New York Senate Includes MMA Bill in Budget Report Monday, March 12 was an overall strong day for mixed martial arts fans, capping off with the news that the New York State Senate has included the bill to lift the ban on professional mixed martial arts as part of its 2012-2013 budget report. The 39 page report ended with a section called “New Jobs New York,” which included all of the Senate’s recommendations for increasing financial activity within the state. Among the items was a note in favor of legislation sanctioning the sport.
“PART II: The Senate proposes regulating the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and allowing such bouts to be held within the state,” the report reads.
While the bill to sanction MMA has passed freely through the Senate, it has thus far been stalled in the Parks, Tourism, and Sports Development Committee of the State Assembly. The chair of the committee, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, has yet to place the MMA bill on her committee agenda to be voted on. The Senate including MMA in its budget proposal goes a long way to remind the Assembly that the sport is not something that can be swept under the rug.
In other parts of the country the administrative front has reported back with victory for MMA. On Monday morning it was announced that Wyoming has officially become the 45th state in the union to sanction MMA under its State Athletic Commission. Of the remaining five states in the US, Alaska lacks a governing body to cover combat sports, Connecticut and Vermont have sanctioned events on their reservations under Tribal authorities, and Montana allows for MMA but does not regulate it under its athletic commission. New York remains the only state in the union and one of the only places in the modern world where professional mixed martial arts competition is expressly banned under the law.
