Matt Haney

Existing law, the Boxing Act, also known as the State Athletic Commission Act, creates the State Athletic Commission and makes the commission responsible for licensing and regulating, among other sports, boxing and martial arts, including mixed martial arts. Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in the promotion of, or participating in, a boxing or martial arts contest, match, or exhibition without a license, except as specified.

Existing law requires the commission to appoint a person exempt from civil service to serve as the executive officer to exercise the powers and perform the duties delegated by the commission. Existing law authorizes the commission to employ certain individuals to perform specified duties.

This bill would authorize the commission to employ an assistant chief athletic inspector in charge of training to assist the chief athletic inspector in exercising the above-described duties.

Existing law establishes the Athletic Commission Fund and requires that all moneys received by the commission under these provisions be remitted to the Treasurer and deposited into that fund. Existing law establishes the Boxers' Pension Fund (BP Fund) and Mixed Martial Arts Retirement Benefit Fund (MMA Fund) , and requires that certain amounts be contributed to those funds, as specified. Existing law makes those funds continuously appropriated and provides that amounts in the funds are to be used exclusively for the purposes and administration of those funds. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor.

This bill would authorize the commission to enter into a contract or agreement with specified entities to place the entity's name, logo, insignia, or brand on the apparel of referees, judges, and ringside physicians, subject to specified conditions. The bill would prohibit a sponsorship contract from, among other things, promoting a sham or fake contest, as specified.

This bill would require 25% of the payment received under these contracts to be deposited into the Athletic Commission Fund to be used as prescribed and, notwithstanding the above-described deposit requirement, the remaining 75% of the payment received to be divided between the BP Fund and MMA Fund in a manner that fairly represents the revenue derived from each segment, as determined by the commission and set forth in the sponsorship contract. By depositing the above-described payments into the continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would prohibit the commission from entering into a contract or agreement as described above until it has promulgated regulations related to the procurement of those contracts or agreements, as provided. The bill would declare that, notwithstanding existing law, a violation of these provisions is not a crime.

Existing law entitles a martial artist who has vested in the MMA Fund, as prescribed, to specified distributions of amounts held in the martial artist's regular account, as defined, to be made from the MMA Fund. 

This bill would authorize the commission to, upon a determination that the balance of the MMA Fund sufficiently exceeds the amount needed for anticipated future payments, make a one-time payment from the proceeds of sponsorship contracts in the MMA Fund to those individuals who would have met the January 1, 2026, MMA Fund vesting requirements if the vesting requirements had been established on January 1, 2006. By authorizing new uses of a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations related to the furtherance of a public purpose.