BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|Hearing Date: August 19, 2013 |Bill No: AB |
| |1186 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Ted W. Lieu, Chair
Bill No: AB 1186Author:Bonilla
As Amended:August 12, 2013Fiscal: Yes
SUBJECT: State Athletic Commission. (Urgency)
SUMMARY: An urgency measure that clarifies that the California State
Athletic Commission is authorized to regulate all forms of full
contact martial arts contests involving participants 18 years of age
or younger, including all forms and combinations of forms of full
contact martial arts contests deemed by the Commission to be similar,
and that an amateur contest includes a contest where full contact is
used, even if unintentionally.
Existing Federal law: The Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (Federal
Boxing Act) prohibits events from taking place in a state without a
regulatory commission unless the fight is regulated by either another
state's commission or on sovereign tribal land. (Title 15 U.S.C. §
6303)
Existing law:
1)The Boxing Act, or State Athletic Commission Act (State Act),
provides for the licensing and regulation of boxers, kickboxers,
martial arts athletes and events held in California by the
California State Athletic Commission (Commission) within the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and makes the Commission
inoperative and repealed on January 1, 2014.
2)Provides that protection of the public shall be the highest priority
for the Commission in exercising its licensing, regulatory, and
disciplinary functions, and whenever the protection of the public is
inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the
protection of the public shall be paramount. (BPC § 18602.1)
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3)Provides that "contest" and "match" are synonymous, may be used
interchangeably, include boxing, kickboxing, and martial arts
exhibitions, and mean a fight, prizefight, boxing contest,
pugilistic contest, kickboxing contest, martial arts contest, or
sparring match, between two or more persons, where full or partial
contact is used or intended that may result or is intended to result
in physical harm to the opponent. Provides that in any exhibition or
sparring match, the opponents are not required to use their best
efforts. (BPC § 18625)
4)Provides for the following definitions: (BPC § 18627)
a) "Martial arts" means any form of karate, kung fu, tae kwon-do,
kickboxing or any combination of full contact martial arts,
including mixed martial arts, or self-defense conducted on a full
contact basis where a weapon is not used.
b) "Kickboxing" means any form of boxing in which blows are
delivered with the hand and any part of the leg below the hip,
including the foot.
c) "Full contact" means the use of full unrestrainted physical
force in a martial arts contest.
d) "Light contact" means the use of controlled martial arts
techniques whereby contact to the body is permitted in a
restrained manner, no contact to the face is permitted, and no
contact is permitted which may result or is intended to result in
physical harm to the opponent.
e) "Noncontact" means that no contact occurs between either
contestant.
1)Provides that the Commission has the sole direction, management,
control of, and jurisdiction over all professional and amateur
boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing, all forms and
combinations of forms of full contact martial arts contests,
including mixed martial arts, and matches or exhibitions conducted,
held, or given within this state. Provides that no event shall take
place without the prior approval of the Commission and no person
shall engage in the promotion of, or participate in, a boxing or
martial arts contest, match, or exhibition without a license. (BPC
§ 18640)
2)Provides that the Commission may authorize a nonprofit boxing,
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wrestling, or martial arts club or organization, upon approval of
its bylaws, to administer its rules for amateur boxing, wrestling,
and full contact martial arts contests. Requires the Commission to
review the performance of any such club or organization annually.
Requires the Commission to review compliance with requirements for
amateur contests to be preceded by a physical examination of every
contestant, that a physician is in attendance at the contest and
that the organization has a medical insurance program covering all
contestants. Requires an organization to provide written financial
reports of receipts and disbursements within 90 days of an amateur
event. Authorizes the Commission to have representatives present as
are necessary to obtain compliance with the requirements for amateur
events. Authorizes the Commission to require any additional notices
and reports from an organization it deems necessary.
(BPC § 18646)
3)Provides that no person under the age of 18 years shall participate
as a contestant in any contest or match or exhibition, except that
any person 16 years or over may be licensed as an amateur and may
participate in an amateur contest or match. (BPC § 18702)
4)Creates an advisory committee on medical and safety standards, which
consists of six licensed physicians and surgeons appointed by the
commission for the purpose of studying and recommending medical and
safety standards for the conduct of boxing, wrestling, and martial
arts contests. (BPC § 18645)
5)Authorizes the Commission to appoint a martial arts advisory
committee, composed of individuals, residing in California, who have
prior to their appointment, been promoters, fighters, trainers,
managers, or officials in publicly held kickboxing or full-contact
martial arts events. (BPC § 18769)
This bill:
1) Removes "partial contact" from the definition of a contest or
match.
2) Clarifies that "full contact" means the use of full unrestrained
physical force in a martial arts contest that may result, or is
intended to result, in physical harm to the opponent, including any
contact that does not meet the definition of light contact or
noncontact.
3) Clarifies that an amateur contest or match includes a contest or
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match where full contact is used, even if unintentionally.
4) Specifies that an amateur contest or match does not include light
contact karate, tae kwon-do, judo, or any other light contact
martial arts as approved by the commission and recognized by the
International Olympic Committee as an Olympic sport.
5) Clarifies that the Commission shall have jurisdiction over all
forms and combination of forms of full contact martial arts
contests involving participants 18 years of age or younger.
6) Requires the Commission to establish a pankration subcommittee to
investigate the rules and conduct of contests involving or claiming
to involve pankration by persons under 18 years of age, or any
style deemed by the subcommittee to be sufficiently similar.
Requires the subcommittee to make recommendations to the Commission
regarding any administrative actions or statutory changes to be
enacted that may be necessary to improve its regulation and
oversight of contests in order to adequately protect participants.
Provides that the pankration subcommittee shall consist of three
members of the commission who meet and examine the following,
including, but not limited to:
a) The legality and safety of contests.
b) Whether or not legislation should be enacted to impose
age-based requirements or restrictions, which may include a
prohibition on participants engaging in contests.
c) Appropriate safety precautions for persons under 18 years of
age engaging in contests.
1) States that this is an urgency measure necessary to take effect
immediately for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the
Constitution.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed "fiscal" by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose. The Author is the Sponsor of this measure. According to
the Author, this bill is necessary to ensure the health and safety
of young children participating in certain amateur MMA events,
known as pankration. According to the Author, event organizers
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have used loopholes in state law to escape Commission regulations,
which puts kids at risk for serious injury. Pankration organizers
have testified at numerous Commission meetings and in
communications to the Commission that their sport includes only
light or partial contact, thus does not fall under the jurisdiction
of the Commission, which has oversight responsibilities for full
contact sports. Pankration event organizers in California have
also argued that the Commission does not license athletes under the
age of 16, and since the youth participating in their events are
under 16, the Commission does not have jurisdiction to regulate
pankration events. According to the Author, clarifying the
definition of full contact to ensure proper oversight of youth
events in California will provide for important safety precautions
at youth pankration events, including physical examinations for
participants, physician attendance at all events, and a medical
insurance program for all contests.
2. Background.
a) The California State Athletic Commission (Commission). The
Commission is responsible for protecting the health and safety of
its licensees; boxers, kickboxers and martial arts athletes.
Established by initiative in 1924, stemming from concerns for
athletes' injuries and deaths, the Commission provides direction,
management, control of and jurisdiction over professional and
amateur boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing, all forms
and combinations of full contact martial arts contests, including
mixed martial arts (MMA) and matches or exhibitions conducted,
held or given in California. SB 1549 (Chapter 691, Statutes of
2004) gave the Commission jurisdiction over MMA, which at the
time was a relatively new sport that was quickly growing in
popularity. The Commission oversees licensing, prohibited
substance testing, and event regulation. Functionally, the
Commission has five primary responsibilities: licensing,
protection of the boxer and fighter, enforcement, regulating
events and administering the Pension Fund. Responsibilities
The Commission is responsible for implementation and enforcement
of the Federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act (Federal Boxing
Act) and the California Boxing Act or State Athletic Commission
Act (State Act). The Commission establishes requirements for
licensure, issues and renews licenses, approves and regulates
events, assigns ringside officials, investigates complaints
received, and enforces applicable laws by issuing fines and
suspending or revoking licenses. In 2012, the Commission
supervised close to 200 events. The Commission has so far
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supervised over 100 events in 2013. The Commission licenses a
number of individuals related to the participation in, oversight
for, and management of events in California.
b) Delegation of Authority for Amateur Sports in California.
Current law allows the Commission to delegate its authority to
oversee amateur sports to a qualified nonprofit organization if
the Commission determines that the nonprofit "meets or exceeds
the safety and fairness standards of the Commission." The
Commission has the "sole direction, management, control of, and
jurisdiction over all professional and amateur boxing,
professional and amateur kickboxing, all forms and combinations
of forms of full contact martial arts contests, including mixed
martial arts, and matches or exhibitions conducted, held, or
given within this state." Thus, under current law, the
Commission's delegated authority for amateur regulation would
also have oversight of the same sports as the Commission.
California is unique in requiring that a delegated authority have
nonprofit status. According to information provided by the
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), many other
states similarly delegate regulatory authority for amateur sports
but do not always require the organization to have nonprofit
status. Some, like Oklahoma, require that an authority other
than the state commission be a nationally recognized amateur
sanctioning body. Many sanctioning outfits are actually
for-profit organizations but often have national or international
authority over a particular sport.
The Commission has delegated its regulatory oversight
responsibilities of amateur boxing and MMA to two different
nonprofit organizations; USA Boxing, Inc. and the California
Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Organization (CAMO).
There have been several issues with USA Boxing that raise some
concern regarding the oversight of amateur boxing. In 2009, the
Commission suspended USA Boxing's authorization to regulate
amateur boxing for three weeks in response to media reports of
improprieties including underage alcohol consumption and gambling
at USA Boxing sanctioned events and concern for the health and
safety of amateur athletes. That delegation was reinstated after
the Commission staff negotiated stricter requirements regarding
safety, background checks, uniformity, reporting and record
keeping, and included promises for USA Boxing to be more
responsive to the Commission. The Commission voted to place USA
Boxing on probation until June 2010. Earlier this year, the
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Commission informed USA Boxing that it would be randomly sending
the Commission inspectors to USA Boxing sanctioned events to
ensure safety at those events.
When CAMO was first created and received authority from the
Commission to oversee amateur MMA, there was no consensus on
safety standards for amateur MMA and CAMO The founders reported
that it was unnecessary and even dangerous for the fighters to
wear headgear. It does not appear that the Commission ever
adopted regulations to clearly outline the difference between
professional regulations and amateur regulations prior to
delegating its authority. Additionally, the Commission struggled
with a definition of what constitutes "full contact" and should
therefore be regulated. While CAMO presented substantial
regulations and clear standards for the components necessary to
oversee amateur MMA, there is some concern that the Commission
was not yet in a position in its own process and according to its
own procedures to assist in the creation of the CAMO program.
The Commission also worked with a small group of stakeholders to
create a new model for regulation which may have omitted the
input of many passionate athletes and organizers. CAMO
established a fee structure for licensing that exceeds any of the
fees collected by the Commission. Many groups determined to be
under CAMO's regulatory authority still balk at the fee
structure, citing that high fees are cost prohibitive to conduct
events. BSA also reported that the Commission may have
opportunities to generate revenue by regulating amateur MMA
rather than delegating its authority to CAMO.
1. Pankration Safety Concerns. Recent features on Nightline and
Dateline focused on young children in Southern California who
compete in pankration events that take place in cages, similar to
those made popular by professional MMA outfit The Ultimate Fighting
Championship (UFC). In the feature, clips from a pankration event,
put on by the United States Fight League (USFL), showed a young
girl being hit in the face by a young boy during a match in a cage.
USFL has consistently countered that the clip has been taken out
of context, that the organization's rules do not allow for strikes
to the head and the match was stopped by a referee once the head
strikes occurred. The event was not regulated by CAMO, which has
been delegated the Commission's authority for regulating amateur
MMA. USFL events like the one featured in the media clip have no
requirements for medical and safety standards like those required
by the Commission and CAMO. USFL's written rules, which govern its
events, specifically restrict strikes to the head and USFL
management claim that the rules are consistent with other light
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contact sports like karate and tae kwon do which are decided on a
point scoring system, rather than by harm to the opponent as in
MMA. However, USFL pankration events do allow knee strikes which
are not allowed in any other grappling sports like judo or jiu
jitsu or even kickboxing. MMA and Muay Thai, a sport very similar
to MMA, are the only disciplines other than pankration, as
practiced and promoted by USFL, that also allow knee strikes.
Additionally, there are age restrictions for amateur Muay Thai
particpants, allowing only youth 16 and older to compete in that
sport, while pankration events do not have any age restriction and
participants as young as five years old have competed in these
events.
In March 2009, the Commission first expressed concern about youth
pankration events in California, specifically that head strikes
were taking place and the events were not regulated. Commission
staff and Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Legal Counsel
attended pankration events and reviewed videos and organization
rules to determine if the activity constituted full contact combat
sports and should be regulated. Organizers modified rules numerous
times to evade regulation until the Commission received a formal
legal opinion in 2010, which found that pankration is a form of
full contact MMA, subject to the Commission's oversight.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, the USFL, which was known then as the
Amateur Pankration League/USA Pankration, came before the
Commission and this Committee contesting the determination that
their sport is full contact, under the Commission's jurisdiction,
and since the group put on amateur shows, would be regulated by
CAMO on the Commission's behalf. The group continues to testify at
Commission hearings that they are not full contact, despite the
video clips recently highlighted on Nightline and Dateline, as well
as those used by the Commission's Legal Counsel to make the
original determination. However, the USFL President has described
his events as "kids MMA" or "MMA events for kids" when promoting
the competitions, creating a significant lack of clarity. A recent
subcommittee meeting of the Commission received testimony that
there is a lack of consistency among the trainers and youth
pankration promoters in terms of requirements for medical
evaluations prior to competitions. Pankration stakeholders also
recently testified that they believe that only practices which
result in injuries, as logged and tracked so as to create
statistics about such injuries, should be excluded from events and
the organization's rules. USFL recently testified that it supports
the regulation of youth pankration, but that the events should only
be governed by the USFL rules, rather than general rules for full
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contact MMA as those outlined by CAMO.
At its annual meeting last month, the Association of Boxing
Commissions (ABC) Medical Safety Committee issued the following
guidelines for amateur combat events:
a) Amateur events should be regulated by State Athletic
Commissions or participating jurisdictions, since amateur combat
sports participants have fewer skill sets, but run the same or
greater risk of injury as do professional combat sports
competitors.
b) Minimum medical requirements for participation in any amateur
event with modified rules (such as no elbow striking to the head
on the ground in MMA) should include:
i) Annual history and physical examination.
ii) Baseline CBC, blood chemistries, lipid profile, clotting
times.
iii) Communicable disease testing (HIV1/2, Hepatitis BsAg,
hepatitis C Ab) (every six months).
iv) Annual ophthalmologic examination.
v) Baseline neurologic testing.
a) The reviewing Commission/jurisdiction physician may require
further testing depending on the results of those submitted prior
to licensure/fight clearance.
b) Suspensions of amateurs post-fight should be submitted to the
appropriate national website (Fight-Fax,
ABCMixedMartialArts.com).
1. Similar and Related Legislation This Session. SB 309 (Lieu)
extends the operation of the California State Athletic Commission
until 2016. Makes various changes to the laws governing the
Commission's operations and the Commission's oversight of
professional and amateur boxing, professional and amateur
kickboxing, all forms and combinations of full contact martial arts
contests, including mixed martial arts (MMA) and matches or
exhibitions conducted, held or given in California. ( Status: The
bill is currently pending in the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations.)
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2. Prior Related Legislation. AB 2100 (Alejo) of 2012 would have
required that the Commission, in consultation with the Association
of Boxing Commissions (ABC), to establish and enforce a
professional code of conduct, as specified, and that persons
seeking payment as promoters must make specified disclosures to the
CSAC prior to being compensated. ( Status : The bill was held in
the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.)
SB 543 (Price, Chapter 448, Statutes of 2011) extended the
Commission sunset date for 2 years, from January 1, 2012 to January
1, 2014.
SB 294 (Negrete McLeod, Chapter 695, Statutes of 2010) extended the
Commission sunset date for one year, from January 1, 2011 to
January 1, 2012.
SB 963 (Ridley-Thomas, Statutes of 2008) extended the Commission
sunset date from July 1, 2009 to January 1, 2011.
SB 247 (Perata, Chapter 465, Statutes of 2006) reestablished the
Commission on January 1, 2007, as an independent board through July
1, 2009.
3. Arguments in Support. Supporters believe that this bill will
protect the health and safety of children who participate in full
contact martial arts events. Roy Englebrecht Promotions/Fight Club
OC and Bellator MMA note that "it is essential that the Commission
be provided every tool necessary to keep athletes safe, especially
child participants" and call this bill "critical to protect the
health and well-being of children."
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
Bellator MMA
Roy Englebrecht Promotions/Fight Club OC
Opposition:
None on file as of August 14, 2013.
Consultant:Sarah Mason
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