Mar 12, 2015 4 min read

Plan to coach youth sports in the next year? How about being a team mom or youth league umpire or referee?

Better get your clearances.

Thanks to House Bill 435, which was adopted last October and goes into effect July 1, anyone in Pennsylvania who has contact with children must submit to state background checks. The cost of this state-mandated background check is $20, paid to – you guessed it – the state.

Essentially, the Legislature created a $20 tax on volunteers.

Now, it’s not only going to cost your time to help out, it’s going to cost money as well – not that volunteers weren’t spending their own money in some cases.

But that’s not the least of it.

If you moved to Pennsylvania in the past 10 years, you have to submit to more stringent federal background checks, including being finger printed, at additional costs, raising your volunteer tax to nearly $60.

The bill, which was passed in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, is well-intentioned.

But it’s going to have lasting ramifications in youth sporting leagues, many of which already conduct background checks mandated by insurance companies, on potential coaches, umpires and others who volunteer their time.

It’s not so much the $20 fee that’s the issue. It’s that House Bill 435 is all-encompassing; nearly everyone in the state is going to have to submit to testing.

Want to go to a party at your child’s school? Better have your clearances. Volunteer as a Sunday school teacher or for a vacation bible school helper? Better have your clearances. The list goes on and on for people who will be affected.

For youth sporting leagues, which have struggled in recent years finding volunteers to coach or provide other support, it’s just one more hoop through which to jump. And for those on the fence about volunteering, adding another barrier, even if it’s a minor one, could be the difference in their decision to participate.

The timing of the law also falls at an interesting time for sports that will take place this summer.

For example, Washington Youth Baseball, which has conducted background checks on its managers and coaches for several years, will soon begin its season along with other youth baseball and softball leagues around the area.

The organization finds itself in a bit of a bind because of the timing of when the law goes into effect.

Since youth baseball and softball seasons begin before the bill becomes law, but the date it goes into effect falls during their seasons, these leagues are being forced to decide whether to require their volunteers to comply with the law early or wait until July 1.

“Being that we didn’t have much notice, it’s going to be hard for leagues like us to comply,” said Washington Youth Baseball president Rick Herrnberger. “There are going to be a lot of youth organizations that are going to be noncompliant.”

Washington Youth Baseball has about 500 participants each season and hundreds of volunteers to make those seasons run efficiently, whether it be as coach, umpire, team mom, concession stand worker or scorekeeper.

Multiply that by every community in the state. As can be imagined, the influx of millions of people now being required to submit to background checks has caused some significant delays in the time the clearance is filed and when it is finally approved.

“We’re getting ready to start our season,” said Herrnberger, whose league will still do its own background checks and ask its coaches to also submit to the state check. “It’s going to take weeks for everyone to get their background checks. What are we going to do, not start practices until everyone is cleared?”

The other issue with the checks is how they will be enforced.

It’s highly unlikely local law enforcement will be driving around to local youth sporting events and asking to see the clearances for all of the coaches, press box workers and umpires.

And just because someone passes a background check, which is good for three years, doesn’t mean something won’t happen during that three-year period that would cause them not to pass the next time they apply. In the meantime, they’ll be allowed on the field or in a school.

The Legislature probably didn’t think about these issues when this law was passed. It was a feel-good bill that also allowed the state to pull in funding.

No one wants to see children abused in any way, but this is a law that could wind up doing more harm than good, making it more difficult for people to volunteer rather than easier at a time when fewer people are doing so.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com