Two bills introduced in the House would lower the blood alcohol threshold from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent, the same standard in the state's drunken driving law.
The bills were sparked in part by a fatal boating accident on Donnell Lake in southwest Michigan last summer, according to the Insurance Journal, headquartered in San Diego, Calif.
A 7-year-old boy riding a tube was killed when he was hit by a 34-year-old PWC driver. The PWC driver had a blood alcohol content of about 0.08 when tested after the accident, which would have led to an arrest for drunken driving on a highway, according to the Journal.
Alcohol is a factor in about a third of reported boating deaths, according to the Michigan Association of Insurance Agents. The association based its findings on data from the state Department of Natural Resources.
