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92_SB0050gms
State of Illinois
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Springfield, Illinois 62706
George H. Ryan
GOVERNOR
July 12, 2001
To the Honorable Members of
The Illinois Senate
92nd General Assembly
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(b) of the Illinois
Constitution of 1970, I hereby veto and return Senate Bill 50
entitled "AN ACT to amend the Unified Code of Corrections by
changing Section 5-5-3."
Senate Bill 50 amends the Unified Code of Corrections to
require a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first offense and
$2,000 for a second or subsequent offense upon a person
convicted of or placed on supervision for battery of a sports
official at any level of competition. The battery must be
committed in or near an athletic facility at which the sports
official was an active participant in an event.
Under current law, a person charged with a Class A
misdemeanor battery is subject to a maximum fine up to $2,500
or an amount specified in the offense, whichever is greater.
There is no minimum fine under current law for this specific
offense. This bill sets a minimum fine for the misdemeanor
battery of a sport's official.
I vetoed the nearly identical House Bill 448 in the 91st
General Assembly. In my veto message on that bill I pointed
out several problems. Senate Bill 50 only addresses one of
my previously expressed concerns.
This bill is intended to send a message to sporting event
participants and spectators that violence against a referee
or umpire is not acceptable. Sports - especially at the
recreational and youth levels - should promote good
sportsmanship, respect for rules and authority, and fair
play. I fully agree with these principles and have high
regard for those who put in the time and effort to act as
sport's referees and umpires, often on a volunteer basis.
There is not any justification for harassing or committing a
battery against a sports official, because of the way he or
she refereed a game. However, I still have several concerns
about this legislation.
The battery in this bill does not have to be related to
the sport official's duties; the bill only requires that he
or she be an active participant in a sporting event. As
such, a battery entirely unrelated to a sport official's
duties, after an event, would be covered under this bill.
The bill requires that the battery of the sport's
official take place within an "athletic facility or within
the vicinity of an athletic facility." The term "vicinity"
is vague for a criminal law provision. How far away is a
vicinity? According to the legal dictionary, vicinity is a
relative term and depends upon the circumstances. Current
law uses phrases such as "within 1000 feet" and Senate Bill
50 should explicitly define the area covered or require it to
be contiguous to the athletic facility.
There is already a provision in current law that
increases the penalty to Class 3 felony for battering a
sport's official in the places set forth in this bill.
Section 12-4 of the Criminal Code of 1961 defines aggravated
battery to include committing a battery when the perpetrator
or victim is on or about a public way, public property or
public place of accommodation or amusement. Public way
includes streets, sidewalks and parking lots. People v.
Pennington, 172 Ill.App.3d 641, 527 N.E.2d 76 (1988) and
People v. Pugh, 162 Ill.App.3d 1030, 516 N.E.2d 396(1987).
Case law also states that a place of public amusement is one
where the public is invited to come and partake of whatever
is being offered there. People v. Murphy, 145 Ill.App.3d
813, 496 N.E.2d 12 (1986). It seems clear, that just about
every athletic facility one can name is either public
property or place of public accommodation or amusement.
Likewise, the streets, sidewalks and parking areas
surrounding an athletic facility are a public way.
Therefore, current law already offers sufficient protections
should a sports official be the victim of a battery in an
athletic facility or surrounding area.
For these reasons, I hereby veto and return Senate Bill
50.
Sincerely,
George H. Ryan
GOVERNOR