FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 2016

                                  C 339 L 89

BYRepresentatives Miller, Jacobsen, Spanel, Heavey, Wood, Belcher, H. Myers, Inslee, Rector, Hankins, Anderson, O'Brien, R. King, Valle, Winsley, Jesernig, P. King and Kremen

Requiring a conference on gender equity in athletics.

House Committe on Higher Education

Senate Committee on Higher Education

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

During 1988, a subcommittee of the House Higher Education and Education Committees studied the opportunities available to men and women athletes in high school and college.  The subcommittee found that, during the 1987-88 academic year at state baccalaureate universities, women participants in intercollegiate athletic programs comprised 29 to 38 percent of the total participants.  These women athletes comprised between 29 to 31 percent of the athletes receiving financial aid, and their programs received between 26 to 36 percent of the available funding.  In contrast, young women competing in high school interscholastic competition comprised 39 percent of the participants.

The subcommittee recommended the introduction of legislation to encourage equitable intercollegiate athletic opportunities for men and women students, including a bill directing the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to sponsor a gender equity conference for persons involved in athletic programs.

SUMMARY:

The Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Superintendent of Public Instruction are directed to sponsor a gender equity in athletics conference in 1990.  The conference will be held for the benefit of coaches, administrators, teachers, sports information personnel, people involved in community sports programs, the media, and others interested in intercollegiate and interscholastic athletic programs.

The purposes of the conference include identifying barriers to achieving equitable scholarship opportunities and identifying measures to achieve equal opportunities in intercollegiate athletic programs.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

      House 97   1

      Senate    46     0 (Senate amended)

      House 45   0 (House concurred)

EFFECTIVE:July 23, 1989