The Florida Senate

232.66  Governing organization for athletics; appeals.--

(1)  The organization shall establish a procedure of due process which ensures each student the opportunity to appeal an unfavorable ruling with regard to his or her eligibility to compete. The initial appeal shall be made to a committee on appeals within the administrative region in which the student lives. The organization's bylaws shall establish the number, size, and composition of the committee on appeals.

(2)  No member of the board of directors is eligible to serve on the committee on appeals.

(3)  Members of the committee on appeals shall serve terms of 3 years and are eligible to succeed themselves only once. A member of the committee on appeals may serve a maximum of 6 consecutive years. The organization's bylaws shall establish a rotation of terms to ensure that a majority of the members' terms do not expire concurrently.

(4)  The authority and duties of the committee on appeals shall be to consider requests by member schools seeking exceptions to bylaws and regulations, to hear undue hardship eligibility cases filed by member schools on behalf of student athletes, and to hear appeals filed by member schools.

(5)  A student athlete or member school that receives an unfavorable ruling from a committee on appeals shall be entitled to appeal that decision to the board of directors at its next regularly scheduled meeting or called meeting. The board of directors shall have the authority to uphold, reverse, or amend the decision of the committee on appeals. In all such cases, the decision of the board of directors shall be final.

History.--s. 7, ch. 97-53.