The Senate has voted to toughen the state's drunken boating laws, lowering the blood-alcohol level that brings an automatic conviction and making the law consistent with the state's drunken driving laws.

State Sen. David Johnson, an Ocheyedan Republican and a main backer of the measure, says there have been too many fatalities and serious injuries associated with drunken boating.

Under current law, boaters with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 of a percent or higher are automatically convicted. The measure approved on Tuesday would lower that to 0.08 of a percent.  That's the same level to which motorists are held accountable.