May 2, 2001
By a 113-0-0 vote last week, the Illinois House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 50, the so-called Referee Assault legislation. The bill had previously been passed by the Senate. So the bill now goes to Governor Ryan for signature.
Licensed officials and school representatives
are encouraged to write to Governor Ryan and
encourage his signature of this important and
useful legislation. When you write, be sure to
emphasize the fact that SB 50 does not create new
protections for athletic officials. Those
protections already exist in the Illinois criminal
code. What the bill does, however, is establish a
mandatory maximum fine of $1000 for battery of a
sports official, and a mandatory $2000 fine for a
second or subsequent offense. The benefit of these
mandatory penalties is that they will motivate the
prosecution of violators of the present protective
statues by establishing mandatory penalties for
conviction. The expected result will be active
prosecution of violation against officials and a
resultant deterrent against such violent acts.