Dewhurst ramps up pressure on UIL

DALLAS — Three months into the school year and still no prep athletes tested for steroids, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is calling for details of the long-stalled program to be made public next week.

It’s unknown when the $6 million mandatory random steroids testing program will start, but it almost certainly won’t be until after the high school football season.

“I want the program in place as quickly as possible, so I am urging the (University Interscholastic League) to release program protocol for public review within the next 10 days,” Dewhurst said in a statement to The Associated Press.

But UIL spokeswoman Kim Rogers said Tuesday she could not guarantee the agency could meet that timetable.

“Certainly we would try to cooperate in any way that we can with the lieutenant governor’s request, but I can’t say specifically when we’re going to release that,” Rogers said.

Rogers said the program is currently under legal review to “make sure all of our bases are covered.”

Dewhurst made high school steroids testing a priority in the Senate this spring, when the bill became one of the most attention-getting issues of the legislative session.

But the gravity and urgency the issue seemed to carry in the Capitol has waned since Gov. Rick Perry signed the measure into law in June. Fourteen drug testing companies bid for the contract in July, but it has yet to be awarded.

Republican Rep. Dan Flynn, the House sponsor of the bill, said he was troubled by the UIL’s pace.

“I’m just extremely disappointed,” Flynn said. “I find it amazing that they haven’t done anything.”

Rogers said the enormity of the mandate is unparalleled to any other steroids testing program. More than 23,000 public high school students in all sports are expected to be tested for anabolic steroids under the new law, making the initiative the largest of its kind in the U.S.

“The perception is that it’s taking too long,” Rogers said. “That is not really not the case. People don’t understand that there’s never been a steroid testing in the world that is this widespread and this comprehensive.”

Dewhurst said he appreciated the UIL’s “effort to ensure it is designed to be fair and accurate for our student athletes.”

Before the season, UIL athletic director Charles Breithaupt said any valid testing program must include football. The regular season ended Nov. 10, and the second round of the playoffs begins Friday.

The final championship games are set for Dec. 22. Rogers said the public will have 2-3 weeks to comment after details of the program are released.

Among the companies in the running for the contract is the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts testing for the NCAA and New Jersey and Florida, the only other states with mandatory random steroid tests for high school athletes.

Frank Uryasz, president of the company, said the UIL has not told him when the contract will be awarded or when testing might begin. He said even if the program isn’t launched until 2008, the UIL can still meet its goals.