SENATE BILL REPORT

EHCR 4431

BYRepresentatives Jacobsen, Rust, Leonard, Cole, Locke, Winsley, Brough, Peery, Fisher, Holm, Belcher, Pruitt, Jesernig, Haugen, Anderson, Appelwick, Grimm, Basich, Ebersole, Nelson, K. Wilson, Nutley, Crane, Hankins, Bristow, P. King, Rasmussen, Hine and Miller

Establishing a Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Women in Athletics.

House Committe on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Senate Hearing Date(s):February 23, 1988

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.

      Signed by Senators Saling, Chairman; Patterson, Vice Chairman; Anderson, Hansen, McMullen, Smitherman, von Reichbauer.

Senate Staff:Jean Six (786-7423)

                  February 23, 1988

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 23, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The passage of Title IX in 1972 was the impetus for the rapid expansion of sports programs for women, particularly in high schools.  By the middle to late 1970s, young women athletes entering college from high school became concerned that their college athletic opportunities were much more limited than opportunities available to young men.  After exhausting internal grievance procedures, women athletes and coaches of women's sports programs began to file formal legal complaints under Title IX, and the state's equal rights amendment.

In 1979, a discrimination lawsuit was filed against Washington State University based on the Washington's equal rights amendment.  The case was decided in 1983.  In Blair et al. vs. Washington State University, Superior Court Judge Faris found the university guilty of discrimination in its athletic programs.  In his decree, Judge Faris presented a series of funding formulas meant to insure equitable funding of women's athletic programs. However, he exempted football from the calculations of required scholarship and participation opportunities.

The case was appealed to the state Supreme Court.  In August 1987, the court decided that football scholarships and participants could not be excluded from the formulas designed to protect against discrimination.  The case was remanded back to Superior Court, where further deliberations are anticipated.  The Supreme Court's decision may impact programs at many Washington colleges and universities.

SUMMARY:

A Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Women in Athletics is established to study and make recommendations on athletic programs available to women at state institutions of higher education.

The study may include, but is not limited to: the types of programs and activities available to men and women; the funding levels, support services, and coach staffs available to those activities and programs; the number of participants in each program or activity; and the number and size of available athletic scholarships.  The study may also consider legal questions surrounding current funding levels for women's athletic programs at state institutions of higher education.  Whenever possible, the committee will use data developed for the Senate Education Committee's 1986 interim report on intercollegiate athletics.

The committee will consist of up to twenty-five members.  Four members, two from each caucus, will be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.  At least one member from each caucus must be a member of the House Higher Education Committee.

Four members, two from each caucus, will be selected by the President of the Senate.  At least one member from each caucus must be a member of the Senate Higher Education Committee.

Other members representing community sports programs and students, faculty, and administrators from state colleges and universities will be selected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate.

At least half the legislators and half the other members selected to serve on the advisory committee should be women.

The committee will report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by the start of the 1989 regular legislative session.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED SENATE AMENDMENT:

The name of the committee is changed to the Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics.  The amendment adds to the study the sources of funding used for all aspects of intercollegiate athletics programs.

Appropriation:    none

Revenue:    none

Fiscal Note:      none requested

Senate Committee - Testified: FOR:  Representative Ken Jacobsen; Sue Durant, WSU; Kathryn Green, UW; Jan Lambertz, TESC; Chapel Arnett, WWU; Marcia Seinholz, WSU; Lonnie Johns-Brown, NOW; Jan Yoshiwara, SBCCE