The Boys State Basketball Championships are celebrating their 100th year, thanks to the Nebraska School Activities Association that runs them, which is also celebrating their 100th anniversary. But if a now-amended bill is passed in the Legislature, the way they run their organization could change.

Legislative Bill 1021 is up for debate Wednesday, and would force the NSAA to hold public meetings and keep their records open to the public. But the NSAA has tried to head off the legislation by enacting similar policies themselves. Bill sponsor State Senator Bill Avery says that's just not adequate.

The bill in its original state would've shaken up the entire organization, but the new amended version would now only force the NSAA to abide by open meetings and public records laws.

"What it will do is it will give the public access to the organization and I think that's important. It's important that parents be able to attend meetings and have a say. They'll then feel more ownership in the activities of the organization," Avery said.

Senator Bill Avery introduced the bill after he says parents in his district were complaining the NSAA wouldn't listen to their concerns about dual participation in sports.

"They tried to get access to records and the organization would bar them from that; they would chase them out of meetings. So I thought it was time to do something, and that's why I introduced the bill," said Avery.

But Executive Director of the NSAA Jim Tenopir says they've already enacted the policies the bill suggests, making it unnecessary.

"The NSAA board has in fact adopted a board policy that makes us fully compliant with the open meetings and open records act, fully compliant according to statute. So from our perspective, we certainly don't think there is a necessity for that piece of legislation," Tenopir said.

But Avery says that's not enough, "My contingent is that it's not enforceable. It's an internal policy, they can follow it or not. And I think that they need to have the discipline of law, to make sure that the public has access and they are in fact transparent."

Avery also says the internal policy would allow the NSAA to decide when to allow the public in on a case by case basis, "Right now they way their internal policy reads, their executive director at his own discretion can decide what records the public can have access to. Under state law he would have to follow the law," said Avery.

Tenopir says the NSAA plans to fully abide by their new policy according to how the law would be written, but says that as a private association, he's worried about future regulations being imposed, "Our concern is in large part that once the High School Activities Association is named in statue, that it becomes much simpler for subsequent Legislatures to add additional requirements on to the School Activities Association."

To that argument, Avery says since they serve the public, they should have to answer to them.

We want your opinion on this bill. Do you think there should be a law always allowing the public to attend NSAA meetings? Click on the poll icon above to cast your vote.

Also, watch the videos above for more information, and click on the link below to read the proposed bill in its entirety.