State House Bill 1424 met a quick and inglorious ending at the Legislature this week, but that doesn’t mean its brief life was without purpose.
The bill, which would have put restrictions on national athletic governing groups investigating the University of Hawaii, including setting deadlines and opening up wider avenues of appeal, was deferred by the House Higher Education Committee.
Even though the bill did not mention the NCAA by name, there was no mistaking who it was aimed at.
The folks back at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis knew it and so did people in Manoa, who have been waiting for the overseers of college athletics to stop lollygagging and finally conclude a case that will hit the three-year mark next month.
In fact it has been just that foot dragging that House Speaker Emeritus Calvin Say said prompted him to author the bill. Say said early on that proposal of the bill did not come at the request of UH.
But behind closed doors in Manoa you can bet it was well received, if not cause for a toast. And some hope.
UH, which is awaiting a decision on whether it will be eligible for the postseason next month as well as regain some scholarships that had been stripped away by sanctions, has wanted to nudge the NCAA to action for months now. But as the whole exercise drags on, it knows it has to tread carefully, lest the powerful Committee on Infractions gets its shorts in a yet tighter bunch.
The august body didn’t look too kindly on UH in its original verdict of December 2015. And it is no doubt even less favorably inclined after the school challenged the penalties and the panel’s interpretation in imposing them and won a victory of sorts. Nearly four months ago the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee, college sports’ court of last resort, shipped case No. 00202 back to Infractions for reconsideration.
Meanwhile, the matter sits … and sits … as the postseason and national signing day approach.
But as much as UH might like to employ a cattle prod to stir the NCAA to action, the school realizes it best keep a low profile beyond a letter fired off by President David Lassner that it refuses to comment on.
It is also why, in its official testimony to the Legislature, UH did not publicly champion the bill, instead noting, it, “appreciates the intent of HB 1424,” but “is not able to support the bill.”
The NCAA monitors legislation and could not have been comforted by legislatures in two disparate states, Hawaii and Mississippi, both frustrated by cumbersome NCAA processes considering restrictions on its powers this session. The NCAA declined comment and both measures eventually died.
But they are evidence that rebellion is stirring in the hinterlands and the last thing the NCAA wants is the spark of their legislation starting a fire that spreads across the country to challenge its authority and operations.
The fear is that a bunch of schools with little clout individually on the national stage, such as UH and Mississippi, could attract others to their cause and press for national legislation.
It has already, as Say noted, given legislators of two states something to talk about at their next national gathering as they watch how the NCAA handles cases against heavyweights Rick Pitino, Louisville and North Carolina.
HB 1424 has come and gone but not without sending a message.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
