Missouri’s junior senator is calling on a Senate committee to expedite his bipartisan duck boat legislation, which aims to prevent a repeat of the deadly 2018 duck boat tragedy on southwest Missouri’s Table Rock Lake.
The third anniversary of the Table Rock Lake duck boat tragedy is in July. 17 people died when the boat sank during a storm. Hawley’s bill requires duck boats to be equipped to stay afloat in the event of flooding. The legislation also mandates that duck boats remove canopies. The Senate approved Senator Josh Hawley’s bill in December 100-0, but the House ran out of time.
Hawley’s bill is similar to the one filed by his predecessor, Democrat Claire McCaskill. Hawley says the deadly 2018 incident on southwest Missouri’s Table Rock Lake should never have happened. Hawley says there have been other duck boat incidents in Seattle, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.
