The Senate at the last minute decided to hold off on the bill hearing. Committee Chair Van De Wege announced that the House is still revising the text of their bill (after all the feedback we gave them) and they will want to wait to get their updates. Word I got afterwards is that they heard loud and clear this isn’t ready for law. (Perhaps that’s what happens when they get over a hundred responses and they unanimously oppose the bill?) If they do any thing more with this bill, they will reach out to the paddling community first. Most likely they will do other things to enhance safety. You can see the start of the Senate meeting and the House hearing below. Visit my post citing my testimony for other details.

A footnote: Senator Van De Wege also noted that someone published the personal contact information of the lobbyist representing the one company that supports this bill and he urged that people not address or harass the lobbyist, but speak directly with the senators and representatives.

Senate meeting today (1/28/2021)

For the record, of the 28 people signed up for verbal testimony, 19 were speaking against the bill, 9 listed as Other and 1 person speaking in support of it. That one would be the lobbyist for Kalkomey Entrprises https://www.kalkomey.com/ the business that would sell the online courses to the millions of people seeking a boater card.

House committee meeting (1/20/2021)

We aren’t out of the storm yet, but the horizon is looking clearer. Well done!