Drug testing is on the agenda

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency would consider running a drug testing program in which first offenders were not suspended for two years, its chief executive said Tuesday, raising the stakes as Commissioner Bud Selig returns to Congress today to testify about baseball’s drug policy.

Selig has rebuffed calls to outsource drug testing to a third party and has rejected the World Anti-Doping Agency standard of a two-year ban for a first positive test. USADA chief Travis Tygart said his agency would not rule out administering an independent testing program on behalf of baseball, even with its 50-game suspension for first offenders.

“It doesn’t have to be the WADA code, but it has to be effective,” Tygart said.

Selig, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA Commissioner David Stern and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman have been summoned to Washington today, along with the director of the players’ union in each league, to appear before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), the subcommittee chairman, intends to ask “whether all the sports leagues will adopt provisions of the Mitchell Report,” spokeswoman Jodi Seth said. Rush believes testing should be “fully independent and transparent,” Seth said.

Rush plans to introduce legislation after the hearing. A bill introduced after a similar hearing three years ago -- and one that died without a vote -- would have mandated a two-year suspension for a first positive test and would have required testing by “an independent party not affiliated with the professional sports associations.”

None of the four major sports leagues currently outsources drug testing or imposes first-time suspensions for even one-third of a season. Mitchell wrote that baseball’s program “falls short of true independence” and recommended increased disclosure “to instill public trust and ensure accountability.”

In all, Mitchell offered 20 recommendations to strengthen baseball’s drug program. Selig immediately adopted those that did not require union approval and told Congress last month he hoped to reach agreement on the others -- including independence, transparency and frequency of random testing -- by the start of spring training.

Selig and Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players’ union, each said Tuesday that negotiations are ongoing.

Yet Selig and the union are united in the belief that the two sides can achieve independence by increasing the powers of the jointly selected administrator and do not need to invite USADA or another third party to run the program.

“I’m frankly very satisfied our program will be as independent and transparent as anybody else’s,” Selig said.

Tygart said baseball -- or any other sport -- cannot achieve true independence until “those who have a direct financial interest in the performance of the players aren’t deciding policy . . . and day-to-day administration.”

Barry Axelrod, a veteran player agent who also serves on the USADA board of directors, said he does not consider baseball’s program an independent one, emphasizing he spoke only for himself and not for USADA. “But, compared to where we were four years ago, we’ve made tremendous strides,” he said.

Axelrod said baseball has not requested assistance from USADA “in any way, shape or form.” Even if baseball asked USADA to get involved, the mandatory two-year suspension would raise concerns, including economic ones in a sport with an average salary near $3 million.

“It’s arguable that’s a much stiffer penalty than suspending the cyclist who makes $50,000 a year,” Axelrod said.

Said Selig: “You can’t suspend people for two years and do some of the things that they do. We play every day.

“You’ve got to tailor the program to the sport.”

Mitchell reported baseball’s first-time suspensions covered 30% of the season, compared with 25% for the NFL (four games) and the NHL (20 games) and 12% for the NBA (10 games).

Tygart, scheduled to testify on a separate panel today, said the leagues could hire an independent agency to run drug testing, separately or together, and without the aid of USADA.

If baseball wanted to retain USADA, he said, a two-year suspension for first offenders would not be mandatory as long as his agency was satisfied the program would reflect WADA goals in such areas as transparency, lists of prohibited substances and out-of-season testing.

“It doesn’t need to have the full breadth of the WADA code,” Tygart said. “You’d do an analysis of the effectiveness of the policies.

“It would be our understanding of what the program is, to see if it’s worthwhile enough for us to be involved.”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com