Criminal violations

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to: (1) Operate any motorized vehicle or other motorized machine on, over, or across sand dunes or beaches except as authorized by the department or committee, except that individual disability vehicles, emergency vehicles, and governmental vehicles utilized for beach maintenance or research may operate within sand dunes and beaches without authorization from the department or committee so long as those vehicles operate across existing cross-overs, paths, or drives; or (2) Store or park sailboats, catamarans, or other commercial or recreational marine craft on any sand dune. (b) All such lawful activities conducted under this part shall provide protection to nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings and habitats and to nesting shore birds and their hatchlings and habitats. (c) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. History. — Code 1981, § 12-5-248, enacted by Ga. L. 1992, p. 1362, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 13; Ga. L. 2002, p. 521, § 1; Ga. L. 2019, p. 493, § 9/HB 445. The 2019 amendment, effective May 3, 2019, for purposes of promulgating rules and regulations and for all other purposes effective December 30, 2019, in paragraph (a)(1), substituted ‘‘department or committee’’ for ‘‘permit-issuing authority’’ near the middle, and substituted ‘‘department or committee so’’ for ‘‘permit-issuing authority as’’ near the end.