Virginia House Supports Sports Officials Assault Bill

(RACINE, Wis.) — Sports officials in Virginia are one step closer to legislative protection thanks to a more than 2-to-1 margin vote in the Virginia House of Delegates Feb. 15. House Bill 1182 was approved 68 to 30 and will now go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for review. If approved, the bill would then go to the Senate floor for confirmation.

The bill adds sports officials to an existing law that increases the penalty when the perpetrator knowingly attacks a public servant such as a police officer or firefighter.

"Sports officials serve the public because the events are conducted in public venues and when an official is attacked, it is generally in front of hundreds, if not thousands of spectators," said Barry Mano, President of the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO). "You can imagine the message such attacks send to children at sporting events when they witness them firsthand."

HB1182 would allow prosecutors to seek Class 6 felony charges that provide a "mandatory, minimum term of confinement of at least six months, 30 days which shall not be suspended."
NASO has advocated stiffer penalties on those that attack sports officials since 1987. To date, 13 states have enacted legislation and another 13 have bills currently under consideration.
"We have been witness to an increasing trend in behavior that says, ‘take matters into your own hands if you don’t agree with a referee’s call,’" said Mano. "People need to remember that officials will make mistakes just like the players miss blocks, fumble and commit fouls. Our job is to make sure the games are played fair and safe, but that is often forgotten when winning is the end-all."

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2017 Lathrop Avenue o Racine WI 53405 o 262/632-5448 o 262-632-5460 (Fax) www.naso.org