The 1998 Session of the General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution No. 174, which created a seven-member subcommittee to study the feasibility of establishing and implementing a mandatory boating safety education course in Virginia (Appendix A). The subcommittee was charged with examining the implementation costs, the associated student costs, the benefits of instituting mandatory boating safety education, possible course content, and mandatory training requirements and exemptions. Technical assistance was to be provided to the subcommittee by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). All agencies of the Commonwealth and the Virginia B.A.S.S. Federation, the Smith Mountain Lake Association, the Hampton Roads Safe Boating Coalition, and the Virginia Association of Marine Industries were requested to provide assistance to the subcommittee.