REPORT TITLE:
Athletic Contest Officials


DESCRIPTION:
Includes injuring athletic contest officials as assault in the
2nd degree.  Provides exception to civil liability for athletic
contest officials.  Exempts athletic contest officiating from
"employment" under unemployment compensation law.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            312         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO ATHLETIC CONTEST OFFICIALS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 663, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 2 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 3 read as follows:
 
 4      "§663-    Exception to liability for athletic contest
 
 5 officials.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
 
 6 contrary, no athletic contest official who is officiating an
 
 7 interscholastic, intercollegiate, or any other organized amateur
 
 8 or professional athletic contest shall be held personally liable
 
 9 in any civil action for damages to a player, participant, or
 
10 spectator as a result of any acts or omissions arising out of the
 
11 official's officiating duties and activities.  Nothing in this
 
12 section shall be deemed to grant immunity to any athletic contest
 
13 official causing damage by the official's criminal, malicious,
 
14 wilful, wanton, or grossly negligent act.  For purposes of this
 
15 section, "athletic contest official" means an independent
 
16 contractor who serves as a referee, umpire, linesperson,
 
17 timekeeper, coach, or any person who serves in a similar capacity
 
18 but may be known by other titles and is duly registered as a
 
19 member of a local, state, regional, or national organization that
 

 
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 1 is engaged in part in providing education and training to
 
 2 "athletic contest officials"."
 
 3      SECTION 2.  Section 383-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended to read as follows:
 
 5      "§383-7 Excluded service."Employment" does not include
 
 6 the following service:
 
 7      (1)  Agricultural labor as defined in section 383-9 if it is
 
 8           performed by an individual who is employed by an
 
 9           employing unit:
 
10           (A)  Which, during each calendar quarter in both the
 
11                current and the preceding calendar years, paid
 
12                less than $20,000 in cash remuneration to
 
13                individuals employed in agricultural labor; and
 
14           (B)  Which had, in each of the current and the
 
15                preceding calendar years:
 
16                (i)  No more than nineteen calendar weeks, whether
 
17                     consecutive or not, in which agricultural
 
18                     labor was performed by its employees; or
 
19               (ii)  No more than nine individuals in its employ
 
20                     performing agricultural labor in any one
 
21                     calendar week, whether or not the same
 
22                     individuals performed the labor in each week;
 
23      (2)  Domestic service in a private home, local college club,
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           or local chapter of a college fraternity or sorority as
 
 2           set forth in section 3306(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue
 
 3           Code of 1986, as amended;
 
 4      (3)  Service not in the course of the employing unit's trade
 
 5           or business performed in any calendar quarter by an
 
 6           individual, unless the cash remuneration paid for the
 
 7           service is $50 or more and the service is performed by
 
 8           an individual who is regularly employed by the
 
 9           employing unit to perform the service.  For the
 
10           purposes of this paragraph, an individual shall be
 
11           deemed to be regularly employed to perform service not
 
12           in the course of an employing unit's trade or business
 
13           during a calendar quarter only if:
 
14           (A)  On each of some twenty-four days during the
 
15                quarter the individual performs the service for
 
16                some portion of the day; or
 
17           (B)  The individual was regularly employed as
 
18                determined under subparagraph (A) by the employing
 
19                unit in the performance of the service during the
 
20                preceding calendar quarter;
 
21      (4)  (A)  Service performed on or in connection with a
 
22                vessel not an American vessel, if the individual
 
23                performing the service is employed on and in
 

 
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 1                connection with the vessel when outside the United
 
 2                States;
 
 3           (B)  Service performed by an individual in (or as an
 
 4                officer or member of the crew of a vessel while it
 
 5                is engaged in) the catching, taking, harvesting,
 
 6                cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish,
 
 7                shellfish, crustacea, sponges, seaweeds, or other
 
 8                aquatic forms of animal [and vegetable] or plant
 
 9                life, including service performed as an ordinary
 
10                incident thereto, except:
 
11                (i)  The service performed in connection with a
 
12                     vessel of more than ten net tons (determined
 
13                     in the manner provided for determining the
 
14                     register tonnage of merchant vessels under
 
15                     the laws of the United States);
 
16               (ii)  The service performed in connection with a
 
17                     vessel of ten net tons or less (determined in
 
18                     the manner provided for determining the
 
19                     register tonnage of merchant vessels under
 
20                     the laws of the United States) by an
 
21                     individual who is employed by an employing
 
22                     unit which had in its employ one or more
 
23                     individuals performing the service for some
 

 
Page 5                                         312         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                     portion of a day in each of twenty calendar
 
 2                     weeks all occurring, whether consecutive or
 
 3                     not, in either the current or the preceding
 
 4                     calendar year; and
 
 5              (iii)  Service performed in connection with the
 
 6                     catching or taking of salmon or halibut for
 
 7                     commercial purposes;
 
 8      (5)  Service performed by an individual in the employ of the
 
 9           individual's son, daughter, or spouse, and service
 
10           performed by a child under the age of twenty-one in the
 
11           employ of the child's father or mother;
 
12      (6)  Service performed in the employ of the United States
 
13           government or an instrumentality of the United States
 
14           exempt under the Constitution of the United States from
 
15           the contributions imposed by this chapter, except that
 
16           to the extent that the Congress of the United States
 
17           permits states to require any instrumentalities of the
 
18           United States to make payments into an unemployment
 
19           fund under a state unemployment compensation law, all
 
20           of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to those
 
21           instrumentalities, and to services performed for those
 
22           instrumentalities, in the same manner, to the same
 
23           extent, and on the same terms as to all other
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           employers, employing units, individuals, and services;
 
 2           provided that if this State is not certified for any
 
 3           year by the Secretary of Labor under section 3304(c) of
 
 4           the federal Internal Revenue Code[,] of 1986, as
 
 5           amended, the payments required of those
 
 6           instrumentalities with respect to that year shall be
 
 7           refunded by the department of labor and industrial
 
 8           relations from the fund in the same manner and within
 
 9           the same period as is provided in section 383-76 with
 
10           respect to contributions erroneously collected;
 
11      (7)  Service performed in the employ of any other state, or
 
12           any political subdivision thereof, or any
 
13           instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing
 
14           which is wholly owned by one or more states or
 
15           political subdivisions; and any service performed in
 
16           the employ of any instrumentality of one or more other
 
17           states or their political subdivisions to the extent
 
18           that the instrumentality is, with respect to the
 
19           service, exempt from the tax imposed by section 3301 of
 
20           the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
 
21      (8)  Service with respect to which unemployment compensation
 
22           is payable under an unemployment system established by
 
23           an [act] Act of Congress; 
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (9)  (A)  Service performed in any calendar quarter in the
 
 2                employ of any organization exempt from income tax
 
 3                under section 501(a) of the federal Internal
 
 4                Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (other than an
 
 5                organization described in section 401(a) or under
 
 6                section 521 of the Code), if:
 
 7                (i)  The remuneration for the service is less than
 
 8                     $50; or
 
 9               (ii)  The service is performed by a fully ordained,
 
10                     commissioned, or licensed minister of a
 
11                     church in the exercise of the minister's
 
12                     ministry or by a member of a religious order
 
13                     in the exercise of duties required by the
 
14                     order; 
 
15           (B)  Service performed in the employ of a school,
 
16                college, or university, if the service is
 
17                performed by a student who is enrolled and is
 
18                regularly attending classes at the school,
 
19                college, or university; or
 
20           (C)  Service performed by an individual who is enrolled
 
21                at a nonprofit or public educational institution
 
22                which normally maintains a regular faculty and
 
23                curriculum and normally has a regularly organized
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                body of students in attendance at the place where
 
 2                its educational activities are carried on as a
 
 3                student in a full-time program, taken for credit
 
 4                at such institution, which combines academic
 
 5                instruction with work experience, if such service
 
 6                is an integral part of such program, and such
 
 7                institution has so certified to the employer,
 
 8                except that this subparagraph shall not apply to
 
 9                service performed in a program established for or
 
10                on behalf of an employer or group of employers;
 
11     (10)  Service performed in the employ of a foreign government
 
12           (including service as a consular or other officer or
 
13           employee of a nondiplomatic representative);
 
14     (11)  Service performed in the employ of an instrumentality
 
15           wholly owned by a foreign government:
 
16           (A)  If the service is of a character similar to that
 
17                performed in foreign countries by employees of the
 
18                United States government or of an instrumentality
 
19                thereof; and
 
20           (B)  If the United States Secretary of State has
 
21                certified or certifies to the United States
 
22                Secretary of the Treasury that the foreign
 
23                government, with respect to whose instrumentality
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                exemption is claimed, grants an equivalent
 
 2                exemption with respect to similar service
 
 3                performed in the foreign country by employees of
 
 4                the United States government and of
 
 5                instrumentalities thereof;
 
 6     (12)  Service performed as a student nurse in the employ of a
 
 7           hospital or a nurses' training school by an individual
 
 8           who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes in a
 
 9           nurses' training school chartered or approved pursuant
 
10           to state law; and service performed as an intern in the
 
11           employ of a hospital by an individual who has completed
 
12           a four-year course in a medical school chartered or
 
13           approved pursuant to state law;
 
14     (13)  Service performed by an individual for an employing
 
15           unit as an insurance agent or as an insurance
 
16           solicitor, if all service performed by the individual
 
17           for the employing unit is performed for remuneration
 
18           solely by way of commission;
 
19     (14)  Service performed by an individual under the age of
 
20           eighteen in the delivery or distribution of newspapers
 
21           or shopping news, not including delivery or
 
22           distribution to any point for subsequent delivery or
 
23           distribution;
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1     (15)  Service covered by an arrangement between the
 
 2           department and the agency charged with the
 
 3           administration of any other state or federal
 
 4           unemployment compensation law pursuant to which all
 
 5           services performed by an individual for an employing
 
 6           unit during the period covered by the employing unit's
 
 7           duly approved election, are deemed to be performed
 
 8           entirely within the agency's state;
 
 9     (16)  Service performed by an individual who, pursuant to the
 
10           Federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, is not
 
11           subject to the federal laws relating to unemployment
 
12           compensation;
 
13     (17)  Service performed by an individual for an employing
 
14           unit as a real estate salesperson, if all service
 
15           performed by the individual for the employing unit is
 
16           performed for remuneration solely by way of commission;
 
17     (18)  Service performed by a registered sales representative
 
18           for a registered travel agency, when the service
 
19           performed by the individual for the travel agent is
 
20           performed for remuneration solely by way of commission;
 
21     (19)  Service performed by a vacuum cleaner salesperson for
 
22           an employing unit, if all services performed by the
 
23           individual for the employing unit are performed for
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           remuneration solely by way of commission;
 
 2     (20)  Service performed for a family-owned private
 
 3           corporation organized for profit that employs only
 
 4           members of the family who each own at least fifty per
 
 5           cent of the shares issued by the corporation, provided
 
 6           that:
 
 7           (A)  The private corporation elects to be excluded from
 
 8                coverage under this chapter;
 
 9           (B)  The election for exclusion shall apply to all
 
10                shareholders and under the same circumstances;
 
11           (C)  No more than two members of a family may be
 
12                eligible per entity for exclusion under this
 
13                paragraph;
 
14           (D)  The exclusion shall be irrevocable for five years;
 
15           (E)  The family-owned private corporation presents to
 
16                the department proof that it has paid federal
 
17                unemployment insurance taxes as required by
 
18                federal law; and
 
19           (F)  The election to be excluded from coverage shall be
 
20                effective the first day of the calendar quarter in
 
21                which the application and all substantiating
 
22                documents requested by the department are filed
 
23                with the department;
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1     (21)  Service performed by a direct seller as defined in
 
 2           section 3508 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986[;
 
 3           and], as amended;
 
 4     (22)  Service performed by an election official or election
 
 5           worker as defined in section 3309(b)(3)(F) of the
 
 6           Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended[.]; and
 
 7     (23)  Service performed by any individual who serves in the
 
 8           capacity of an athletic contest official at a publicly-
 
 9           exhibited contest as defined in section 708-881(2)(a),
 
10           and includes any person who acts as an umpire, referee,
 
11           judge, linesperson, timekeeper, scorekeeper, or other
 
12           similar capacity who receives remuneration solely by
 
13           way of a game fee.
 
14      None of the foregoing exclusions (1) to [(22)] (23) shall
 
15 apply to any service with respect to which a tax is required to
 
16 be paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit
 
17 may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state
 
18 unemployment fund or which as a condition for full tax credit
 
19 against the tax imposed by the federal Unemployment Tax Act is
 
20 required to be covered under this chapter."
 
21      SECTION 3.  Section 707-711, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
22 amended by amending subsection (1) to read as follows:
 
23      "(1)  A person commits the offense of assault in the second
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 degree if:
 
 2      (a)  The person intentionally or knowingly causes
 
 3           substantial bodily injury to another;
 
 4      (b)  The person recklessly causes serious bodily injury to
 
 5           another person;
 
 6      (c)  The person intentionally or knowingly causes bodily
 
 7           injury to a correctional worker, as defined in section
 
 8           710-1031(2), who is engaged in the performance of duty
 
 9           or who is within a correctional facility;
 
10      (d)  The person intentionally or knowingly causes bodily
 
11           injury to another person with a dangerous instrument;
 
12           [or]
 
13      (e)  The person intentionally or knowingly causes bodily
 
14           injury to an educational worker who is engaged in the
 
15           performance of duty or who is within an educational
 
16           facility.  For the purposes of this section,
 
17           "educational worker" means any administrator,
 
18           specialist, counselor, teacher, or employee of the
 
19           department of education[,] or a person who is a
 
20           volunteer in a school program, activity, or function
 
21           that is established, sanctioned, or approved by the
 
22           department of education or a person hired by the
 
23           department of education on a contractual basis and
 

 
Page 14                                        312         
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 1           engaged in carrying out an educational function[.]; or
 
 2      (f)  The person intentionally or knowingly causes bodily
 
 3           injury to an athletic contest official immediately
 
 4           prior to, during, or immediately following an
 
 5           interscholastic, intercollegiate, or any other
 
 6           organized amateur or professional athletic contest in
 
 7           which the official is participating.  For the purposes
 
 8           of this section, "athletic contest official" means an
 
 9           independent contractor who serves as a referee, umpire,
 
10           linesperson, timekeeper, coach or any person who serves
 
11           in a similar capacity but may be known by other titles
 
12           and is duly registered as a member of a local, state,
 
13           regional, or national organization that is engaged in
 
14           part in providing education and training to athletic
 
15           contest officials."
 
16      SECTION 4.  This Act shall not apply to any proceeding filed
 
17 before its effective date, but shall apply to any proceeding
 
18 filed after its effective date regardless of when the cause of
 
19 action arose.
 
20      SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
21 New statutory material is underscored.
 
22      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
23 
 
24                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________