House committee hears bill to set 0.02 blood-alcohol limit for 18–20-year-old boat operators, to align maritime and road rules

SAN JUAN (May 14, 2025) — The Puerto Rico House of Representatives’ Comisión de Recursos Naturales on May 14 heard testimony on Proyecto de la Cámara 317, a measure that would amend Article 7 of Law 4-30 of 2000 (the Navigation and Aquatic Safety Act) to: set a 0.02 blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for operators aged 18–20; clarify that a 0.08 BAC applies only to people 21 and older; and prohibit government employees from operating government-owned vessels with a BAC of 0.02 or higher.

The hearing drew presentations from the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, DNA) and the Department of Public Safety’s police branch (Negociado de la Policía, including the maritime rapid-response unit FURA). Luis A. Márquez Ruiz, Comisionado de la Oficina de Navegación at the DNA, and Glendalis Rodríguez Morales of the Department of Public Safety presented the agencies’ analyses.

The measure is intended to harmonize maritime BAC thresholds with the age-differentiated limits already in Law 22 of 2000 (the Vehicles and Traffic Act). In opening remarks, Márquez described the bill as an effort to “alinear el marco legal marítimo con la normativa vigente aplicable al tránsito terrestre” and said the proposed changes aim to “promover una cultura de responsabilidad en la navegación,…