NEWSOM VOWS TO VETO CALIFORNIA YOUTH TACKLE FOOTBALL BAN

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Gov­er­nor Gavin New­som has pledged to veto a pro­posed bill to ban youth tack­le foot­ball in Cal­i­for­nia, cit­ing con­cerns about head injuries but empha­siz­ing that an out­right ban is not the solu­tion, as report­ed by Politi­co. He intends to work with leg­is­la­tors, health experts, coach­es, par­ents, and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to enhance safe­ty stan­dards while pre­serv­ing par­ents’ rights to choose appro­pri­ate sports for their chil­dren.

“I am deeply con­cerned about the health and safe­ty of our young ath­letes,” New­som stat­ed, “but an out­right ban is not the answer.” He high­light­ed the impor­tance of main­tain­ing the high­est stan­dards for youth foot­ball safe­ty through com­pre­hen­sive mea­sures rather than ban­ning the sport entire­ly.

The pro­posed leg­is­la­tion, intro­duced by Assem­bly­mem­ber Kevin McCar­ty, aimed to pro­tect chil­dren under 12 from poten­tial long-term brain injuries, such as CTE. How­ev­er, New­som point­ed to the exist­ing Cal­i­for­nia Youth Foot­ball Act, which already pro­vides a robust safe­ty frame­work, includ­ing equip­ment stan­dards and lim­its on full-con­tact tack­les.

Newsom’s com­mit­ment to youth ath­letes’ health and safe­ty reflects his approach to bal­anc­ing pro­tec­tive mea­sures with parental choice, while also address­ing broad­er cul­tur­al con­cerns about gov­ern­ment over­reach.