WASHINGTON (AP) - A key lawmaker said Tuesday that recent court
decisions blocking suspensions of two NFL players threaten to
undermine progress made in reducing performance-enhancing drug use
among athletes at all levels.
"If these rulings prevail, they could wreak havoc with policies
designed to curb performance-enhancing drug use in professional
sports," Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, said at a subcommittee hearing. "In fact, if
the rulings are taken to their logical conclusion, players on one
team could be allowed to use drugs that would subject players on
another team to suspensions and fines."
"In short," he added, "these new legal interpretations could
render the NFL and Major League Baseball drug testing programs
unenforceable, loophole-ridden, and unacceptably weak and
ineffective."
Waxman, a California Democrat who has held high-profile hearings
on steroids in sports, said that if the court rulings are not
reversed, "then we need to find out if the collective bargaining
process can solve these problems or whether congressional action is
needed.
"One thing is clear: we should not allow the drug policies that
the NFL, Major League Baseball, and other sports leagues have put
in place to be rendered null and void. That is an invitation to
steroid abuse in professional sports. And it will inevitably lead
to more steroid use on high school football fields and baseball
diamonds."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was to testify later and planned
to ask for legislation.
"We believe that a specific and tailored amendment to the Labor
Management Relations Act is appropriate and necessary to protect
collectively bargained steroid policies from attack under state
law," Goodell said in his written testimony.
Recent court decisions "call into question the continued
viability of the steroid policies of the NFL and other national
sports organizations," Goodell said.
The NFL had attempted to suspend Minnesota Vikings Pat Williams
and Kevin Williams for four games, but the players sued the league
in state court, arguing the league's testing violated Minnesota
laws. The case was moved to federal court, and the NFL players
union filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of the Williamses and New
Orleans Saints players who were also suspended.
In May, a federal judge dismissed the union's lawsuit and
several claims in the Williamses' case but sent two claims
involving Minnesota workplace laws back to state court. A judge
there issued an injunction prohibiting the NFL from suspending the
players and has scheduled the trial for March 8. In September, a
federal appeals court panel agreed with those decisions,
essentially allowing the Williamses, who are not related, to
continue playing while the case proceeds in state court.
The Vikings players tested positive in 2008 for the diuretic
bumetanide, which is banned by the NFL because it can mask the
presence of steroids. The players acknowledged taking the
over-the-counter weight loss supplement StarCaps, which did not
state on the label that it contained bumetanide. Neither player is
accused of taking steroids.
The court ruling led the NFL to allow New Orleans defensive ends
Charles Grant and Will Smith, who had also been issued four-game
suspensions, to continue playing. Both players also tested positive
for bumetanide.
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL players union,
said this case differs from others. He said Dr. John Lombardo, who
oversees the league's steroid policy, learned that StarCaps
contained bumetanide but did not inform the players.
"Frankly, the fundamental failure of that doctor to ensure
immediate disclosure of the fact that StarCaps included bumetanide
violated his paramount duty as a doctor - to protect patients, in
this case, our players," Smith said in his prepared testimony.
Smith called for changes to the league-union steroid policy that
would mandate the NFL notify players when it learns that a product
contains a banned substance.
Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of
labor relations, also discussed a legislative remedy in his
testimony. He said a "narrowly drafted statute could solve the
problem faced by professional sports" while preserving the role of
collective bargaining in drug programs without interfering with
states' prerogatives.
But Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel, said that
legislation is unnecessary. A bill to pre-empt state law, he
argued, "would stand for the unusual proposition that parties to a
collective bargaining agreement can contract for that which is
illegal under state law."
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
