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Steroid Testing /
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House passes steroid testing
House passes steroid testing, By: Gardner Selby
Bill now heads back to Senate with disagreement over paying for random testing program.
May 22, 2007
House members gave preliminary approval Monday to random steroid testing of high school athletes, possibly funded by increases in ticket prices to games.
After final approval, expected to come today, Senate Bill 8 would head to the Senate, which could concur with House changes or request negotiations.
The House version, requiring the University Interscholastic League to develop rules for testing high school athletes for steroids, authorizes $4.5 million in annual costs to be funded from increases in ticket prices to high school spectator sports.
The Senate version requires the state to pay for the testing.
The bill would take effect in September at the start of football season.
The House bill differs from the Senate approach in several ways, including:
n It leaves up to the UIL to determine the lengths of periods of ineligibility upon positive tests. The Senate had provided for specific periods of ineligibility, ranging from 30 days for the first positive test to permanent ineligibility for a third positive test.
n It doesn't hold that a student's refusal to take a test is tantamount to a confirmed positive test.
n It doesn't prohibit a student from participating in UIL athletic events if the student's parent fails to sign a statement acknowledging the child could be randomly tested for steroids.
n It doesn't require coaches to complete an educational program on steroids.
On another front, House members gave tentative approval to a proposal requiring that at least one automated external defibrillator be made available at every public school campus and at school athletic competitions and practices and that someone who knows how to use the AED be present wherever the device is available.
Under Senate Bill 7, the state education commissioner would start a pilot program screening sixth-graders for heart troubles. That is expected to cost $500,000 a year, assuming participation of 1,000 students a year at a testing cost of $500 — though the cost could drop if equipment is donated, meaning more students could be screened.
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