A new requirement, for children under age 10 to wear a life jacket while boating on Minnesota waters, was signed into law by Gov. Tim Pawlenty Thursday and went into effect Friday, May 6. Called the ìGrant Allen Law,î the measure was named in memory of the child who drowned after falling out of his fatherís boat in 2003.

The boating accident happened May 24, 2003 near Mattson's Landing on West Rush Lake. Grant Allen Jestus, a five-year-old from Blaine, was not wearing a life jacket when he fell out of the back of the moving boat.

The new law requires that a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket be worn by children younger than age 10 in boats that are underway or otherwise not tied up to a dock or permanent mooring.

There are a few exceptions to the law. Children are not required to wear a life jacket if they are in a boatís enclosed cabin or below decks, or on an anchored boat that is being used as a platform for swimming or diving. Also, children on board commercial or charter vessels with a licensed captain are exempt from the life jacket wearing requirement.

Boat operators who violate the law are subject to a written warning for the first offense and a petty misdemeanor for a second offense until May 1, 2006, and a petty misdemeanor for any offense on or after May 1, 2006.

For more information, visit the DNR Web site www.dnr.state.mn.us or call (651) 296-6157 or toll free 1-888-MINNDNR (646-6367).

SUMMARY:
ï Requires life jacket to be worn by children less than 10 years of age when aboard watercraft in Minnesota when the craft is under way (not tied up at a dock or permanent mooring).
Exemptions from wearing:

ï When in an enclosed cabin or below the top deck on a watercraft

ï When on an anchored boat that is a platform for swimming or diving

ï When aboard a charter (passenger) craft with a licensed captain.
PENALTIES

ï Written warning only for the FIRST offense - until May 1, 2006

ï Petty misdemeanor for second offense during period above and any offense on or after May 1, 2006.

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