History of the Alaska Office of Boating Safety and the Kids Don’t Float Program

In June of 1988, the Department of Natural Resources Commissioner John Shivley signed Department Order 141, formally establishing the Alaska Office of Boating Safety and designating Jeffrey S. Johnson as Alaska's First official Boating Law Administrator. Two yeas later, Governor Tony Knowles signed HB 108 and the Alaska Boating Safety Program was born.

Prior to the Alaska Boating Safety Act of 2000, Alaska's boating fatalities averaged 30 per year. This number has dropped to an average of 15 per year since.

The first edition of the Alaska Boater’s Handbook was published in December of 1998. The Alaska Boating Safety Act (Section 12, ch. 28, SLA 2000) became effective on August 9, 2000.

In January of 2001, the first state-sponsored boating safety school programs pilot project began in the Kenai Area.

The Kids Don’t Float Program began back in 1996 when Bob Painter, then the Assistant Fire Chief of the Homer Fire Department (HVFD), was awarded a grant for the Kids Don’t Float (KDF) Project. This project involved life jacket loaner boards and water safety education in a collaborative effort between HVFD, Homer Safe Kids, the U.S. Coast Guar Auxiliary, and the Homer School District. Beginning in the spring of 1996, 15 loaner boards were erected in communities around Kachemak Bay.