State lawmakers held a hearing on four bills that would affect the Alabama High School Athletic Association and student eligibility for high school sports but decided to stay out of those issues for now.

Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, chair of the Education Policy Committee and a former high school football coach, told the audience after the public hearing that the committee would not vote on the bills. That means they will not have a chance to pass this year.

The sponsor of the four bills, Sen. Chris Elliott, a Republican from Baldwin County, said he has heard from people all over the state with concerns about AHSAA rules and decisions. Elliott said those include rules that disqualify an entire team from the playoffs because of an eligibility issue with a single player. Elliott said rules restrictions on participation in club sports force students to choose between those and their school teams. The senator said the concerns amount to what he described as a crisis in high school athletics and loss of the public’s trust in the AHSAA. He said the proposed legislation can serve a purpose even if it does not pass.

“It’s my hope that this association will look at some of the issues I’m bringing before them today and go back and deal with them,” Elliott told the committee. “I don’t want the Legislature, Mr. Chairman, running high school sports. But I can’t sit idly by and I don’t’ think we should sit idly by and continue to let things go as they are.”

AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs, who spoke after Elliott, said he was “taken aback” by some of Elliott’s comments but understood some of the concerns. Briggs told the committee the association has a democratic process for changing its rules, a process driven by its members, 418 high schools and more than 300 middle schools. Briggs said the AHSAA is ready to work with Elliott and others with concerns about rules.

“I ask this committee to please give us a chance through our membership to change these bylaws,” said Briggs, who has been executive director for two years. “We will take a look at them. I will ask our board to form a committee as I’ve done before to look at what Senator Elliott has raised. And we welcome him to be a part of it.”

Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, asked other committee members if they have heard from people in their districts with concerns about AHSAA rules and decisions. Only one, Sen. Tom Butler, R-Huntsville, raised his hand. Figures said her preference was to allow the AHSAA and those with concerns about the rules to try to find solutions.

Chesteen, the committee chair, said he hoped today’s discussion can lead to a review of concerns raised by Elliott and people who have contacted the senator.

“I haven’t heard from any of my superintendents or coaches in the district that I represent with any of these issues,” Chesteen said. “But if he has, I think we need to take those seriously and have those conversations and see what we can do to address some of those.

“Times have changed. Maybe we need to look at a coach working with a kid in a summer program and not have a kid ineligible and not have a coach suspended. That would be my hope that in these conversations as we move forward we can find some common ground to settle some of these issues.”

Elliott said there is precedent for the AHSAA making changes after the Legislature and governor draw attention to what some see unfair consequences of the association’s rules. For example, the AHSAA passed a religious accommodation rule last year after the boys basketball team at Oakwood Academy, a Seventh Day Adventist School in north Alabama, had to forfeit a game scheduled for a Saturday afternoon, the Sabbath observed by Seventh Day Adventists.

Read more: AHSAA adopts new rule allowing religious accommodation requests in championship play

In 2019, the AHSAA changed its amateurism rule in response to outcry over the case of Maori Davenport, a Charles Henderson High School senior basketball star who was ruled ineligible for receiving a stipend from USA Basketball for playing in an international tournament during the summer.

Read more: AHSAA changes amateurism rule after Maori Davenport controversy

“Both of those changes were made after this Legislature shone a big, bright light on the problem, and the governor, in the Davenport case and the Oakwood case,” Elliott said. “Both of those issues were changed by the board following the pressure of the Legislature.”

“The point here and the goal here is to put some pressure and see if we can shine a light on some of these things and make sure that the public feels like they’re being listened to,” Elliott said.

Briggs said the way to address problems are through rules changes. He said making exceptions to rules in specific cases is not an option for the AHSAA, even if the circumstances seem unfair.

“If I change a rule, I’m fired,” Briggs said. “It’s just that plain and simple. If I deviate from that book in any kind of way, I’m fired. Our membership, they don’t give me the discretion to waver one way or another. And as Senator Elliott pointed out, there are some kids hurting.

“I promise you, I can’t sleep when I have to call a school the next day and tell them I have got to take them out of the playoffs. That’s not something we want to do.”

Here’s what the four bills in committee would have done:

SB249 says K-12 public schools and the AHSAA would have to determine a student’s eligibility to participate in a sport at least 21 days before the first scheduled event in that sport. The determination by the AHSAA would be final for the remainder of the season.

SB250 would require K-12 public schools to pay any fines, fees, or penalties charged to a student for a violation of eligibility policy unless the student knowingly withheld information related to the violation.

SB251 says the AHSAA, public schools, and local boards of education cannot restrict eligibility for a student or coach because of their participation on non-school teams or non-school athletic events, such as USA-sponsored teams or club teams.

SB253 would prohibit the AHSAA, K-12 public schools, and local boards of education from restricting a coach from coaching or instructing outside of the school sports season or participating in a sports event in addition to the school sports season.