Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D-Passiac) has been around high school sports for more than half his life. He’s experienced levels of discrimination and unconscious bias over those years and says it still exists to this day.
That’s why Wimberly is the lead sponsor on a bill creating guidelines for mandatory sensitivity training programs aimed at all athletic directors, coaches and referees associated with all public and non-public high schools sanctioned by the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The bill was unanimously voted out of the state’s Assembly Education Committee Thursday afternoon as legislators from both sides of the aisle pledged their support.
Jersey Sports Zone’s Jay Cook was in Trenton for the hearing and has the story:
Wimberly believes the training program should occur every four years and educate on topics like gender and sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, disabilities, religious tolerance, unconscious bias and diversity and inclusion.
The bill, A-4679, still needs a sponsor in the state senate before it can progress through that legislative body. There’s no timeline on when the bill could reach the Assembly and Senate floor for a vote.
