safety Education pass.

  4. Senate President (presiding)1:58:39

     Thank you. The question is, under suspension of the rules shall first substitute House bill 54 pass roll call vote.

  5. Senate President (presiding)1:58:45

     Senator Vickers, spry Lewin Rammer Bus Cullimore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Kins Ipson Johnson Quan McKay Aye. Mikel Milner Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher, 45 Minutes. Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Bickers LER Wilson Winterton Brammer Milner President Aye. Aye.

  6. Senate President (presiding)1:59:56

     First substitute house bill 54, having received 20 yay votes, five nay votes. Four. Burt being absent, passes his body and will be returned to the house for further consideration.

• Mar 6, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (5 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)2:59

     Per substitute house bill 54, voting safety education by representative Mike Peterson.

  2. Speaker (presiding)3:05

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Representative Peterson. Thank

  3. Rep. Michael J. Petersen3:08

     You, uh, made one simple change, uh, Representative motion to, oh, can I Concur? Make a motion to concur. Thank you. Thank, Thank you representative. That motion in order, which I speak to it. Yes. Thank you. Um, what we did is we said because liveries companies that that rent boats, because they already provide voter safety information, they're exempted from having to, uh, to provide another course to their folks. Thank you. Representative. Uh, discussion to the motion to concur with the Senate amendments on first substitute HB 54. See none will go ahead and place the motion. The mo, uh, motion is the house concur with the Senate amendments on first substitute HB 54.

  4. Speaker (presiding)3:46

     All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Will that motion passes?

  5. Speaker (presiding)3:50

     Voting is now open for final passage on first substitute HB 54, having some technical difficulties, representatives to give us just a sec. Okay. Voting is now open. Nope, it was now it's not. Thought about it. Voting is now open on first substitute HB 54. Let's vote quickly. Representatives seeing all present having voted voting is now closed. First substitute H HB 54 passes this body with 57 yes votes. Six no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration. Let's go to Madam Marine Clerk,