This past Thursday, I joined many of my colleagues from both the SC House and Senate, along with numerous family members of victims and their friends and supporters in Columbia to watch while Governor Henry McMaster signed the "Boating Safety and Education Act of 2023." It was an emotional day, because while this new law requiring a basic course in order to operate a boat in South Carolina will save many lives, there have been countless lives already lost tragically due to the delays over the years. As mentioned in an earlier newsletter, I have been in boating my entire life, and my father, an avid fisherman and Lt. Commander of the United States Power Squadron insisted that I know the "Rules of the Road" from a very early age. Furthermore, when I was old enough (11) to be enrolled, he signed me up for the Basic Boating course offered by the Power Squadron. Many years later as an adult, my husband Joe and I joined the Power Squadron, and we were required to take the same course as adults (since I didn't have a record of my earlier class). You might be surprised the amount of resistance there was to this common sense law. Among the many complaints mentioned by one particular House member was that it would place an undue burden on people who already own and operate a boat. He was so persistent in his opposition, that I had to speak out several times with specific examples of why this was ridiculous, including that if an 11 year old can pass the test with a perfect score, surely this was not too much to ask of our residents in order to keep our waterways safe. There are many ways to qualify, including if someone served in the US Merchant Marine, US Navy, US Coast Guard, or has taken a course offered by the Department of Natural Resources or several other agencies or organizations. Plus, in order to phase this in over time, the requirement is based on your date of birth being July 1, 2007 or after, so right now it only applies to people who are 16 or under. Imagine our roads if suddenly the General Assembly were to do away with requirements for licensing including Drivers' Education and passing a test to drive a car? You'd think we had lost our minds, and you'd be correct. Navigating on the water is arguably much more dangerous than driving a car, because there are no lanes, no traffic signs or lights, and a mistake can easily turn into drowning in addition to injuries or death from a crash. Heartfelt thanks go to the many families of victims over the last 30 years, some of whom such as Randall & Karen Smith who lost their son 26 years ago, that courageously fought this battle all this time and finally were rewarded. Thanks also to the Kiser Family, who lost their father/husband in a horrific accident, while the mother, a resident of Mount Pleasant, lost her leg and nearly died at the same time. It is their courage and perseverance that we have to thank for hopefully greatly reducing the number of accidents on the water in the future. In case you are wondering, the majority of these accidents do not involve alcohol, they involve operator error.