The biggest hurdle for MMA legislation in New York -- Time

A bit of good news this Friday morning courtesy of Cagepotato:

A-2009c, the bill that calls for the sanctioning of combat sports in New York State was referred to the Codes Committee by the Committee of Parks, Tourism, and Sports Development once again today, meaning if it can pass just two more hurdles, the sport will be legalized in the state.

From our understanding this is the original bill from 2009 rather than the Governor's budgetary proposal to regulate MMA. 

Now, this passage could be seen as the political stamp needed to help members vote 'yes' on the budgetary proposal that made so many MMA observers excited earlier this year. In that sense A-2009c is somewhat redundant other than the need to show legislative support. But, if the MMA portion of the budget isn't included than the sole hope for regulation falls to this bill. As Cagepotato pointed already pointed out there are still several legislative hurdles for the A-2009c to go through before it can become law and the most significant one is time.

The New York legislature is only in session six months of the year and this session ends in June. In fact, according to the session calendar on the official website, there are only 9 more sessions in the month of June. That makes it unlikely that A-2009c can get through the final two steps this year (cue the random Marc Ratner quote saying he's confident it will get done without addressing the fact that there's very little time left).

For those that have been reading this website since our inception this story sounds eerily familiar. That's because it has happened before, just like Battlestar Galactica (Dork alert!). Two years in a row the Assembly has made last minute progress on MMA legislation and each time it's stalled in part due to opposition, e.g., Bob Rielly, but mostly due to the fact that there simply wasn't enough time to finish. Once again we find ourselves in a similar situation.

So, what should you as MMA fans hope for? A speedy passage of bill A-2009c? Or the inclusion of the MMA regulation in the budget?

In our opinion the piece of legislation that is most likely to get done in these final weeks, which, typically, is when the legislature rushes to complete important pieces of legislation, will be the budget.

If you want to see MMA in New York in 2010 then hope it stays in the budget.