Legislative Agenda Short for DII and DIII
Division I will have a short-and-sweet legislative agenda over the next year unless the Rules Working Group rolls out some big changes. Divisions II and III will be equally so except for some major academic changes at the DII level.
Division III’s proposed legislation for this year centers around the same health and safety package as Division I. Proposals to require teams report catastrophic injuries and to require all coaches be certified in first aid, CPR, and AED use had widespread support. More controversial but still advancing was the proposal to require teams to designate a physician. DIII will also look at reducing the penalty for positive drug tests for “street drugs”. Other minor proposals involve scrimmages in hockey and field hockey and the use of helmets during offseason football conditioning activities.
Division II has the exact same health and safety package and drug testing proposals as Divisions I and III. The big difference is Division II’s academic reform proposals have advanced as well. Those proposals would change academic eligibility rules for incoming freshmen, junior college transfers, and continuing students. Smaller proposals would allow a “conference challenge” basketball tournament to be exempted every year and give strength and conditioning coaches greater flexibility in designing and supervising offseason football workouts.