WA state legislator exempts Native Americans from life jacket bill because they have ‘eons’ of experience in ‘cold water’

House Bill 1707, sponsored by Ryu, requires individuals to wear personal flotation devices on kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddleboards– an amendment to current state law which requires individuals to only wear life jackets on boats. However, Native Americans are exempt from the legislation.

During a remote committee hearing, Ryu defended exempting Native Americans from the legislation by falsely claiming they wouldn't drown because they have "eons" of experience with the "cold water." According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Native Americans have the highest rate of drowning among all racial demographics.

"The few exemptions you see, including the tribal members – federally recognized tribal members exemptions – are based on responses from the community," Ryu said. "These are situations where they have either extensive training or (are) traditionally very used to our cold waters for eons, essentially, or are very closely supervised."

The Democrat representative added that the provision "was a great mechanism to allow the tribal members that do have a lot more access to the waters and traditional training and activity, unlike many of the other diverse communities that don't, like Korean Americans," Fox News reports.

"The only time I go out on the water nowadays anyway is when my non-Korean American son-in-law takes me out on the water," she continued. "And so I thought that was a good way of carving out very narrow exemptions."