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Introduced Version Senate Bill 154 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 154

(By Senators Barnes, Yoder, Guills, Wells, Caruth, Love, Sprouse, Sypolt and Unger)

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[Introduced January 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-25a, relating to authorizing the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission to create a mandatory drug-testing program; prohibiting performance-enhancing drugs; creating a medical advisory committee; publishing a list of banned substances; penalties and appeals; and granting rule-making authority.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-25a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-25a. Mandatory drug testing program; general prohibition against performance enhancing drugs; list of banned substances; consent; random selection of student-athletes; testing; positive results; penalties; appeals; renewal; and rule making authority.

(a) The West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (WVSSAC)shall establish a mandatory drug testing program for student athletes, who have qualified, as individuals or as members of a team, for state championship competition.
(b) It shall be considered a violation of the commission's rules for any student-athlete to possess, ingest, or otherwise use any substance on the list of banned substances, without written prescription by a fully licensed physician, as recognized by the American Medical Association, to treat a medical condition with which the student-athlete has been diagnosed. Violations found as a result of the commission's random testing will be penalized in accordance with this section.
(c) The commission shall create a medical advisory committee which shall prepare a list of all banned substances. The list will be prepared annually by the medical advisory committee, and approved by the commission.
(d) The commission shall publish the list and make it available to all participating members, teams, student-athletes or any other interested persons.
(e) The commission shall promulgate rules to establish a manner to publish the list of banned substances and inform student-athletes of their rights and responsibilities under the program.
(f) Before participating in interscholastic sports, the student-athlete and the student-athlete's parent or guardian must consent, in writing, to random testing in accordance with this program. Failure to sign a consent form renders the student-athlete ineligible to participate in state championship competitions.
(g) The commission shall promulgate rules to establish the manner in which a random sample of student-athletes participating in championship competition will be tested. Sixty percent of all tests will be from football, wrestling, track and field, swimming and baseball. The remaining forty percent of all tests will be from all other WVSSAC sports.
(h) Drug tests will be administered by a laboratory certified by the National Laboratory Certification Program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that perform drug testing services.
(i) No test will be considered a positive result unless the approved laboratory reports a positive result, and the medical advisory committee created in accordance with this article confirms that there was no medical reason for the positive result. A "B" sample shall be available in the event of an appeal.
(j) If the certified laboratory reports that a student-athlete's sample has tested positive, and the medical advisory committee confirms that there is no medical reason for a positive result, a penalty shall be imposed unless the student- athlete proves, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he or she bears no fault or negligence for the violation.
(k) The commission shall promulgate rules to establish a process by which a student-athlete who has a positive test sample may contest findings or decisions made by the commission or by the medical advisory committee.
(l) Any person who tests positively in a commission administered test, or any person who refuses to provide a testing sample, or any person who reports his or her own violation, will immediately forfeit his or her eligibility to participated in WVSSCA competition for a period of one year from the date of the test. That person will also forfeit any individual honor earned while in violation. No person who tests positive, refuses to provide a test sample, or who reports his or her own violation will resume eligibility until he or she has undergone counseling and produced a negative test result.
(m) All test results will be considered confidential and will only be disclosed to the individual, his or her parent or legal guardian, and his or her school.
(n) The commission shall annually compile and report the results of the testing program.
(o) The executive committee shall annually determine whether this policy shall be renewed or discontinued.
(p) In addition to the above, the commission shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to carry out the purposes and intent of this section and to enable the commission to exercise its powers and duties conferred upon it by this section.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
authorize the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission to create a mandatory drug testing program, enunciating a general prohibition against the use of performance enhancing drugs, creating a medical advisory committee, publishing a list of banned substances, penalties, appeals, and granting rule making authority.


This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
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