BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|Hearing Date:April 29, 2013 |Bill No:SB |
| |309 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., Chair
Bill No: SB 309Author:Price
As Amended:April 24, 2013 Fiscal:Yes
SUBJECT: State Athletic Commission.
SUMMARY: Extends the operation of the California State Athletic
Commission until 2016. Makes various changes to the laws governing
the Commission's operations and the Commission's oversight of
professional and amateur boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing,
all forms and combinations of full contact martial arts contests,
including mixed martial arts (MMA) and matches or exhibitions
conducted, held or given in California.
Existing Federal law: The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (Federal
Boxing Act) prohibits events from taking place in a state without a
regulatory commission unless the fight is regulated by either another
state's commission or on sovereign tribal land. (Title 15 U.S.C. §
6303)
Existing law:
1)The Boxing Act, or State Athletic Commission Act (State Act),
provides for the licensing and regulation of boxers, kickboxers,
martial arts athletes and events held in California by the
California State Athletic Commission (Commission) within the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and makes the Commission
inoperative and repealed on January 1, 2014.
2)Provides that the Commission is comprised of seven members, five
members appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the
Senate Committee on Rules confirmation, one member appointed by the
Senate Committee on Rules and one member appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly. Specifies that efforts should be made to ensure at
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least four members have experience in either medicine as a licensed
physician or surgeon specializing in neurology, neurosurgery, head
trauma or sports medicine, financial management, public safety, and
the sports regulated by the Commission. (Business and Professions
Code (BPC) § 18602)
3)Provides that protection of the public shall be the highest priority
for the Commission in exercising its licensing, regulatory, and
disciplinary functions, and whenever the protection of the public is
inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the
protection of the public shall be paramount. (BPC § 18602.1)
4)Provides that the Commission shall invite testimony from boxing
stakeholders to identify actions that may lead to greater
opportunities for its licensees to participate in major professional
championship boxing contests in the State of California and provide
a report based thereon to the Legislature. (BPC § 18640.5 (c))
5)Provides that the Commission may license professional and amateur
boxers, professional and amateur martial arts fighters, and booking
agents, managers of professional boxers and professional martial
arts fighters, trainers, chief seconds, and seconds of each and that
only a natural person may be licensed as a boxer and martial arts
fighter. (BPC § 18642)
6)Provides that the Commission may authorize a nonprofit boxing,
wrestling, or martial arts club or organization, upon approval of
its bylaws, to administer its rules for amateur boxing, wrestling,
and full contact martial arts contests. Requires the Commission to
review the performance of any such club or organization annually.
Requires the Commission to review compliance with requirements for
amateur contests to be preceded by a physical examination of every
contestant, that a physician is in attendance at the contest and
that the organization has a medical insurance program covering all
contestants. Requires an organization to provide written financial
reports of receipts and disbursements within 90 days of an amateur
event. Authorizes the Commission to have representatives present as
are necessary to obtain compliance with the requirements for amateur
events. Authorizes the Commission to require any additional notices
and reports from an organization it deems necessary.
(BPC § 18646)
7)Provides that no person shall conduct or operate a professional
boxers' training gymnasium unless he or she has a license issued by
the Commission under this chapter. Defines "professional boxers'
training gymnasium" as a gymnasium, the principal business of which
is the providing of training facilities for professional boxers, and
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in which a fee is charged to professional boxers for the use of the
gymnasium facilities or a fee is charged to persons who view the
training of professional boxers. Provides that failure of a
licensed training gymnasium owner or operator, fighter, boxer,
trainer, second, or manager to report to the Commission an injury or
knockout of a licensed boxer or fighter or the holder of a sparring
permit shall be grounds for the suspension of their license. (BPC
§§ 18653 and 18654)
8)Establishes the application and renewal fee for a professional
boxers' training gymnasium at two hundred dollars ($200). (BPC §
18817)
9)Requires athletes to undergo a physical examination by a physician
prior to a contest and requires a physician to certify in writing
the contestant's physical condition to engage in the contest or
match. Requires the physician to determine whether the contestant
may have any knowledge, manifestations, symptoms, or prior history
of a physical condition that may affect the contestant's ability to
perform or present a potential threat to the contestant's health as
a result of competing in the contest or match. Requires a contestant
to complete a questionnaire on which he or she discloses any
conditions of which the contestant is aware, including pregnancy.
States if any specified condition is disclosed, the physician shall
not allow the contestant to compete unless the physician or the
contestant's personal physician, who is licensed to practice
medicine in the U.S., has conducted a physical examination and
determined that the specific condition does not affect the
contestant's ability to perform or present a potential threat to the
contestant's health as a result of competing in the contest or
match. (BPC § 18706)
10)Provides that the Commission shall require, as a condition of
licensure and as a part of the application process, each applicant
for a license as a professional athlete or contestant licensed by
the Commission to undergo an examination by a licensed physician and
surgeon who specializes in neurology and neurosurgery. Provides
that the cost of the examinations shall be paid from assessments on
any one or more of the following: promoters of professional matches,
managers, and professional athletes or other contestants licensed
under this chapter. Provides that the rate and manner of assessment
shall be set by the Commission, and may cover all costs associated
with the examinations. (BPC § 18711)
11)Requires applicants for a license or renewal of a license as a
professional boxer or professional martial arts fighter to undergo
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blood tests to detect the presence of antibodies both to the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and to hepatitis C virus (HCV) and to
detect the presence of the antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBV) within
30 days prior to the date of the application. Requires the results
of all three tests to be negative. (BPC § 18712)
12)Provides that no referee or physician shall be assigned to a boxing
contest who has not participated in a clinic sponsored by the
Commission in accordance with this section in the preceding six
months. Specifies that clinics shall include, among other things,
the subjects of the rules of the Commission, the recognition and
diagnosis of serious or life-threatening, boxing-related and
neurological injuries and disorders, and refereeing a bout.
Authorizes the Commission to pay any necessary and authorized travel
expenses of referees and physicians who attend such clinics. (BPC §
18731)
13)Establishes a five working day timeline for every person who
conducts a contest or wrestling exhibition for which admission is
charged and received to provide the Commission with proper
accounting and payment. (BPC § 18824 (a))
14)Establishes a fee of five percent, of the amount paid for admission
to the contest or wrestling exhibition, not to exceed the amount of
one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to be paid to the Commission
by every person who conducts a contest or wrestling exhibition for
which admission is charged and received. Requires the Commission to
provide a report to the Legislature on the fiscal impact of the one
hundred thousand dollar ($100,000) limit on fees collected by the
Commission for admissions revenues. States that if the fee for any
one boxing contest exceeds seventy thousand dollars ($70,000), the
amount in excess of seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) shall be paid
one-half to the Commission and one-half to the Boxers' Pension Fund.
Establishes a fee of up to five percent for the sale, lease, or
other exploitation of broadcasting or television rights thereof to
be paid to the Commission by every person who conducts a contest or
wrestling exhibition. Specifies that the minimum fee shall be one
thousand dollars ($1,000) or and maximum shall be twenty-five
thousand dollars ($25,000). (BPC § 18824)
15)Provides that an inspector or other representative of the
Commission duly authorized by the Executive Officer shall be
admitted to the box office, and is authorized to assist in the
counting of tickets and in the computation of the tax due thereon,
and to take any other action necessary. Requires the inspector or
other Commission representative to immediately mail the official
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statement of gross receipts received by him or her from the promoter
to the Commission. (BPC § 18825)
16)Makes various findings and declarations about the importance of
providing a pension to professional boxers and establishes a Boxer's
Pension Fund (Pension Fund) financed by an assessment on tickets,
contribution by boxers, managers, promoters or a combination
thereof. (BPC §§ 18880 and 18881)
17)Establishes requirements for promoters to pay into the Pension
Fund. Specifies that all contributions to finance the Pension Fund
shall be deposited in the State Treasury and credited to the Pension
Fund, all moneys in which are continuously appropriated for the
purposes of administering the Pension Fund. States that the Pension
Fund is a retirement fund and provides that no more than 20 percent
of the annual contribution in the previous two years shall be used
for administrative costs associated with investing, managing and
distributing the Pension Fund. (BPC § 18882)
This bill:
1) Makes various technical and clarifying changes.
2) Extends the Commission's sunset date two years to January 1, 2016.
3) Deletes a number of reporting requirements.
4) Adds "sanctioning body" to the list of eligible organizations to
which the Commission may delegate its authority for oversight of
amateur sports. Authorizes the Commission to revoke the authority
for a previously authorized nonprofit boxing, wrestling, or martial
arts club or organization or sanctioning body to administer its
rules for amateur boxing, wrestling, and full contact martial arts
contests.
5) Replaces a professional boxers' training gymnasium license, and
requirements for an owner or operator of a professional boxers'
training gymnasium to report an injury or a knockout to the
Commission, with a professional trainer's license and
accountability measures for professional trainers to report athlete
injury to the Commission prior to a bout. Establishes the
application and renewal fee for a licensed professional trainer as
two hundred dollars ($200).
6) Provides that the administrative costs associated with managing and
distributing the neurological examination account shall be limited
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to no more than twenty percent of the prior year's contributions.
7) Requires a female who is a contestant in a professional or amateur
boxing match, kickboxing match, or martial arts match to provide
the results of a pregnancy test before the match commences to
indicate whether she is currently pregnant. Specifies that the
pregnancy test shall have been taken between seven and 14 days
before the match and specifies that if the results indicate that
the contestant is pregnant, she shall not compete in the match.
8) Authorizes the Commission to contract with a third party to conduct
officials training sessions. Clarifies that the third party may
charge attendees a fee. Removes the authority in current law for
the Commission to pay any necessary travel expenses of referees and
physicians who attend such clinics.
9) Authorizes the Commission to charge a $20 fee to issue Federal
Identification Cards and provides that cards shall be reissued once
every four years.
10)Changes the required timeline from five working days to 24 hours
for every person who conducts a contest or wrestling exhibition for
which admission is charged and received to provide the Commission
with proper accounting and payment.
11)Raises the minimum fee collected by the Commission for an amateur
event or contest from $500 to $1000. Clarifies that the minimum
fee collected by the Commission for a professional event is $1250.
12)Raises the minimum broadcasting fee collected by the Commission
from $1000 to $1250. Raises the maximum broadcasting fee collected
by the Commission from $25,000 to $35,000.
13)Limits the administrative costs associated with investing, managing
and distributing the Boxers' Pension Fund to two (2) percent of the
corpus of the fund.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed "fiscal" by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the Author . The Author states
that he has been concerned for the past number of years about
significant and ongoing problems with the way this Commission does
business but that in order to ensure the protection, health,
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welfare and safety of the athletes and fighters licensed by the
Commission who participate in sports and events the Commission
oversees, the Commission should continue to operate. According to
the Author, Federal Law, the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (Boxing
Act) prohibits events from taking place in a state without a
regulatory commission unless the fight is regulated by either
another state's commission or on sovereign tribal land. Regulated
events result in higher levels of protection for fighters than
unauthorized or illegal events, in addition to added revenue for
the state and a boon to the local economy where events take place.
This bill is one of six "sunset bills" the Author is sponsoring
this session. According to the Author, this bill is necessary to
extend the sunset date of the Commission in order to continue the
regulation of boxing, kickboxing and MMA in California. The
continued regulation will help to ensure that the Commission's
mission of protecting the public is in place for an additional four
years.
2. Oversight Hearings and Sunset Review of Licensing Boards and
Commission of the DCA. In 2013, the Business, Professions and
Economic Development Committee (BPED) conducted oversight hearings
to review 15 regulatory boards within the DCA: The Commission;
Board of Barbering and Cosmetology; State Board of Chiropractic
Examiners; Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind; Certification
Organization of Interior Design; Medical Board of California (MBC)
and Registered Dispensing Opticians within the MBC; California
Board of Occupational Therapy; State Board of Optometry;
Osteopathic Medical Board of California; Naturopathic Medicine
Committee; Physical Therapy Board of California; Respiratory Care
Board of California; Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology, Hearing
Aid Dispensers Board and; Veterinary Medical Board.
The Committee began its review of these licensing agencies in March
and conducted three days of hearings. This bill, and the
accompanying sunset bills, is intended to implement legislative
changes as recommended in the Committee's Background Issue Papers
for the agencies reviewed by the Committee this year.
3. Background on the California State Athletic Commission. The
California State Athletic Commission (Commission) is responsible
for protecting the health and safety of its licensees; boxers,
kickboxers and martial arts athletes. Established by initiative in
1924, stemming from concerns for athletes' injuries and deaths, the
Commission provides direction, management, control of and
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jurisdiction over professional and amateur boxing, professional and
amateur kickboxing, all forms and combinations of full contact
martial arts contests, including mixed martial arts (MMA) and
matches or exhibitions conducted, held or given in California. The
Commission oversees licensing, prohibited substance testing, and
event regulation. Functionally, the Commission consists of four
components; licensing, enforcement, regulating events and
administering the Pension Fund.
The Commission is responsible for implementation and enforcement of
the Federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (Federal Boxing Act) and
the California Boxing Act or State Athletic Commission Act (State
Act). The Commission establishes requirements for licensure,
issues and renews licenses, approves and regulates events, assigns
ringside officials, investigates complaints received, and enforces
applicable laws by issuing fines and suspending or revoking
licenses. In 2012, the Commission supervised close to 200 events.
The Commission has so far supervised over 40 events in 2013. The
Commission licenses a number of individuals related to the
participation in, oversight for and management of events in
California.
Reports of problems with Commission operations and the potential
impact to fighters and licensees continued to be raised during 2011
and 2012, the most substantial stemming from the Commission's
budget woes. As part of its role to investigate under The
California Whistleblower Protection Act (Whistleblower Act), the
Bureau of State Audits (BSA) reported on improper governmental
activities by agencies and employees of the state in 2012,
highlighting overpayment by the Commission to 18 part-time field
inspector staff totaling $118,700 from January 2009 through
December 2010, because it inappropriately paid them an hourly
overtime rate rather than an hourly straight-time rate for work
they performed. BSA completed a subsequent review of the
Commission in response to a request by the Joint Legislative Audit
Committee (JLAC) in June 2012, the results of which are contained
in a report published March 2013 "State Athletic Commission: Its
Ongoing Administrative Struggles Call Its Future Into Question".
The report found that: (1) The Commission's solvency plan may not
be practical; (2) The Commission does not track information about
projected revenue and expenditures in a manner conducive to proper
budgeting; (3) The Commission does not receive all of the revenue
due from events and athletes; (4) Inspectors may not perform
necessary health and safety regulatory functions at events; and,
(5) The Pension Fund is still not administered properly.
Simultaneously, the DCA conducted an internal audit of the
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Commission, the findings of which are contained in a report
published in March 2013, "California State Athletic Commission
Operational and Administrative Control Audit" which also found
numerous deficiencies in Commission operations, particularly those
related to event regulation and revenue reconciling for events.
3.Prior Review of the Commission. The Commission was last reviewed in
2011 by this Committee. During the previous sunset review, this
Committee raised 8 issues. Below are actions which the Commission
took over the past 2 years to address many of the issues and
recommendations made, as well as significant changes to the
Commission's functions. The vast majority of the key improvements
to the Commission's administrative activities, procedures and
operations were implemented in a very short period of time under the
leadership of the current EO who was hired in November 2012.
According to the Commission, the following are some of the more
important programmatic and operational changes, enhancements and
other important policy decisions or regulatory changes made:
Payments have been made to eligible boxers from the
Pension Fund . The issue of lack of appropriate effort by the
Commission to track down eligible former boxers, in addition to
lack of pension payments over a number of years, was raised in
every audit and oversight review of the Commission. This
Committee made various recommendations about furthering the
outreach efforts of the Commission, echoed by the recent BSA
report. While more work still needs to be done, the Commission
in the past five months made three payouts to fighters who
attributed their awareness of eligibility to recent outreach
activity:
o Payment to a homeless former boxer who fought 140
lifetime rounds, who had only a few days left on an annual
allotment of days at an area homeless shelter.
o Payment to another homeless former boxer who fought
384 lifetime rounds.
o The Commission's first ever early retirement for
medical purposes to a 45-year old former boxer suffering
from the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic
encephalopathy, the symptoms of which include memory loss,
confusion, depression and emotional outbursts
Updated Strategic Plan . The Commission completed a
Strategic Plan for 2013-2015 and has already met some of the
goals outlined within the plan.
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Recent improvements to cashiering and cash-handling
procedures . The Commission has long faced criticism about the
way payment is handled, including cash payments which could go
missing or be placed in insecure locations like unlocked file
drawers or safes with no key. Beginning in November 2012, the
Commission no longer accepts cash as a method of payment and
staff has been expressly forbidden from handling cash on the
Commission's behalf. Concerns have also been raised over the
years by the Committee, DCA and BSA about cashiering duties.
Cashiering manuals and standard operating procedures have been
created and provided to staff. To ensure accountability and
compliance with proper protocols, the Commission recently
separated several duties related to cashiering within the
office that were previously all handled by one individual so
that now all mail is opened by someone other than the cashier
to ensure all checks are restrictively endorsed before handling
by the cashier. Checks are now required to be secured in an
approved secure container in accordance with state policy, and
the Commission's cashier is now required to make deposits on a
timely basis. The cashier is also now required to obtain a
second review once the Report of Collections is completed to
ensure all funds are properly accounted for and reported in the
correct account.
Creation of Administrative Manual . The Commission now,
for the first time ever, has standard operating procedures
compiled in an administrative manual for athletic inspector
field staff to use and refer to.
Training is happening and completion is recorded . This
Committee directed the Commission that the quality of officials
is critical to protecting the health and safety of athletes and
as such, the Commission needed to immediately create standards
and evaluation procedures for all staff, licensees, officials
and field representatives. The Committee recommended that the
Commission work with its robust network of athletes and
officials to provide guidance on this process and work with the
ABC to determine best practices and ensure compliance with any
uniform standards.
After years of repeatedly failing to meet statutory
requirements for training, the Commission is now holding
inspector trainings and focusing training on many of the
deficiencies identified in prior reviews and audits of the
Commission. The Commission is also working with the ABC to
utilize existing training infrastructure and staff. The
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Commission has also implemented policies requiring officials
working title fights to have completed ABC or other approved
training courses and has begun to make some staff assignments
based on the preparedness and education of an official, further
promoting the importance of training and continuing education
to protect fighters. The Commission recently began maintaining
a record of officials who have taken the appropriate training
courses and ensures that competent officials are assigned to
events by consulting these records, as well as refrains from
assigning staff that have not completed required and necessary
training. The Commission is also in the process of working
with the ABC to receive approval of a referee training course,
as well as working with the national association to ensure the
availability of more approved trainers eligible to work in
California. The Commission also recognizes the value of
officials and is looking at ways to utilize qualified
individuals to better train new and existing officials and is
also working with the ABC to make further training
improvements.
Better systems for assigning staff . This Committee was
concerned about a lack of clear, comprehensive standards for
credentialing, hiring, training, or evaluating staff, licensees
and officials, findings which were also outlined in the 2003
DCA audit and recommended that the Commission implement
standards and proper evaluation as the basis for assignments.
The Commission made some slight improvements in the past but it
remained unclear if the Commission was able to demonstrate
standards for who should be allowed to oversee events, and
whether all licensed officials had been properly trained, or
are able to pass basic proficiency exams. The Commission is
now using a website geared toward effective athletic event
management and making assignments based on established
criteria, such as participation in required training. The
Arbiter Sports website assists the Commission by quickly
locating the nearest inspectors to each event which greatly
contributes to reductions in staff travel costs, an issue which
has plagued the Commission.
Issuing Federal IDs prior to events . The Commission has
been criticized for problems associated with issuance of
Federal IDs, including the recent DCA audit which examined a
random sampling of boxers' files and Federal IDs missing in 27
of
28 files. While the Commission historically provided Federal IDs
at events, adding to the event workload and dedicated time of
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staff, it recently implemented a policy to issue IDs prior to
events so that fighters participate with a federal number and
athletic inspector work at events can be streamlined. The
Commission has recently partnered with DCA's DOI to also issue
IDs at DOI field offices throughout the state.
Event files have improved and reporting timelines
enhanced . The Commission recently obtained laptops for use in
the field at events and has worked to reduce paperwork
processing in the field. Lead inspectors utilize an internal
"Who's Who" document that ensures necessary items are in place
before a fighter is cleared to participate and events are
authorized to take place. Prior to a fighter participating in
an event, the EO and lead inspectors assigned to an event now
check all possible suspension lists multiple times to ensure
fighter safety and that athletes are not suspended in another
jurisdiction that the individual did not report to the
Commission. Previously, the Commission struggled to reconcile
its information with the national suspension database,
resulting in confusion and potential fighter harm. The
Commission is also now making timely reports of event outcomes,
including medical suspensions, to necessary national databases.
Now, the EO signs off on all fight results which are submitted
to both fightfax and mixedmartialarts.com within 48 hours of
completion of the event.
1. Review of the California State Athletic Commission - Issues
Identified and Recommended Changes. The following are some of the
major issues pertaining to the Commission along with background
information concerning the particular issue. Recommendations were
made by Committee staff and within the BSA's report regarding the
particular issue areas which needed to be addressed.
a) Issue : Commission's Budget Problems.
Background : The Commission is funded through regulatory fees and
license fees. For each event held in California that the
Commission regulates, the Commission collects a "gate fee" from
the event promoter, which is a 5% fee on gross ticket sales for
that event, not to exceed $100,000. The Commission also collects
a "TV fee" from the event promoter if the event is broadcast on
television, which is a 5% fee on the revenue a promoter collects
from broadcasting rights, not to exceed $25,000.
In June 2012, the DCA budget staff reported to Commission members
that it faced a deficit of nearly $700,000 by the end of FY 2013.
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In a letter to the Commission's then-EO, the Director of the DCA
stated that "without the ability to pay for even basic services,
the Commission will have no choice but to cease operation
immediately and cancel or postpone indefinitely all Commission
regulated events." The Commission is currently operating
according to a solvency plan implemented last summer to address a
significant budget shortfall and the threat of no longer being
able to conduct business and meet its statutory mandates,
however, this plan may not be feasible for the Commission to do
its job. The Commission is authorized to spend less than $1.2
million in FY 2014/15. Substantial cuts to the Commission may be
impacting its ability to protect fighters and effectively
regulate the sports within its jurisdiction. The drop in funding
levels and requirements for significant expenditure reductions in
order to build an adequate fund reserve have led to layoffs,
decreased commission presence at regulated events and numerous
executive management vacancies.
The Commission has come under scrutiny for years regarding
challenges in properly evaluating what it costs to oversee an
event and how much revenue an event brings in. It is becoming
increasingly clear that the Commission lacks the necessary
resources and compensation to safely monitor events. The
Commission may not be able to adequately predict revenues over
time in the manner that other licensing boards do, given the
fluid nature of the Commission licensing revenues and
fluctuations in the sports that may dictate when events do or do
not take place. However, the Commission is facing such a dire
budget situation that it may be necessary for the Commission to
seek fee increases for the licensing categories it does have, as
well as collect up-front monies from promoters to cover initial
costs of event oversight.
Boxers are issued a federal identification card (Federal ID) per
the Federal Act and State Act that contains a number assigned to
the fighter, the fighter's date of birth, height, weight and
photo. These Federal IDs are issued by the state commission in
which a boxer resides and are valid for four years from the date
of issuance (the Commission issues Federal IDs for
California-based fighters). MMA fighters may be issued a
National Identification Card (National ID) that contains a number
assigned to the fighter, the fighter's date of birth, height,
weight and photo. National IDs can only be issued by a state
commission or tribal commission in good standing with the ABC and
while these are not mandatory they are recommended by the ABC.
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Recommendation and Proposed Statutory Change : The April 8
oversight hearing of the Commission focused on a number of areas
but one in particular, the Commission's budget and associated
revenues and spending authority, captured the bulk of Committee
member attention.
As a result of the Background Paper, the BSA's report and
conversation during that hearing, the following are proposed in
this bill:
$20 fee once every four years charged to athletes
for the Commission to issue a Federal ID card.
Limiting the administrative costs associated with
managing and distributing the neurological examination
account to no more than twenty percent of the prior year's
contributions.
Authority for Commission to contract with a third
party to conduct officials training sessions and
clarification that the third party may charge attendees a
fee. Removal of the authority in current law for the
Commission to pay necessary travel expenses of referees and
physicians who attend such clinics.
Raise the minimum fee collected by the Commission
for an amateur event or contest from $500 to $1000.
Establish the minimum fee collected by the Commission for a
professional event as $1250.
Raise the minimum TV tax collected by the Commission
from $1000 to $1250. Raises the maximum TV tax collected by
the Commission from $25,000 to $35,000.
Limit the administrative costs associated with
investing, managing and distributing the Pension Fund to two
(2) percent of the corpus of the fund.
b) Issue : Lack of Pregnancy Testing for Female Athletes.
Background : The Commission and consumer advocates have been
concerned for many years about the Commission's lack of pregnancy
testing for female athletes and as such the Commission has made
several attempts to mandate pregnancy tests, none of which have
been successful. As an alternative to a testing requirement, in
2001, the Commission developed a notice that was provided to all
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female boxers before each bout. The Commission wanted to at the
very least inform female boxers of the dangers associated with
boxing if pregnant and to potentially prevent female boxers from
fighting while pregnant. The notice, "What Can Happen If I Fight
When I am Pregnant?" included possible medical effects of
fighting while pregnant and recommended pre-fight testing.
The Commission sponsored AB 972 (Runner, 2005) which mandated
pregnancy testing for female fighters, stating that pregnancy
testing was a basic protection for female athletes and a key
initiative to promote women's health, as a pregnant fighter
engaging in a bout could damage her own body as well as her
unborn child. At the time, the Commission also asserted that
"all major boxing commissions in the United States require
pregnancy testing," many of which have found on "multiple
occasions that female boxing applicants tested positive on
pregnancy tests."
The Commission is the only Commission in the nation that does not
require pregnancy tests.
Recommendation and Proposed Statutory Change : Staff suggested
that the Committee may wish to pursue requiring pregnancy tests
for female athletes as a female athlete safety measure.
This bill requires a female who is a contestant in a professional
or amateur boxing match, kickboxing match, or martial arts match
to provide the results of a pregnancy test before the match
commences to indicate whether she is currently pregnant. The
bill specifies that the pregnancy test shall have been taken
between seven and 14 days before the match and if the results
indicate that the contestant is pregnant, she shall not compete
in the match.
c) Issue: Need for a "Professional Trainers" License and
Reporting of Athlete Injuries.
Background: Current law requires the Commission to oversee a
licensed fighter, as well as the individuals that train with that
fighter. The State Act includes a statutory provision requiring
that a professional boxer only spar for training purposes with an
individual possessing a sparring permit and statute requires gyms
to track sparring and report it to the Commission. This
requirement has not historically been followed and may be
impossible for the Commission to enforce given its current
resources. The Commission reported in its Sunset Report that the
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requirement for approval of, and reporting from, a sparring
partner is unique to California and is not feasible. The
Commission advised that resources may better be utilized by
monitoring licensed professional trainers under a new licensing
category. The Professional Trainer would be licensed by the
Commission, pay a fee would have to sign off on the application
of any professional fighter making his or her debut. This
additional accountability measure would allow the Commission to
evaluate possible poor performance of the fighter and take action
against not only the fighter but also the Professional Trainer
associated with that fighter.
Recommendation and Proposed Statutory Change: Staff recommended
that the Commission provide additional information to the
Committee about this licensing category, including the existence
of a similar licensing category in other states and whether this
is a practice endorsed by the ABC, and noted that the Committee
may consider adding a Professional Trainer licensing category
provided more details are made available. The Commission
provided examples of other states in which a Professional
Trainer's license exists.
This bill replaces a professional boxers' training gymnasium
license, and requirements for an owner or operator of a
professional boxers' training gymnasium to report an injury or a
knockout to the Commission, with a professional trainer's license
and establishes accountability measures for professional trainers
to report an athlete injury to the Commission prior to a bout.
This bill also establishes the application and renewal fee for a
licensed professional trainer as $200.
d) Issue: Clarify the Delegation of Authority for Amateur
Sports.
Background: Current law allows the Commission to delegate its
authority to oversee amateur sports to a qualified nonprofit
organization if the Commission determines that the nonprofit
"meets or exceeds the safety and fairness standards of the
Commission." The Commission has the "sole direction, management,
control of, and jurisdiction over all professional and amateur
boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing, all forms and
combinations of forms of full contact martial arts contests,
including mixed martial arts, and matches or exhibitions
conducted, held, or given within this state". Thus, under
current law, the Commission's delegated authority for amateur
regulation would also have oversight of the same sports as the
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Commission.
California is unique in requiring that a delegated authority have
nonprofit status. According to information provided by the
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), many other
states similarly delegate regulatory authority for amateur sports
but do not always require the organization to have nonprofit
status. Some, like Oklahoma, require that an authority other
than the state commission be a nationally recognized amateur
sanctioning body. Many sanctioning outfits are actually
for-profit organizations but often have national or international
authority over a particular sport.
The Commission has delegated its regulatory oversight
responsibilities of amateur boxing and MMA to two different
nonprofit organizations; USA Boxing, Inc. and the California
Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Organization (CAMO).
There have been several issues with USA Boxing that raise some
concern regarding the oversight of amateur boxing. In 2009, the
Commission suspended USA Boxing's authorization to regulate
amateur boxing for three weeks in response to media reports of
improprieties including underage alcohol consumption and gambling
at USA Boxing sanctioned events and concern for the health and
safety of amateur athletes. That delegation was reinstated after
the Commission staff negotiated stricter requirements regarding
safety, background checks, uniformity, reporting and record
keeping, and included promises for USA Boxing to be more
responsive to the Commission. The Commission voted to place USA
Boxing on probation until June 2010. Earlier this year, the
Commission informed USA Boxing that it would be randomly sending
the Commission inspectors to USA Boxing sanctioned events to
ensure safety at those events.
When CAMO was first created and received authority from the
Commission to oversee amateur MMA, there was no consensus on
safety standards for amateur MMA and CAMO founders reported that
it was unnecessary and even dangerous for the fighters to wear
headgear. It does not appear that the Commission ever adopted
regulations to clearly outline the difference between
professional regulations and amateur regulations prior to
delegating its authority. Additionally, the Commission struggled
with a definition of what constitutes "full contact" and should
therefore be regulated. While CAMO presented substantial
regulations and clear standards for the components necessary to
oversee amateur MMA, there is some concern that the Commission
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was not yet in a position in its own process and according to its
own procedures to assist in the creation of the CAMO program.
The Commission also worked with a small group of stakeholders to
create a new model for regulation which may have omitted the
input of many passionate athletes and organizers. CAMO
established a fee structure for licensing that exceeds any of the
fees collected by the Commission. Many groups determined to be
under CAMO's regulatory authority still balk at the fee
structure, citing that high fees are cost prohibitive to conduct
events. BSA also reported that the Commission may have
opportunities to generate revenue by regulating amateur MMA
rather than delegating its authority to CAMO.
Recommendation and Proposed Statutory Change: Committee staff
stated that regulations and statute governing the Commission's
policies need to be updated to ensure that it has the ability to
oversee amateur boxing in the event that USA Boxing is suspended
again or removed completely from the authority to administer
amateur events. Committee staff also recommended that the
Commission should fully explain how it would handle regulating
amateur MMA in California, considering that it had to delegate
its authority originally in 2009 because it lacked the staff and
resources to regulate this growing field of athletes and events.
This bill clarifies that a "sanctioning body" is one of the
eligible organizations to which the Commission may delegate its
authority for oversight of amateur sports. This bill also
authorizes the Commission to revoke the authority for a
previously authorized nonprofit boxing, wrestling, or martial
arts club or organization or sanctioning body to administer its
rules for amateur boxing, wrestling, and full contact martial
arts contests.
d) Technical cleanup. This bill makes several cleanup provisions
to clarify the law as recommended by the Commission and Committee
staff .
6.Related Legislation This Session. SB 198 (Price) reorganizes,
revises, recasts and updates the Physical Therapy Practice Act.
This measure is also up for consideration before the Committee
today.
SB 304 (Price) makes various changes to the Medical Practice Act and
to the Medical Board of California. This measure is also up for
consideration before the Committee today.
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SB 305 (Price) extends until January 1, 2018, the provisions
establishing the Naturopathic Medicine Committee and the Respiratory
Care Board of California, and extends the term of the executive
officers of the Respiratory Care Board of California and the
California State Board of Optometry. Specifies that the Osteopathic
Medical Board of California is subject to review by the appropriate
policy committees of the Legislature. Exempts individuals who have
performed pulmonary function tests in Los Angeles county facilities
for at least 15 years, from licensure as a respiratory care
therapist. Specifies that any board under the Department of
Consumer Affairs is authorized to receive certified records from a
local or state agency to complete an applicant or licensee
investigation and authorizes them to provide those records to the
board. This measure is also up for consideration before the
Committee today.
SB 306 (Price) extends until January 1, 2018, the provisions
establishing the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners,
Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers
Board, the Physical Therapy Board of California and the California
Board of Occupational Therapy and extends the terms of the executive
officers of the Physical Therapy Board of California and the
Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers
Board. This bill also subjects the boards to be reviewed by the
appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.
SB 307 (Price) extends until January 1, 2016, the provisions
establishing the Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) and the term of the
executive officer of the VMB. Makes other changes regarding the
inspection authority of the VMB as it pertains to veterinary
premises, the membership and responsibility of the Multidisciplinary
Committee of the VMB, and the requirements for veterinary assistants
regarding access to controlled substances.
SB 308 (Price) extends until January 1, 2018, the provisions
establishing the Interior Design Law, and the Board of Guide Dogs
for the Blind. Extends until January 1, 2016, the provisions
establishing the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and the term of
the executive officer of the Board. Makes other changes regarding
interior design and the regulatory programs of the boards, as
specified.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
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Support:
None on file as of April 23, 2013
Opposition:
None on file as of April 23, 2013
Consultant:Sarah Mason