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Committee hears emotional testimony backing 'referees' bill to expand penalties for interfering with school officials and sports officials

House Community Safety Committee · February 18, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Engrossed Senate Bill 52 72 would expand interference and intimidation offenses to include school employees, contractors and extracurricular officials and raise maximum penalties; several long-time referees and local officials urged passage to address harassment and staffing shortages among sports officials.

The committee received testimony on Engrossed Senate Bill 52 72, sometimes referred to as the "referee's bill," which expands existing offenses for interference by force or intimidation to include employees, contractors, volunteers and extracurricular officials at public and private elementary and secondary schools. The bill increases maximum penalties for interference and adds exclusion periods from…

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