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 My Site News: REFEREE ASSAULT BILL IN NY SENATE |
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REFEREE ASSAULT BILL IN NY SENATE
In the Feb. 14, 2003 edition of USA Today, a cover story titled “Officials under assault” stated that verbal and physical abuse of sports officials is on the rise in all levels of sport. What can be done about this? Well, for one thing, having legislation that would punish abusers is an important step. The April 2003 issue of Referee magazine indicates that only 16 of the 50 states have passed sports official assault legislation. New York is not one of them, although there is a bill pending. Bill S564 would make “the intentional causing of physical injury to a sports official a class D felony of assault in the 2nd degree”. It also adds aggravated harassment, a class B misdemeanor. A class D felony conviction could result in a year or more of jail time. This bill is sponsored by Senator George Maziarz (62nd district). If you would like to contact Sen. Maziarz to show support for this bill, you can e-mail him at: maziarz@senate.state.ny.us
Here is a summary of the bill:
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the assault on sports officials.
PURPOSE: This law adds physical injury to a sports official to the list of offenses comprising assault in the second degree and also creates the offense of aggravated harassment of a sports official.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends section 120.05 of the penal law by adding a new subdivision 11 to provide that any person who intends to commit physical injury against a sports official and does cause such injury in any building, structure, athletic playing field, playground or parking facility at which a sports contest is conducted would be guilty of assault in the second degree.
Section 2 of the bill amends the penal law by adding section 240.33 to create the offense of aggravated harassment of a sports official. A person is guilty of aggravated harassment of a sports official when they strike, shove, kick or subject a sports official to physical contact or causes or attempts to cause an official to come into contact with saliva. Aggravated harassment of a sports official would be a class B misdeameanor.
JUSTIFICATION: In the last few years, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of reported assaults against men and women who officiate sporting events. Many of these men and women either volunteer their time or officiate for minimal pay. They take their time away from their busy schedules of everyday life because they have a love for sports, enjoy the interaction with people or feel they are making a valuable contribution to the education process.
Unfortunately, many of these dedicated individuals have been subject to unwarranted abuse and have been physically assaulted due to poor sportsmanship. The continuance of such abuse will only result in a decrease in the number of individuals willing to officiate games which will ultimately limit the number of sporting events conducted in New York State.
The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) has been successful in coordinating efforts in order to enact sport official's assault legislation. Their efforts have resulted in the passage of such legislation in 11 states; Arkansas, California, Delaware, Louisiana, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. New York State should add itself to that list so it may continue to be recognized as a state that takes pride in the professional conducting of its sporting events. Sport officials provide balance to sporting events to ensure the heart of competition exists and is fair to all participants. These individuals deserve to be respected while they carry out their officiating duties.
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