Administrative Rule Review – ARR20-045 Legislative Service Office
AGENCY Board of Mixed Martial Arts
DATE SUBMITTED: August 18, 2020
SUBJECT: Chapter 1 - Definitions, Chapter 2 - Requirements for Contestants in all Bouts; Chapter 3 - Requirements for Bout Approval; Chapter 5 - Specific Requirements for Kickboxing Contestants; Chapter 6 - Specific requirements for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Contestants; Chapter 7 - Requirements for Promoters; Chapter 8 - Guidelines for Contract, Financial Arrangements, and Reporting Fraud; Chapter 9 - Personnel Facility, and Equipment Requirements; Chapter 10 - Ticket and Sales Reporting Requirements; Chapter 11 - Requirements for Officials; Chapter 12 - Procedures for Application, Licensure and Disciplinary Matters; Chapter 13 - Insurance, Chapter 14 - Public Records Requests, Chapter 15 - Bar Knuckle Fighting; Chapter 16 - Lethwei; Chapter 17 - Professional Boxing
NATURE OF RULES: Legislative, Procedural, Interpretive
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: W.S. 33-48-111(a)
DETERMINATION OF PROCEDURAL COMPLIANCE BASED UPON INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY BOARD OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS TO LSO: Apparently complete to date. These are new rules. Notice of the proposed adoption of new rules was provided by the LSO as required by W.S. 28-9-103(d). No comments have been received to date.
SUMMARY OF RULES: The rules continue the changes made by ERR20-48, except that additional chapters of the Board of Mixed Martial Arts rules are included for the sole purpose of amending references to the "Board" which is changed to the "Commission". The rules implement legislation passed in the 2020 budget session. The legislation reconstitutes the State Board of Mixed Martial Arts (Board) as the Wyoming Combat Sports Commission (Commission) and adds boxing as a regulated sport under Commission rules. The rules replace references to the "Board" and "Board Representative" with references to the "Commission" and "Commission Representative" and amend several provisions to incorporate boxing into the existing regulatory framework. The rules create a requirement that all professional boxing participants be registered in accordance with federal law, create a requirement that a boxing contestant be 'safe to compete' as required for kickboxing or mixed martial arts participants, create a boxing match permit fee, set Commission Representative payments for boxing and lethwei events, allow for the Commission to determine a referee is qualified in lieu of one year of professional experience, amend knockdown count provisions to include boxing, authorize the referee to stop the bout to protect the health or safety of either contestant, require the referee to wipe debris off a contestant's glove if the contest's gloves contact the floor, amend fouls and deductions for boxing bouts and allow for Commission Representative approval to allow a contestant to compete less than thirty days following a previous bout. A new chapter is also created to regulate boxing specifically. The new chapter creates bout requirements, tactics deemed to be fouls and required boxing specific equipment.
FINDINGS: The rules appear to be within the scope of statutory authority and legislative intent.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION: That the rules be placed on the Consent List and approved by the Council as submitted by the Agency.
/s/ Kayla Spencer______Kayla Spencer Staff Attorney
_/s/ Josh Anderson______Josh Anderson Senior Staff Attorney