CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Legislation that would have opened up the Secondary Schools Activities Commission to performance audits was shot down at the wire.
With the bill on a passage vote today, 16 senators voted in favor of it, 17 against it and one senator was marked absent.
The bill would have given the state’s Legislative Auditor the authority to inspect the records and question personnel at the SSAC to review how the organization operates. The agency is already subject to financial audits through the state Tax Department.
The bill’s lone sponsor, Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, acknowledged that it was prompted by the recent move to four competitive classes for boys and girls basketball instead of the traditional three.
He said the organization would benefit from greater transparency.
“Are they operating according to their mission?” Tarr asked.
Senators who opposed the bill spoke up to say the SSAC is not operated through taxpayer dollars but instead through tournament revenue, proceeds from other activities and corporate sponsorships.
But Tarr said the SSAC benefits from a significant resource, the students in West Virginia’s school system.
“You’re right they don’t receive state funds,” he said. “But what they do is they use every student athlete as an asset to generate revenue.”
Senator Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, who used to referee games, spoke up in opposition to the bill. Clements said few things make people’s blood boil as much as meddling with their local teams.
“Nothing will get people fired up any faster than messing with their football team, their basketball team,” Clements said.
He expressed concern that legislative action would be seen as overreach.
‘”I don’t want this to give the impression that the state Senate is arguing in a punitive fashion,” Clements said.
Senator Bill Ihlenfeld also spoke up against the bill, saying what goes on at the SSAC is probably not legislative business.
“I just think we should keep our nose out of youth sports,” Ihlenfeld said.
He was one of those who argued no taxpayer dollars fund the organization.
“What they won’t find is a waste of taxpayer resources because there aren’t any taxpayer resource in the SSAC,” said Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio.
He added, “I can’t see any other entity that doesn’t receive taxpayer dollars that the legislative auditor is reviewing. If we’ve never done it before, I don’t think we should start now.”