Almost 30-year dream could soon be realized for Spokane Valley man as ‘referee bill’ heads to governor’s desk

When a 190-pound high school wrestler head -butted Spokane Valley’s Bob West while he was officiating a Colville wrestling match in 1996, he knew it was the end of his 35-year referee career.

The student knocked West unconscious; West underwent four neck surgeries, broke a rib, had extensive physical therapy and still has memory loss from the assault.

Forced to hang up his whistle and striped shirt, West funneled his passion for sports officiation into another endeavor: lobbying the Legislature to enact harsher penalties for assailants to referees or those who threaten violence.

For nearly 30 years, his efforts went unrewarded. Bills sometimes made progress, but ultimately stalled for lack of time in the session, objectionable amendments, or penalties deemed too severe by some lawmakers.

It’s a different story this year, as a bipartisan bill West championed passed both chambers and is now headed to Gov. Bob Ferguson for a signature.

West was feeling “fantastic” to see decades of work so close to paying off, though he still mourned his career that ended early.

“It kinda makes it worth it, you know?” West said. “There was a silver lining to all the bad stuff.”

The “referee bill,” as Democratic sponsor Sen. John Lovick calls it, adds sports officiants to an existing list of school roles for which it is a gross misdemeanor to use threats of force or violence against. Threatening or forcefully interfering with any school staff or contractor is punishable by a $500 fine or up to six months in jail, or both. The same would apply to those who threaten referees at school sports events, if the bill passes.

Students who threaten sports officials would face temporary removal from school and may be barred from their sport. Adults who threaten referees would be banned from the school and sport in question for at least a year and at most a year-and-a-half.

As it stands, there aren’t any laws on the books that specifically deter intimidation of sports officials.

“This is going to reverse that trend of poor sportsmanship and lack of respect to these officials and at the games,” Lovick said. “It’s dangerous for everyone.”

Animosity towards sports officials is nothing new in the sports world, but West and Lovick said it’s on the rise and contributing to a shortage in referees.

“We’re losing sports officials left and right because of the way sports officials are treated at events: assaults and all of those things,” West said.

Last February, a Seattle man was recorded pushing two young referees, aged 12 and 14, at his child’s hockey game. The man was charged twice with misdemeanor assault, but prosecutors dropped the charges in favor of anger management classes, payment to the referees and community service.

An experienced referee himself, Lovick said once after officiating a school basketball game, a player’s father followed him to his car and threatened him after Lovick called a foul on the man’s son.

“I decided after that it wasn’t worth the $19 I was making to referee a basketball game,” he said.

In a 2023 survey by the National Association of Sports Officials representing over 35,000 respondents, just less than half said they felt unsafe because of spectator, player, coach or administrator behavior. More than 88% said they had not been physically assaulted in a game.

West was hoping for more serious penalties for threats and intimidation, initially pushing to make such actions a felony. It’s less of a deterrent than he hoped for, but “something’s better than nothing,” West said.

Lovick said the bill will raise awareness and effectively act as a deterrent. Reducing the penalties was a sort of compromise to push the bill across the finish line.

“We probably could have made it stronger, but we weren’t going to be successful at passing it,” Lovick said.

Earlier iterations of the bill would have mandated signage at schools warning would-be assailants and intimidators of penalties. Lovick said he’s still interested in pursuing legislation to make this happen.

Lovick is confident Ferguson will sign the bill into law.

As for West, he’s looking forward to the free time he’ll have now that the bill he’s pushed for decades is about to come to fruition. “It takes a team,” he said of the lawmaking process, thanking local school districts, his wife and Spokane-area legislators like Republican Suzanne Schmidt and Democrat Marcus Riccelli who have sponsored his bills in the past.

“It absolutely provided some closure that there was a reason for the whole thing,” West said of his assault 30 years ago. “Obviously, it ended my officiating career and four neck surgeries later, but has raised the level of sportsmanship awareness, not just locally, but across the nation. I’ve been glad to be able to be a part of that.”