S.20.3.24: BRING SPORTS BACK Act (Law'd)

[tmthforu94]

AN ACT
To give assistance to sports stadiums to bring character and normality back to an emotionally heartbroken region

Section 1: Naming and Definitions.

I. The name of this act shall be: BRING SPORTS BACK Act.
II. "Team" is defined as professional, high school, and collegiate teams.

Section 2: Sport stadium funding

I. A "Sport Stadium Reopening Fund" (SSRF) shall be established
II. The SSRF will be established to provide grants and loans to teams and stadiums so that they can partially make up for loss revenue as a result of the pandemic.
III. The SSRF shall be provided with an annual budget of $10,000,000 in order to provide these grants. Money shall be appropriated from regional reserves.
IV. Sport stadiums are to be allowed to have at least 25% capacity. This may be altered at the discretion of the Governor.
V. Local governments are not allowed to prevent teams from playing official games.

Sponsor: DTC

Minimum 48 hours for debate, the sponsor is invited to advocate for the bill.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Before the gentleman from Georgia advocates, I must ask, is this $10,000,000 per team, or $10,000,000 in general?

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

The bill was poorly written so I made some changes to make it more clear.

I created this bill because sports team revenues have been destroyed by the pandemic. While this bill would only play a small part in alleviating that on the financial side, it helps relax some potential regulations so that they can start recovering their losses. Sports brings character to the southern region and are an important part of development for young people. We're all being impacted by the tolls of the pandemic and I would like to bring some sense of normality back now that the cases are starting to drop in the south.

Here is bill with the amendments I made:

AN ACT
To give assistance to sports stadiums to bring character and normality back to an emotionally heartbroken region

Section 1: Naming and Definitions.

I. The name of this act shall be: BRING SPORTS BACK Act.
II. "Team" is defined as professional, high school, and collegiate teams.

Section 2: Sport stadium funding

I. A "Sport Stadium Reopening Fund" (SSRF) shall be established
II. I. Sport stadiums and teams should be given $10,000,000 in grants in order to provide relief for them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SSRF will be established to provide grants and loans to teams and stadiums so that they can partially make up for loss revenue as a result of the pandemic.
III. The SSRF shall be provided with an annual budget of $10,000,000 in order to provide these grants. Money shall be appropriated from regional reserves.
IV. Sport stadiums are to be allowed to have at least 25% capacity.
V. Local governments are not allowed to prevent teams from playing official games.

[tmthforu94]

24 hours for objections.

[tmthforu94]

My only thought would be only having this go for a few years, then again, at any point the Chamber can choose to defund this during budget process if they deem it to be no longer necessary down the road. I support this.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

My only reservation is having the stadiums at 25% capacity, which I think might be too high to allow for safe spectating. Maybe lowering it down to 10% or so?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

My only reservation is having the stadiums at 25% capacity, which I think might be too high to allow for safe spectating. Maybe lowering it down to 10% or so?

Perhaps make it 10%, with the governor allowed to raise it to 25% if a threshold is met regarding cases. The governor would be allowed to lower it back to 10% if things changed.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

My only reservation is having the stadiums at 25% capacity, which I think might be too high to allow for safe spectating. Maybe lowering it down to 10% or so?

Perhaps make it 10%, with the governor allowed to raise it to 25% if a threshold is met regarding cases.

I could see that, although still, I'd ideally go for 20% or so at the max. Better safe than sorry.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

My only reservation is having the stadiums at 25% capacity, which I think might be too high to allow for safe spectating. Maybe lowering it down to 10% or so?

Perhaps make it 10%, with the governor allowed to raise it to 25% if a threshold is met regarding cases.

I could see that, although still, I'd ideally go for 20% or so at the max. Better safe than sorry.

I wasn't saying that was my position on this - just throwing out ideas and helping brainstorm and such.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

My only reservation is having the stadiums at 25% capacity, which I think might be too high to allow for safe spectating. Maybe lowering it down to 10% or so?

Perhaps make it 10%, with the governor allowed to raise it to 25% if a threshold is met regarding cases.

I could see that, although still, I'd ideally go for 20% or so at the max. Better safe than sorry.

I wasn't saying that was my position on this - just throwing out ideas and helping brainstorm and such.

Alrighty then.

You actually do raise a good point: some Southern states have it worse than others. We shouldn't hold all states to the same standard as each state is facing a different battle. A threshold system could work.

[tmthforu94]

Amendment is adopted.

I do agree with the Governor, I think they should be allowed discretion in adjusting these numbers (and areas) in the future rather than leaving this open-ended and requiring a future amendment if it gets significantly worse during winter time (though at that point, we'd likely see federal action that would supercede this).

[tmthforu94]

Offering an amendment:

AN ACT
To give assistance to sports stadiums to bring character and normality back to an emotionally heartbroken region

Section 1: Naming and Definitions.

I. The name of this act shall be: BRING SPORTS BACK Act.
II. "Team" is defined as professional, high school, and collegiate teams.

Section 2: Sport stadium funding

I. A "Sport Stadium Reopening Fund" (SSRF) shall be established
II. The SSRF will be established to provide grants and loans to teams and stadiums so that they can partially make up for loss revenue as a result of the pandemic.
III. The SSRF shall be provided with an annual budget of $10,000,000 in order to provide these grants. Money shall be appropriated from regional reserves.
IV. Sport stadiums are to be allowed to have at least 25% capacity. This may be altered at the discretion of the Governor.
V. Local governments are not allowed to prevent teams from playing official games.

24 hours for objections.

[tmthforu94]

Amendment is adopted. Any further discussion?

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Amendment is adopted. Any further discussion?

I think we should move to a final vote.

[tmthforu94]

24 hours for objections to the motion for a final vote.

[tmthforu94]

A final vote has started, please vote AYE, NAY or ABSTAIN


Aye

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

Aye

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

ABSTAIN

I think 25% is a little high, but I have no strong opinions about this bill either way.

[reagente]

aye

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Aye, though I admit Koopa has a point about 25% being a little high, but it's not too high for me to vote against this.

[tmthforu94]

This has enough votes to pass, delegates have 24 hours to change their votes.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Eh, screw it. AYE. If we see COVID-19 surges in the South, we can just lower the %.

[tmthforu94]

Yes, and remember that the Governor has to adjust as needed, too!

[tmthforu94]

This has passed and will be presented to the governor for signature.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

AN ACT
To give assistance to sports stadiums to bring character and normality back to an emotionally heartbroken region

Section 1: Naming and Definitions.

I. The name of this act shall be: BRING SPORTS BACK Act.
II. "Team" is defined as professional, high school, and collegiate teams.

Section 2: Sport stadium funding

I. A "Sport Stadium Reopening Fund" (SSRF) shall be established
II. The SSRF will be established to provide grants and loans to teams and stadiums so that they can partially make up for loss revenue as a result of the pandemic.
III. The SSRF shall be provided with an annual budget of $10,000,000 in order to provide these grants. Money shall be appropriated from regional reserves.
IV. Sport stadiums are to be allowed to have at least 25% capacity. This may be altered at the discretion of the Governor.
V. Local governments are not allowed to prevent teams from playing official games.