U-S Senate Unanimously Approves Hawley’s Duck Boat Safety Legislation

Bipartisan legislation aimed at improving safety on duck boats and other amphibious passenger vessels has been unanimously approved by the U-S Senate. It was the first bill Missouri Senator Josh Hawley sponsored, after being sworn-in. During a Thursday Senate floor speech, Hawley told colleagues that the deadly 2018 incident on southwest Missouri’s Table Rock Lake should never have happened. 17 people died that day:

” … we’ve seen investigation after investigation conclude the same thing: that lives (at Table Rock Lake) could have been saved if action had been taken. If this body (the U-S Senate) had acted, if the security measures had been put in place”

Hawley’s bill requires duck boats to be equipped to stay afloat, in the event of flooding. It also mandates that duck boats remove canopies. The bill now heads to the House, where it’s sponsored by Indiana Democrat Andre Carson. One of Carson’s constituents is Tia Coleman, who lost NINE family members at Table Rock Lake.