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Harb. & Nav. Code, § 655.6 · Article 1. Operation and Equipment

Harb. & Nav. Code, § 655.6

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) It is an infraction for a person under the age of 21 years who has 0.01 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood to operate any motorized vessel or manipulate water skis, an aquaplane, or a similar device.

(b) A person may be found to be in violation of subdivision (a) if the person was, at the time of operating any motorized vessel or manipulating water skis, an aquaplane, or a similar device, under the age of 21 years and under the influence of, or affected by, an alcoholic beverage regardless of whether a chemical test was made to determine that person’s blood-alcohol concentration and if the trier of fact finds that the person had consumed an alcoholic beverage and was operating any motorized vessel or manipulating water skis, an aquaplane, or a similar device while having a concentration of 0.01 percent or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood.

(c) Section 655.1 applies to violations of this section.

(d) A violation of this section is punishable by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100). A second violation occurring within one year of a prior violation which resulted in a conviction is punishable by a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200). A third or any subsequent conviction within a period of one year of two or more prior infractions which resulted in convictions is punishable by a fine not exceeding two hundred fifty dollars ($250). A person found to have committed a violation of this section shall be required to participate in an alcohol education or community service program as provided in Section 23502 of the Vehicle Code.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 118, Sec. 1.2. Effective January 1, 1999. Operative July 1, 1999, by Sec. 85 of Ch. 118.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HNC&sectionNum=655.6.
Text hash
sha256 e0517397bdaf742a5f2c7e398024874df39eb93531f2b4d768633c1ac84d440a
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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