A House committee has breathed new life into legislation that would make abusing sports officials a crime.
The House Federal and State Affairs Committee on Wednesday agreed to attach a proposal by Republican state Rep. Clarke Sanders to a bill creating a crime against a bus driver.
The committee moved out the bill with the sports official provision, which arose because of a declining number of people registering to officiate with the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
Last year, the association testified that there were 1,365 fewer registrations to be a sports official compared to 10 years earlier – a decline of about 23%.
The association blamed the decline on mistreatment by fans and coaches.
Some sporting activities saw a more distinct decline than others, especially in sports played indoors in close proximity to fans.
The association reported that registered basketball officials declined by 656 officials, or about 31%, and wrestling by 76 officials, or 26%.
The legislation spells out what constitutes abuse, including intentionally striking, kicking, spitting or making contact with an official.
Abuse also could include approaching a sports official in a menacing, threatening, irate or violent manner that would cause someone to fear for their safety.
A violation of the law would be a Class B misdemeanor that would mean six months or a $1,000 fine or both.
If the official is under 18 years old, a violation would be Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, up to a year in jail or both.
Sanders has made two attempts at passing the sports official legislation without success.
Two years ago, Sanders said he had a bill ready to go on the floor, but it was pulled by House leadership at the last minute. He didn’t know why.
Sanders tried against last year, and the bill didn’t get out of committee.
This years, Sanders found an opportunity to get the bill out of committee by tying it to a bill creating the crime of causing harm to a public transportation employee.
“There are stories all over the country of officials taking abuse. It’s just not right,” Sanders said.
“I don’t know that this is a silver bullet that’s going to totally solve the problem. I’m sure it’s not, but it would certainly help.”
Democratic state Rep. Boog Highberger of Lawrence questioned the value of bills that provide legal protections for specific types of workers.
“We get these bills for people who want more protection and how can we be against protecting our sports officials or our animal control workers or our hospital workers,” Highberger said.
“I have seen no data whatsoever that show that enhancing the penalties like this provides additional protection.
“I think things like this just clutter up our statute books and don’t provide any additional protection,” he said.
Republican state Rep. Ron Bryce of Coffeyville also had reservations about the bill.
“I agree that we need to beef up protection of certain people, but when we start picking and choosing who has more protection and who doesn’t,” Bryce said, “it just philosophically doesn’t settle well with me.”
