Bill Description: House Bill 548 would clarify that law enforcement must have a reasonable suspicion that a violation has occurred to stop and board a vessel under the Idaho Safe Boating Act. 

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

House Bill 548 would amend Section 67-7028, Idaho Code, which currently says that sheriffs and deputy sheriffs “may stop and board any vessel subject to law” in the “exercise of their authority” to enforce the Idaho Safe Boating Act (Chapter 70, Title 67, Idaho Code).

The bill would add a provision limiting the authority to “stop and board any vessel” to situations where there is a “reasonable suspicion that a violation has occurred.”

This change is consistent with the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures recognized by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 17 of the Idaho Constitution.

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