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Union Calendar No. 133 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3084 

[Report No. 109–210, Part I] 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to issue regulations requiring testing 

for steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for certain 

sports associations engaged in interstate commerce. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2005 

Mr. STEARNS (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BASS, Mr. UPTON, Mrs. 

BLACKBURN, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MURPHY, 

and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

JULY 28, 2005 

Reported from the Committee on Energy and Commerce with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JULY 28, 2005 

Referral to the Committee on Education and the Workforce extended for a 

period ending not later than September 30, 2005 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2005 

Committee on Education and the Workforce discharged; committed to the 

Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered 

to be printed 
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[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 28, 2005] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to issue regulations 

requiring testing for steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for certain sports associations engaged in interstate commerce. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drug Free Sports Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 As used in this Act— 

7 (1) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ refers to the Secretary 

8 of Commerce; and 

9 (2) the term ‘‘professional sports associations’’ 

10 means Major League Baseball, the National Basket11 ball Association, the National Football League, the 

12 National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, the 

13 Arena Football League, and any other league or asso14 ciation that organizes professional athletic competi15 tions as the Secretary may determine. 
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1 SEC. 3. RULES REQUIRING MANDATORY TESTING FOR ATH2 LETES. 

3 (a) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 270 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regu5 lations requiring professional sports associations operating 

6 in interstate commerce to adopt and enforce policies and 

7 procedures for testing athletes who participate in their re8 spective associations for the use of performance-enhancing 

9 substances. Such policies and procedures shall, at min10 imum, include the following: 

11 (1) TIMING ANDFREQUENCY OF RANDOM TEST12 ING.—Each athlete shall be tested a minimum of 5 

13 times each year that such athlete is participating in 

14 the activities organized by the professional sports as15 sociation. Tests shall be conducted at random inter16 vals throughout the entire year, during both the sea17 son of play and the off-season, and neither the athlete, 

18 nor any member of the coaching and training staffs 

19 shall be notified in advance of the test. 

20 (2) APPLICABLE SUBSTANCES.—The Secretary, 

21 in consultation with the Director of the National In22 stitute on Drug Abuse, shall, by rule, prescribe the 

23 substances for which each athlete shall be tested, which 

24 shall include— 

25 (A) substances that— 
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1 (i) are determined by the World Anti2 Doping Agency to be prohibited substances; 

3 and 

4 (ii) the Secretary determines to be per5 formance-enhancing substances for any par6 ticular sport, or substances whose purpose is 

7 to conceal the presence of performance-en8 hancing substances in the body, and for 

9 which testing is reasonable and practicable; 

10 and 

11 (B) such additional substances that the Sec12 retary may determine to be performance-enhanc13 ing substances for any particular sport, or sub14 stances whose purpose is to conceal the presence 

15 of performance-enhancing substances in the body, 

16 and for which testing is reasonable and prac17 ticable. 

18 (3) THERAPEUTIC ANDMEDICAL USE EXEMP19 TIONS.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Di20 rector of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, shall 

21 establish criteria by which professional sports associa22 tions, after consultation with the athletes who partici23 pate in the activities of such professional sports asso24 ciation (or the representatives of such athletes), may 

25 provide an athlete with an exemption for a particular 
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1 substance, prior to or after any drug test, if such sub2 stance has a legitimate medical or therapeutic use, 

3 and if such use is for a documented medical condition 

4 of such athlete. 

5 (4) METHODOF TESTING ANDANALYSIS.—The 

6 Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the 

7 National Institute on Drug Abuse, shall establish cri8 teria whereby tests shall be administered by an inde9 pendent party not affiliated with the professional 

10 sports association. 

11 (5) PENALTIES.—Subject to the determination 

12 made pursuant to an appeal as described in para13 graph (6), a positive test shall result in the following 

14 penalties: 

15 (A) SUSPENSION.— 

16 (i) An athlete who tests positive shall 

17 be suspended from participation in the pro18 fessional sports association for a period not 

less than 1 19 ⁄2 of a season of play, including 

20 suspension from the number of games constituting 1 21 ⁄2 of a season of play. 

22 (ii) An athlete who tests positive, hav23 ing once previously violated the policies 

24 concerning prohibited substances, shall be 

25 suspended from participation in the profes-
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1 sional sports association for a period not 

2 less than an entire season of play, including 

3 suspension from the number of games con4 stituting a full season of play. 

5 (iii) An athlete who tests positive, hav6 ing twice previously violated the policies 

7 concerning prohibited substances, shall be 

8 permanently suspended from participation 

9 in the professional sports association. 

10 All suspensions shall include loss of pay for the 

11 period of suspension. 

12 (B) DISCLOSURE.—The name of any athlete 

13 having a positive test result resulting in suspen14 sion shall be disclosed to the public. 

15 (C) EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.—The 

16 Secretary shall establish criteria by which profes17 sional sports associations may reduce the period 

18 of suspension for an athlete who has tested posi19 tive for a prohibited substance but who estab20 lishes that he or she bears no fault or negligence 

21 or no significant fault or negligence for the viola22 tion. In establishing such criteria, the Secretary 

23 shall consider the policies and practices of the 

24 World Anti-Doping Agency regarding reduced 

25 penalties for exceptional circumstances. Such cri-
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1 teria shall not require a professional sports asso2 ciation to adopt a policy providing for reduc3 tions in penalties for any circumstances. 

4 (6) APPEALS PROCESS.— 

5 (A) HEARING AND FINAL ADJUDICATION.— 

6 An athlete who tests positive and is subject to 

7 penalty under paragraph (5) shall be afforded an 

8 opportunity for a prompt hearing and a right to 

9 appeal. Such athlete shall file an appeal with the 

10 professional sports association within 5 business 

11 days after learning of the positive test. The asso12 ciation shall hold a hearing before an arbiter es13 tablished under subparagraph (B) and such arbi14 ter shall reach a final adjudication not later 

15 than 45 days after receiving notice of the appeal. 

16 The penalties specified in paragraph (5) shall be 

17 stayed pending an appeal and final adjudica18 tion. 

19 (B) ARBITER.—The arbiter of the appeals 

20 process described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

21 agreed upon mutually by the professional sports 

22 association and the athletes who participate in 

23 the activities of such professional sports associa24 tion (or the representatives of such athletes), and 
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1 shall be approved by the Secretary, and such ap2 proval shall not be unreasonably withheld. 

3 (b) CONSULTATION.—In prescribing regulations under 

4 this section, the Secretary may consult with anti-doping 

5 authorities, medical experts, and professional sports asso6 ciations. 

7 SEC. 4. NONCOMPLIANCE. 

8 Beginning 1 year after the date on which the final 

9 rules required by section 3 are issued, the Secretary may 

10 fine any professional sports association that fails to adopt 

11 and enforce testing policies and procedures consistent with 

12 such regulations. An initial fine for failing to adopt or en13 force such policies and procedures under this Act shall be 

14 $5,000,000 and may be increased by the Secretary by 

15 $1,000,000 for each day of noncompliance. The Secretary 

16 may reduce the fines specified in this section upon finding 

17 such fines to be unduly burdensome on a professional sports 

18 association. 

19 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

20 (a) REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF REGULATIONS.— 

21 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this 

22 Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall trans23 mit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

24 House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

25 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, a report describ-
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1 ing the effectiveness of the regulations prescribed pursuant 

2 to this Act, the degree to which professional sports associa3 tions have complied with such regulations, and any signifi4 cant examples of noncompliance. 

5 (b) STUDY ON COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOL

6 TESTING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 

7 (1) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall con8 duct a study on the testing policies and practices 

9 (and their implementation) for performance-enhanc10 ing substances for athletes at colleges and secondary 

11 schools. The study shall examine the prohibited sub12 stance policies and testing procedures of— 

13 (A) intercollegiate athletic associations; 

14 (B) college and university athletic depart15 ments; and 

16 (C) secondary schools and State and re17 gional interscholastic athletic associations. 

18 The study shall also include an analysis of the best 

19 available estimates for both licit and illicit use of an20 abolic steroids and human growth hormones by such 

21 athletes. 

22 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

24 shall transmit a report to the Committee on Energy 

25 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 
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1 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor2 tation of the Senate. The report shall assess the ade3 quacy of such testing policies and procedures in de4 tecting and preventing the use of performance-enhanc5 ing substances, and shall include any recommenda6 tions to Congress regarding expanding the applica7 tion of the regulations issued pursuant to this Act to 

8 such intercollegiate and interscholastic athletic asso9 ciations. 

10 SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

11 (a) PRE-EXISTING POLICIES.—Nothing in this Act 

12 shall be construed to prohibit a professional sports associa13 tion from continuing to enforce policies and procedures gov14 erning the use of performance-enhancing substances that 

15 were in effect on the date of enactment of this Act until 

16 such time as such professional sports associations adopt 

17 policies and procedures consistent with the rules issued 

18 under section 3. 

19 (b) MORE STRINGENT POLICIES.—Nothing in this Act 

20 shall be construed to prohibit a professional sports associa21 tion and its athletes (or the representatives of its athletes) 

22 from negotiating and agreeing upon policies and procedures 

23 governing the use and testing of performance-enhancing 

24 substances that are more stringent than those required by 

25 this Act. 

Union Calendar No. 133 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3084 

[Report No. 109–210, Part I] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to issue regumerce. sports associations engaged in interstate com- performance-enhancing substances for certain lations requiring testing for steroids and other 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2005 

Committee on Education and the Workforce discharged; 

the State of the Union and ordered to be printed committed to the Committee of the Whole House on