WHEREAS, The Department of Parks and Recreation estimates that 4,000,000 Californians engage in boating, fishing, and other recreational activities on California’s navigable waters; and

WHEREAS, The Division of Boating and Waterways estimates that Californians own approximately 2,600,000 registered and nonregistered recreational boats; and

WHEREAS, In 2024, the United States Coast Guard counted 377 recreational boating accidents in California that involved 45 deaths, 203 injuries, and significant property damage; and

WHEREAS, The majority of accidents are caused by human error or poor decisions, not by the boat, equipment, or environmental factors; and

WHEREAS, Alcohol use remains the leading known contributing factor in all fatal boating accidents nationwide, accounting for 20 percent of total fatalities where the primary cause was known; and

WHEREAS, Operator inattention, improper lookout, and operator inexperience are also leading contributing factors in mishaps, annually causing hundreds of accidents and dozens of fatalities; and

WHEREAS, Navigation rules violations were a contributing factor in 55 percent of incidents, 34 percent of deaths, and 63 percent of injuries; and

WHEREAS, Seventy-six percent of reported boating accident victims who died in 2024 drowned, and of those drowning victims, 87 percent were not wearing life jackets; and

WHEREAS, A significant number of boaters who lose their lives by drowning each year would be alive today had they worn their life jackets; and

WHEREAS, Boating safety courses and boating safety campaigns can teach people how to adhere to better boating practices and make safer decisions; and

WHEREAS, United States Coast Guard statistics show that, of the accidents where the level of operator education was known, 69 percent of boating deaths occurred on boats where the boat operator had never received boating education instruction; and

WHEREAS, The United States Coast Guard considers the use of engine cut-off switches by powerboat operators critical because powerboat propellers may injure persons in the water when operators are ejected or fall overboard; now, therefore, be it