HOUSE 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
Majority Report: Do pass with amendment. (11)
Signed by Representatives Jacobsen, Chair; Heavey, Vice Chair; Barnes, Basich, Fox, Jesernig, Miller, Nelson, Silver, Unsoeld and K. Wilson.
House Staff:Susan Hosch (786-7120)
AS PASSED HOUSE FEBRUARY 9, 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.
EFFECT OF SENATE AMENDMENT(S): A Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics is created, rather than a Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Women in Athletics. The committee's study will include an examination of funding sources for intercollegiate athletic programs.
Fiscal Note: Not Requested.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: Sue Durrant, Washington State University; Rep. Nancy Rust; Rep. June Leonard; Rep. Tom Bristow; Mary Ellen Hudgins, Northwest Women's Law Center; Eleanor Neigel, F.C. Royals Girls Soccer; Linda Goodrich, Athletic Director/Western Washington University; Jan Lambertz, Athletic Director/The Evergreen State College; Marianne Craft Norton; Marcia Sancholtz, Harold Gibson and Beverly Lingle, Washington State University; Phyllis Templin, Tacoma Community College; Dan Swain and Nancie Russ, F.C. Royals Soccer Club; Bobby Howe and Mike Snodgrass, Washington State Youth Soccer Association.
House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.
House Committee - Testimony For: Discrimination still exists in athletic programs at some colleges and universities. Sometimes the discrimination is subtle; often it is not. Young women are told by the size of their facilities, the size of their budgets, the lack of uniforms, and cursory media attention, that they are second class citizens. In some cases, women athletes have to buy their own equipment and uniforms, and, when on the road, cook their own food, and stay in very inexpensive motels, sometimes in sleeping bags on the floor. This is in direct contrast to the conditions afforded to men in highly visible and lucrative athletic programs. The lack of intercollegiate programs such as soccer in Washington causes many talented women athletes to leave the state to attend college where scholarships and programs are available. The definition of equity has changed as a result of the Blair decision, and all colleges must come into compliance. Everyone needs to work together to solve the equity problem without decreasing opportunities for young male athletes.
House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.
VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE:
Yeas 96; Excused 2
Excused: Representatives Grimm, Walk