SENATE BILL NO. 220

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Education and Health

on ________________)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Senator Jones)

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-276.3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to high school student athletes; eligibility; transfer and residence.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 22.1-276.3 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-276.3. Eligibility of students to compete in athletic competitions.

Any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 that currently organizes and governs interscholastic activities among the public high schools shall develop, implement, and enforce rules requiring that a student who is a member of a high school athletic team be:

1. Be ineligible for two school years to compete in interscholastic athletic competition, if it has been determined by the school principal and division superintendent that the student used anabolic steroids during the training period immediately preceding or during the sport season of the athletic team, unless such steroid was prescribed by a licensed physician for a medical condition; and

2. Be deemed to satisfy any residency requirements established by such corporation in order to be immediately eligible for participation on such team if the school principal or his designee at the public high school to which the student has recently transferred and in which the student is now enrolled is satisfied, based on the totality of the facts and circumstances known to the school principal or his designee at the time of the eligibility determination, that the student's present intent is to remain a resident in the local school division and enrolled at such public high school indefinitely. Such facts and circumstances may include the student's living arrangements; arrangements for the custody of the student; the presence of family members in the student's place of residence; or the reasons expressed by the student and his parents for the transfer, including that the student experienced threats or reasonable fear of serious bodily harm in the school in which the student was previously enrolled. Any such student may appeal denials of eligibility pursuant to this subdivision to the local school board.