The chairman of a key Senate committee has introduced a bill to boost the penalty for assaulting a referee or umpire. Troy Scheuermann of Farmington is urging lawmakers to make this move for sports officials. Scheuermann, who’s a basketball referee, cites what happened after he and a partner volunteered to referee a three-on-three tournament for fifth graders in Fort Madison last March.

Fort Madison’s newspaper has reported that a Burlington man was arrested and charged with a serious misdemeanor. Senator Lynn Evans of Aurelia is a licensed official for football, basketball, baseball, softball and track. He’s never been assaulted over a call he’s made, but Evans says the escalation of these kind of incidents is discouraging people from becoming a sports official.

Senator Nate Boulton of Des Moines says police in Des Moines had to be called this past year after an umpire was assaulted at a slow pitch softball game.

Senator Mike Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, says the bill will draw a line of protection for sports officials.

The bill has cleared a Senate subcommittee and is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Twenty-three other states have already made assaulting a sports official a felony.