Topics for March 21st - Head-Royce

The topics for our next tournament on March 21st at Head-Royce are as follows:

1. Prioritize STEM education.
2. California should turn PG&E into a publicly-owned utility.
3. The US government should require tech companies to unlock encrypted communications for law enforcement.
4. The IOC should include e-sports as an official sport in the Olympic Games.

Topics for February 8th - OIS

The topics for our next tournament on February 8th at Orinda Intermediate School are as follows:

1. The United States should implement a national cap and trade policy.
2. The University of California should not factor standardized testing for college admissions.
3. Political ads on social media do more good than harm.
4. Prioritize STEM education.

Topics for December 14th - OIS

Thank you to Fallon for hosting our first tournament of the year. The topics for our next tournament on December 14th at Orinda Intermediate School are as follows:

1. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing does more harm than good.
2. The United States should implement a national cap and trade policy.
3. The IoT (Internet of Things) does more harm than good to humanity.
4. Tax sugar.

Topics for November 2nd - Fallon

Welcome to EBDL 2019-2020! This is the first post from the new tournament directors, Danielle Baur and Lauren Kayari. We are excited for a great year of debate. The first tournament will be on November 2nd at Fallon Middle School in Dublin. The topics are as follows:

1. The two-party system does more harm than good.
2. Law enforcement officers should be required to wear running body cameras while on duty.
3. Public schools should grant students in grades 6-12 an excused absence for protests.
4. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing does more harm than good.

Topics for March 9th - Head-Royce

Thank you to Head-Royce for hosting our final tournament of the year on 3/9; the topics for this tournament are as follows:

1. Cashless businesses do more good than harm.
2. Convicted felons should have the right to vote.
3. Online rating websites that rate US businesses and professionals do more good than harm.
4. Standardized testing in K-12 schools does more good than harm.

Topics for December 15th - OIS

Thank you to JM for hosting our first tournament of the year. The topics for our next tournament on December 15th at Orinda Intermediate School are as follows:

1.  The guarantee of US birthright citizenship should be rescinded.
2. The use of affirmative action in college admissions does more good than harm.
3. In the United States the voting age should be lowered to 16.
4. Giving monetary allowance to children does more harm than good.

Topics for November 3rd - Joaquin Moraga

Another year of debate begins. Thank you to all teams and judges-in-training who attended this year's Jamboree.  Below are the topics for our next tournament on November 3rd at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School:

1. Club sports do more good than harm.
2. The Citizens United vs. FEC decision should be reversed.
3. Abolish graded homework in grades 6-12.
4. The California Money Bail Reform Act will do more harm than good.

Topics for March 10th - Fallon

The topics for the regional qualifiers on March 10th at Fallon Middle School are as follows.

1. Voter ID laws do more good than harm.
2. Coal mining in the US should be banned.
3. School vouchers do more good than harm.
4. The US should reinstate the Fairness Doctrine for broadcast (TV and radio) and cable news.

Topics for February 3rd - Piedmont Middle School

The topics for the next tournament on February 3rd at Piedmont Middle School are as follows.

1. Net neutrality should be required by law in the US.
2. Spain should grant Catalonia its independence.
3. The United States Postal Service should be privatized.
4. All US citizens should receive a basic income.

Topics for December 9th - OIS

Thank you to JM for hosting our first tournament of the year. The topics for our next tournament on December 9th at Orinda Intermediate School are as follows:

1.  HOT (High-Occupancy Toll) lanes in the US do more harm than good.
2. All internships should be paid.
3. The US should replace the Electoral College with a direct national popular vote.
4. All inhabited US territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands) should be required to become either US states or independent nations.

Topics for October 28th - Joaquin Moraga

It's time for another great year of debate!  Thank you to all teams and judges-in-training who attended this year's Jamboree.  Below are the topics for our next tournament on October 28th at Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School:

1. The US Antiquities Act does more harm than good.
2. State-run lotteries do more good than harm.
3. Law enforcement officers should be required to wear running body cameras while on duty.
4. Abolish zoos.

Topics for March 2017 Tournament at JM

Thank you to Piedmont for hosting our third tournament last Saturday! The topics for our next tournament on Saturday, March 25th at JM are as follows:

1. The U.S. should adopt a single-payer health care system.
2. Sanctuary cities do more harm than good.
3. Space exploration should not be privatized.
4. College athletes should be paid.

Guide to Judging - Updated Jan. 2017

We hope you enjoyed the holidays! The judging guide has been updated as of January 2017, and the link to the new version can be found on the left sidebar. Moving forward, please refer to the updated guide for future tournaments.

Topics for February 2017 Tournament at Piedmont

Thank you to OIS for hosting our second tournament last weekend!  46 teams participated in the event.

The topics for our next tournament at Piedmont High School on Saturday, February 4th, are as follows:

1. Government-sponsored school vouchers should not be allowed.
2. All 18-year-olds in the United States should be required to do one year of non-religious national service.
3. Free trade agreements do more good than harm.
4. Rent regulation laws do more good than harm.

Topics for December 2016 Tournament at OIS

Thank you to Fallon for hosting our first tournament on Saturday!  49 teams participated in the event.

The topics for our next tournament at OIS on December 10th are as follows:

1. End Daylight Saving Time.
2. Supreme Court Justices should have term limits.
3. Wikileaks has done more good than harm.
4. Tech companies, like Apple, should be required to unlock encrypted communication for law enforcement.

Topics for October 2016 Tournament at Fallon

And we're off to another great season of debate!  Thank you to all teams and judges-in-training who attended this year's Jamboree.  Below are the topics for our next tournament on October 22nd at Fallon Middle School:

1. The United States should abolish the death penalty.
2. Citizen-initiated ballot propositions in California do more harm than good.
3. Independent prosecutors should be assigned to all criminal investigations of the police.
4. The “gig economy” does more harm than good.

Topics for 2016 Regionals

Congrats to all for a successful finish to the regular season!  Each school in our league will be represented by at least 2 teams at the upcoming Regional tournament at Churchill Middle School in Carmichael.  The topics will be as follows:

1. The US should establish a no-fly zone in Syria.
2. The US should have compulsory voting in general elections.
3. Schools should require cameras in classrooms.
4. Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court career did more good than harm.
5. Scientists should use cloning technology to resurrect animals made extinct by humans.
6. The US should adopt the metric system. 

Best of luck to all!

Topics for March 2016 Tournament at JM

Thank you to Fallon for hosting this weekend's tournament!  For the second straight tournament, we had over 50 teams participate.

Our next tournament in March will be the qualifying tournament for Regionals, to be held in April in Sacramento.  The topics are as follows:

1. High school tackle football should be banned.
2. The DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) program should not be implemented.
3. The Electoral College should be eliminated.
4. The ACA (Affordable Care Act) has done more harm than good.

Topics for February 2016 Tournament at Fallon

Thank you to OIS for hosting the tournament last weekend!  Over 50 teams competed at the tournament.

The topics for our next tournament on February 6th, 2016 at Fallon Middle School are as follows:

1. On balance, the Citizens United decision has done more good than harm.
2. Opening all active combat roles to women will weaken the effectiveness of the US military.
3. Use of CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) gene-editing should be banned.
4. Teacher-assigned homework does more harm than good.

Topics for December Tournament at OIS

Thank you again to Dorris-Eaton for hosting the first tournament of the 2015-16 season yesterday!  49 teams competed at the tournament.

The topics for our next tournament on December 5th at OIS are as follows:

1. No space exploration should be permitted without showing that it will not harm extraterrestrial microbial life.
2. On balance, free trade agreements do more harm than good.
3. Increasing use of electronic mobile devices in the classroom is weakening education.
4. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan will do more harm than good.