Law requires carbon monoxide detectors on boats
Published 10:36 am Friday, June 17, 2016
ST. PAUL — A new state law will require thousands of Minnesota boaters to install carbon monoxide detectors in their watercrafts.
The Star Tribune reports that the legislation, called Sophia’s Law, is named after 7-year-old Sophia Baechler, who died last October of carbon monoxide poisoning when the gas leaked from a hole in a boat’s exhaust pipe on Lake Minnetonka.
The bill passed in April after the Edina girl’s family came up with the idea, lobbied for it and testified about her death.
The law mandates that any motorboat with sleeping area, galleys and other “enclosed accommodation areas” must have a hard-wired, marine-certified carbon monoxide detector by May 1, 2017.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates that about 8,000 boats will need carbon monoxide detectors under the new law.