09 LC 28
4414
House
Bill 161
By:
Representatives Harbin of the
118th,
Anderson of the
117th,
and Sims of the
119th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 20-2-316 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the involvement of athletic associations in high school athletics, so as to
provide that no public high school which receives funds under the Quality Basic
Education Act shall participate in or sponsor interscholastic competition
administered by a high school association unless the high school association
meets certain criteria related to the average distance required for travel to
region athletic competitions; to provide for related matters; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 20-2-316 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
involvement of athletic associations in high school athletics, is amended by
revising subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b)
No high school which receives funding under this article shall participate in,
sponsor, or provide coaching staff for interscholastic sports events which are
conducted under the authority of, conducted under the rules of, or scheduled by
any athletic association unless the charter, bylaws, or other governing
documents of such athletic association comply with this Code section. In order
to comply with this Code section, such charter, bylaws, or other governing
documents shall provide that:
(1)
The athletic association shall comply with the requirements of
subsections (a) through (f) of Code Section 20-2-315, as those requirements
relate to the athletic association's functions of organizing, sanctioning,
scheduling, or rule making for events in which public high schools
participate;
(2)
The athletic association shall comply with the requirements of Article 4 of
Chapter 18 of Title 50, relating to the inspection of public records, and
Chapter 14 of Title 50, relating to open and public meetings, to the extent that
such records and meetings relate to the athletic association's activities with
respect to public high schools; provided, however, that such athletic
association shall not be required to comply with such statutes or to conduct
open and public meetings or provide inspection of records where the sole subject
of such meeting or record pertains to the academic records or performance of an
individual student or the eligibility of an individual student to participate or
to continue to participate in sponsored events or contests based on academics;
provided, further, however, that where a meeting or record of such association
is devoted in part to matters excepted in the preceding proviso, any portion of
the meeting or record not subject to such exception shall be open to the public;
and
(3)
The athletic association shall, no later than October 1, 2003, and every year
thereafter, submit a report to the General Assembly regarding its compliance
with paragraph (1) of this subsection. Such report shall address the number,
type, and disposition of written requests for the association to organize and
administer regional or state events for additional or different sports; written
requests for information regarding the types of athletic events for public high
school students that the association organizes and administers; and written
inquiries and complaints received by the association with respect to gender
discrimination in connection with public high school events. The report shall
address all such written requests, inquiries, and complaints, regardless of
whether such request, inquiry, or complaint is made by letter, e-mail,
memorandum, or any other form of written communication. Each report shall cover
the time period beginning on July 1 of the previous year and ending on June
30 of the year in which the report is due. The initial report due on October 1,
2003, shall cover the time periods of July 1, 2000, through June 30, 2001; July
1, 2001, through June 30, 2002; and July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2003. In
addition, the athletic association shall have in effect a policy requiring
notification to persons who make such requests, inquiries, or complaints
verbally that such request, inquiry, or complaint will not be included in the
association's reporting to the General Assembly regarding compliance with this
Code section unless such request, inquiry, or complaint is made in
writing;
and
(4)
When a high school is placed in a region classification in which the average
round trip distance between that high school and its opponents in such region
classification exceeds 200 miles, the athletic association shall permit such
high school, upon reasonable notice to the athletic association, to have the
option of competing in the next lower or higher classification level which
results in the average round trip distance between that high school and its
region opponents being 200 miles or
less."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.