Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I rise to comment on International Women's Day and to join Senator BIDEN in introducing the Protection of Vulnerable Populations During Humanitarian Emergencies Act of 2005.
Today is International Women's Day, a day on which we celebrate the progress of women and rededicate ourselves to overcoming the inequities facing women around the globe. In many places in the world, discrimination continues to deny women and girls full political and economic equality. The lives and health of women and girls continue to be endangered by violence that is directed at them simply because they are female. In recognition of these issues, I co-sponsored a Resolution with Senators BIDEN and CLINTON commemorating International Women's Day and reaffirming the Senate's commitment to improving the status of women worldwide.
In addition, I am co-sponsoring with Senator BIDEN the Protection of Vulnerable Populations During Humanitarian Emergencies Act of 2005, which the Committee on Foreign Relations supported as an amendment to our Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. During humanitarian emergencies, women and children become more vulnerable to a range of abuses including sexual exploitation, trafficking and gender-based violence. Our bill seeks to ensure that U.S. foreign assistance programs are a force for protecting women, children, and other vulnerable populations in the wake of military conflict and natural disasters.
The recent tsunami tragedy in the Indian Ocean region has highlighted this important issue. Tens of thousands of children have lost family members and friends and are coping with unspeakable trauma. Nearly 35,000 children have been orphaned, and many more have been separated from their families. These children face the imminent threats of hunger, disease, and diarrhea. Beyond these dangers, children are vulnerable to being trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labor, or conscription. Without their families, the children orphaned by the tsunami lack protection from predators who would profit from their tragedy.
During many of the humanitarian crises that we have witnessed over the last decade, including Rwanda, Bosnia, and Sudan, we have learned that women and children are uniquely vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation. Over the course of the past year, the world has heard accounts of rape at the camps in Darfur in Western Sudan. Our bill aims to improve the ability of the United States to protect women and children, like those in the tsunami-affected region and in Darfur, from the additional dangers they face during a humanitarian emergency. Our bill calls for a coordinator for protection issues and a strategy to improve our ability to protect and respond to the needs of women and children in such crises. Our bill authorizes funding for the specific health care needs of women during an emergency, the establishment of registries and clearinghouses to trace relatives and help children find their families, and legal services for survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse. In addition, the bill requires that any organization receiving U.S. funds to assist in a humanitarian emergency have in place a code of conduct forbidding its employees from sexually abusing the victims of the crisis. Finally, our bill urges the United Nations to strengthen its policies concerning sexual abuse and exploitation by UN personnel involved in UN peacekeeping operations. I am hopeful that Senators will join me in backing this legislation.
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By Mr. LUGAR:
S. 567. A bill to provide immunity for nonprofit athletic organizations in lawsuits arising from claims of ordinary negligence relating to the passage, adoption, or failure to adopt rules of play for athletic competitions and practices; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President. Today I rise to introduce the Nonprofit Athletic Organization Protection Act of 2005. I am pleased to join with my good friend and colleague, Representative MARK SOUDER, in introducing this measure. This legislation is based on a bill that was introduced in the last legislative session.
I believe that this legislation is very important to encouraging health promotion in our country. The United States has invested a tremendous number of resources in providing our children with the ability to promote fitness through sports. In every town in America, you will find boys and girls playing America's most popular sports: baseball, soccer, football, and, of course, basketball. A recent study by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association showed that in 2000 at least 36 million American children played on at least one team sport. Of those 36 million, 26 million children between the ages of 6 and 17, played on an organized team in an organized league. A study by Statistical Research, Inc. for the Amateur Athletic Foundation and ESPN found that 94 percent American children play some sport during the year.
The ability for children to participate in sporting events provides our society many benefits that government cannot provide. Studies have shown that these benefits include betterment to a child's health, academic performance, social development and safety. The most obvious benefit of organized sports is physical fitness. The National Institute of Health Care Maintenance has identified physical activity such as sports as a key factor in the maintenance of a healthy body. Lack of physical activity, along with unhealthy eating habits, has been identified as the leading cause of obesity in children. The center notes: ``Physical activity provides numerous mental and physical benefits to health, including reduction in the risk of premature mortality, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, depression, and cancers.'' A Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research study indicated, ``Low fitness outranks fatness as a risk factor for mortality.'' By encouraging our children to participate in organized sports, we increase physical fitness and fight obesity.
A second benefit in the participation of organized sports is an increase in academic performance. The National Institute of Health Care Maintenance has highlighted ``a recent large-scale analysis reported by the California Department of Education [has shown] that the level of physical fitness attained by students was directly related to their performance on standardized achievement measures.'' When we encourage our children to participate in organized sports, we increase the ability for them to achieve academically.
A third benefit for young people who participate in organized sports is that they learn positive social development. Organized sports teach values of teamwork, fair play, and friendly competition. Success in organized sports is also a vital self-esteem builder in many children.
These three benefits have been widely discussed on the floor of the Senate and we have acted to implement several programs designed to reduce obesity and increase fitness, educational standards and the social well-being of our children.
The fourth benefit to participation in organized youth sports, providing a safe place to play, is a topic that has not received as much attention as the first three. Nonetheless, it is no less important. Fewer kids are simply going outside to play, due to the attraction of TV, video games, and the Internet, combined with parents' safety concerns about letting children run around outside unsupervised. As a result, organized sports teams are an increasingly important source of safe physical activity in children. The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated, ``In contrast to unstructured or free play, participation in organized sports provides a greater opportunity to develop rules specifically designed for health and safety.''
One primary reason why organized sports provide such an opportunity for safe play is that non-profit, volunteer organizations establish rules to provide a safe place to play. These organizations are made up of professional people who are in the business of providing children a fun and safe avenue for athletic exercise. Organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, the National Council of Youth Sports, the National Federation of State High School Associations and others exist largely to establish rules in order to minimize the risk of injury our children face while participating in sports. No matter how well these organizations perform their work, however, boys and girls will be injured.
Over the last several years, more and more of these rule making bodies have become targets for lawsuits seeking to prove that the rule maker was negligent in making the rules of play. These lawsuits claim that had a different rule been in place, the injury would not have happened. Indeed, these suits place rule makers into a Catch-22. A child can be injured in almost any situation no matter how a rule is written. The result has been to have more and more lawsuits.
As a consequence, the insurance premiums of these organizations have risen dramatically over the past several years. In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last year, Robert Kanaby the Executive Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations testified that:
``Over the last three years, the annual liability insurance premiums for the National High School Federation have increased three-fold to about $1,000,000. We have been advised by experts that given our claims experience and the reluctance of insurers to offer such coverage to an organization `serving 7,000,000 potential claimants,' the premiums will likely increase significantly in years to come. Since we operate on a total budget of about $9,000,000, such an increase would be, to put it mildly, problematical.''
The costs have increased to the point where it is possible that these organizations will cease from providing age appropriate rules and the safety of youth sports will decline.
Because of this problem, I join, once again, with Representative MARK SOUDER in introducing the Nonprofit Athletic Organization Protection Act of 2005. This legislation will eliminate lawsuits based on claims that a non-profit rulemaking body is liable for the physical injury when the rules was made by a properly licensed rulemaking body that has acted within the scope of its authority. Lawsuits may be maintained if the rule maker was grossly negligent or engaged in criminal or reckless misconduct. This reasonable legislation will help sports rule makers to do their job. If we do not pass this legislation, it is likely that rule makers will eventually close their doors since they will be unable to afford the insurance needed to provide a safe sporting environment.
No one who has participated in the debate surrounding this problem has disagreed that the current lawsuit culture needs reform. Instead, concerns have arisen that the remedy was overly broad preventing lawsuits against rule makers on other issue.
To remedy these concerns, the legislation introduced today contains a provision that explicitly says that lawsuits involving ``antitrust, labor, environmental, defamation, tortuous interference of contract law or civil rights law, or any other federal, state, or local law providing protection from discrimination'' are not barred by this bill. This provision was worked out between the civil rights groups, including the National Women's Law Center and the National Federation of State High School Associations, in an effort to alleviate this concern.
As many of my colleagues know, I am a runner. I enjoy the activity and the positive effect that running and athletics have played in my life. I would hope that my nine grandchildren will be able to have an opportunity to participate in organized sports and that lawsuits against rule makers for allegedly faulty rules will not prevent these organizations from functioning properly. I look forward to the consideration and passage of the Nonprofit Athletic Organization Protection Act of 2005 during the 109th Congress.
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