Lawmakers OK steroids testing for high school athletes

[KFDM COOP]

May 28, 2007, 4:10PM

Lawmakers OK steroids testing for high school athletes

AUSTIN — Texas public high school athletes will face mandatory random steroid testing under a bill given final approval Monday by the Legislature and sent to Gov. Rick Perry.

If Perry allows the bill to become law — he has not publicly expressed any opposition — the state could begin testing tens of thousands of students at the start of the coming football season. It would be the largest high school steroids testing program in the country.

"It will help secure healthy and safe lives for our young people," said Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, the House sponsor of the measure. "Coaches, parents and fans are going to appreciate it."

Steroid testing has been a major component of Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's campaign to protect children. Athletes who test positive, or refuse to be tested, could be suspended from play. Athletes in all sports, from football to wrestling to tennis, could be tested.

"I made steroid testing of high school athletes a priority this session because I believe it will deter young people from putting that poison in their bodies and save lives all across Texas," Dewhurst said.

The House of Representatives voted 140-4 to send the bill to Perry. It requires the state to pay for testing, rather than force schools to raise ticket prices to cover the cost. The University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body for public school sports, will run the program.

The Senate's original plan was to test at least 22,000 students — about 3 percent of the 730,000 of high school athletes — for about $4 million per year.

Budget planners set aside $3 million per year, and the program now requires a "statistically significant sample" of students, said Sen. Kyle Janek, a Houston Republican who sponsored the bill.

The original Senate version also would have put specific penalties for positive tests into the law. Lawmakers instead decided to give UIL officials flexibility to set those rules.

Flynn, however, said he expects athletes to be suspended if they test positive or refuse to take a test.

The Texas High School Coaches Association, the Texas Medical Association, and groups representing public school districts and administrators supported a testing program.

The bill would require coaches to complete a training program on the dangers of using steroids, which can cause dramatic mood swings, heart disease and cancer.

A state study among 141,000 Texas students in grades 7-12 conducted by Texas A&M University found that steroid use fell from 2 percent in 2004 to 1.5 percent in 2006. Among 12th-graders, it went down from 2.4 percent to 1.8 percent.

About 130 of Texas' 1,300 public high schools already test for steroids.

New Jersey became the first state in the country to start a statewide testing policy for high school athletes last year. Its initial testing for performance-enhancing drugs among 150 random samples taken last fall didn't produce a positive result, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association reported earlier this year.

Two weeks ago, Florida lawmakers approved a one-year pilot program to test 1 percent of high school athletes who compete in football, baseball and weightlifting.

[stang4life]

As the mother of one son who just graduated, another who will graduate in 2008, and another who graduate in 2013...I wish that EVERY athlete were tested more than once a year.  I know, funding is a key issue and of course those parents who choose to be their children's friends versus their parents who will argue about these kids' "rights", but this is OBVIOUSLY an issue that continues to grow everywhere and I just hope that it does not take an athlete being hurt or dieing to see that it is an issue worthy of addressing.

Kudos to Rep. Flynn.

[PURPLE 4EVER]

Although this law represents the sad state of our society, it is needed.  Like previously stated, I also wish we had more funds to randomly test.  Using steriods in your teen years is not only stupid it does severe damage to a young man's growing body, and if any coach is a willing part in making their athletes do this, they should be banned for life from coaching in this state.

[tvc184]

................ and if any coach is a willing part in making their athletes do this, they should be banned for life from coaching   put in jail  in this state.

[cards_mom]

I am all for the testing.  I wish it was mandatory for every high school athlete to test prior to every sport they were involved in.  I would think it's time all these issues were addressed involving steriod use in all schools, not sweep it under the rug, ignore it and hope it goes away, or act as if it is not a problem in our schools and let it go on.  For these kids sake, someone needs to get control, and if parents are ignorant enough to let their child do this sort of thing and even supply the stuff for them, they need to be locked up themselves.  Is your kids life so meaningless to you that you would give them something so they can be the "best"?  Or get ahead of little Johnny, who works his butt off in the weight room, but you want yours to be bigger, stronger, faster, so you condone the use of stuff that does this for your kid.  Is it really worth it?  I think not, but it is done alot, and nothing seems to be done about it, it's just ignored and kept quite about with hopes that everyone will forget.  So when your son falls over dead after making that spectacular touchdown, after hitting that game winning homerun, or the winning three point shot, how will you feel then?  Wake up people and smell the coffee, it's time to stop the madness in all this!

[Bigdog]

I agree.  This is the step to break the cycle in all level of sports, stop it in high school and it wont be a part of thier routine in college or the pros.

[PURPLE 4EVER]

Does anyone know the consequences of a positive test???

[cards_mom]

The article says UIL will determine the punishment but suspension from athletics I would assume.  Says a positive test or refusal to be tested are grounds for punishment.  Guess all that will be worked out in the future.

[77]

News I saw said 1st time= 30 day suspension 2nd = 1 yr. suspension 3rd = ban

[dayton]

From a poster on texashsfootball.com

Costs:

The House version $4.5 million in annual costs to be funded from increases in ticket prices to high school spectator sports…..The Senate version requires the state to pay for the testing.

Punishment:

The House version leaves it up to the UIL to determine the lengths of periods of ineligibility upon positive tests…The Senate version ranges from 30 days for the first positive test to permanent ineligibility for a third positive test.

The bill could take effect in September at the start of football season.

source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/spor...22steroids.html

[cards_mom]

Can someone explain-------will steroid testing be done as random testing, as drug testing is done in our school.  And who makes the determination on who gets randomly tested?  Some students are tested numerous times a year, while some are never tested, so I am wondering how this system works.

[fbplayer999]

As the mother of one son who just graduated, another who will graduate in 2008, and another who graduate in 2013...I wish that EVERY athlete were tested more than once a year.  I know, funding is a key issue and of course those parents who choose to be their children's friends versus their parents who will argue about these kids' "rights", but this is OBVIOUSLY an issue that continues to grow everywhere and I just hope that it does not take an athlete being hurt or dieing to see that it is an issue worthy of addressing.

Kudos to Rep. Flynn.

then test your kids yourself, you must thing they have a problem.

[cards_mom]

I don't "thing" Stang thinks that...................just knows there is a serious problem and thinks it should be stopped.  I would be for my son's being tested................not that I think they have a problem, but because there are some that definately do and should be taken out of high school athletics.  And it's the parents that condone it or supply it are the real losers here and I think that is the main point being made.  Why else would a parent not want their sons or daughters tested other than they have something to hide.............not the parents that say "Test mine".

[tvc184]

I read the final version of the bill (SB-8) and the cost impact. From what was sent to the governor, it looks like the bill requires 30% of high schools to have testing for steroids, not every school. The cost impact reiterates this by again saying that the bill will require testing at 30% of high schools that sponsor UIL sanctioned events. The estimated cost to the state would be $4 million each year. 

FROM THE BILL:

EDUCATION CODE Sec. 33.091

(d)  The league shall adopt rules .......The testing program must:

_____(3)  be administered at approximately 30 percent of the high schools in this state that participate in athletic competitions sponsored or sanctioned by the league;

FROM THE COST ESTIMATE/FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION:

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would require the University Interscholastic League (UIL) to establish and administer a steroid testing program at approximately 30% of high schools in the state involving random testing of a statistically significant number of high school student athletes at each selected school. 

The above text was taken straight from the Texas Legislature website from the passed bill and from the Legislative Budget Board cost impact.

[stang4life]

then test your kids yourself, you must thing they have a problem.

Son, don't think that I wouldn't.  I don't have anything to hide and neither do my boys.  As I stated, I am a parent, not a friend or some washed-up, has-been who is trying to live through my children.  If parents were parents who truly prioritized the health and well-being of their children before the embarassment or lack-luster careers that steroids allows these kids to "cheat" with, then drug-testing would not even need to be implemented by the STATE.  I think that it is a sad day when the STATE has to step in and do a parent's job for them.

[77]

Sad but true!

[fbplayer999]

I think it's a waste of money myself, I think marijuana and alcohol are 100% greater issue than steriods.

[wos08]

I think it's a waste of money myself, I think marijuana and alcohol are 100 great issue than steriods.

if you party on the weekends, you get in trouble at SCHOOL?

heck no

[wos08]

Yes, Maybe you should think alittle bit.  Alcohol and marijuana are illegal..........ding ding

Whoever doesnt stop at a stop sign is getting after school detention.

[stang4life]

I think it's a waste of money myself, I think marijuana and alcohol are 100% greater issue than steriods.

Actually, ALL DRUGS should be tested.  As far as a waste of money...a life is worth all of the money that it would cost to drug-test every athlete in Texas.  Marijuana and alcohol are not a greater issue than steroids...they should all be 100% tested for.

[tvc184]

The only reason marijuana is illegal is because the government wont be able to regulate buying/selling to make money off of it

Ahhh yes, the evil money argument.

Why won't the government be able to regulate and tax marijuana if they allow it to become legal?

[Jsmity]

Ahhh yes, the evil money argument.

Why won't the government be able to regulate and tax marijuana if they allow it to become legal?

haha exactly.... they would be able to regulate it to an extent... they would just tax the crap out of it untill its too expensive for the average person to indulge in... THEN.. people would just grow it and sell it without concent of the gov.... but thats basically what people do anyways so this argument is pointless...

[TradinUp BH]

Hopefully they check for Xanex, lorcet, hydrocodone, and other pills because if you didn't know that's the biggest problem in the area.

[wos08]

Hopefully they check for Xanex, lorcet, hydrocodone, and other pills because if you didn't know that's the biggest problem in the area.

I can guarantee the WOS players dont pop pills.. its all of those emo kids that do it

[fbplayer999]

Actually, ALL DRUGS should be tested.  As far as a waste of money...a life is worth all of the money that it would cost to drug-test every athlete in Texas.  Marijuana and alcohol are not a greater issue than steroids...they should all be 100% tested for.

Your statement that "Marijuana and alcohol are not a greater issue than steroids", you must be crazy.  How many young kids every year die because of alcohol?