BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2079
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 6, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2079 (Torlakson) - As Amended: March 25, 2010
SUBJECT : Student athletes: recruiting.
SUMMARY : Requires a collegiate athletic recruiter representing
a postsecondary educational institution in California or outside
California to provide California student athletes, as defined,
with specified information relating to the college athletic
program within one week of initiating personal contact with the
student athlete for purposes of athletic recruiting. Requires
any scholarship offer to be made in writing within one week of a
verbal offer and prior to a student athlete signing an athletic
scholarship agreement with a postsecondary educational
institution and to include specified information relating to the
institution's athletic program. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a collegiate athletic recruiter to provide a
Disclosure Letter within one week of personal contact with a
student athlete for purposes of recruiting the student athlete
for a collegiate interscholastic athletic program and requires
the Disclosure Letter not to exceed 1,250 words and to include
the following information:
a) Athletic Scholarship Information (not to exceed 250
words), as follows:
i) The most recent cost of attendance expenses, as
specified.
ii) The sum of expenses identified in the above
paragraph that are prohibited from inclusion in a full
grant-in-aid athletic scholarship pursuant to the
National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) rules
and regulations.
iii) The policy of the postsecondary educational
institution's athletic program as to whether student
athletes will receive athletic scholarships for summer
school, and, if so, whether these scholarships are
proportional to athletic scholarships received during the
regular academic school year.
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iv) The average monthly full grant-in-aid athletic
scholarship payment received by student athletes who live
on-campus and off-campus, respectively, during the
regular academic year and summer school session.
b) Athletic Scholarship Renewals (not to exceed 250 words)
i) The NCAA's policy on scholarship duration.
ii) The policy of the postsecondary educational
institution's athletic program concerning the renewal or
nonrenewal of an athletic scholarship, including
circumstances in which a student athlete in good standing
suffers a temporary or permanent sports-related injury,
there is a coaching change, or a student athlete's
athletic performance is deemed to be below expectations.
c) Athletically Related Medical Expenses (not to exceed 500
words)
i) The NCAA's policy on whether athletic programs are
mandated to pay for athletically related medical
expenses.
ii) The policy of the postsecondary educational
institution's athletic program on whether it will pay for
student athletes' athletically related medical expenses,
including deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and whether
the program will pay for athletically related medical
expenses that exceed any maximum insurance coverage
limits.
iii) The policy of the institution's athletic program
concerning who is required to pay for any required
athletically related insurance premiums for student
athletes who do not have such insurance.
iv) The duration of time the postsecondary educational
institution's athletic program continues to pay for
athletically related medical expenses after a student
athlete's athletic eligibility expires.
v) Whether or not an athletic program's medical policy
covers expenses associated with attaining a second
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medical opinion for an athletically related injury from a
medical physician that is not associated with the
athletic program and whether the athletic program
provides coverage for services received by such a
physician.
d) Athletic Release (not to exceed 250 words)
i) The NCAA's policy on whether an athletic program may
refuse to grant an athletic release to a student athlete
who wishes to transfer to another postsecondary
educational institution.
ii) The policy of the postsecondary educational
institution's athletic program concerning whether it may
use any power to refuse to grant an athletic release for
a student athlete who wishes to transfer to another
postsecondary educational institution.
iii) Commencing January 1, 2011, each interscholastic
athletic program that recruits any student athlete shall
prominently post the disclosure letter described in
paragraph (1) on its official athletic Internet Web site.
iv) Changes to any athletic program policy included in a
Disclosure Letter shall be sent in writing to all student
athletes, as well as any athletes currently enrolled in
the institution who were recruited from the state of
California.
2)Requires any scholarship offer to be made in writing within
one week of a verbal offer and shall include all of the
following information.
a) The disclosure letter as defined previously.
b) The expiration date and expiration terms of the athletic
scholarship offer.
c) Whether or not the athletic program will guarantee that
the student athlete's acceptance of the offer prior to any
expiration will be honored.
d) Whether or not the offer includes an athletic
scholarship for summer school.
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e) Whether or not the student athlete will be guaranteed
admission and full athletic participation at an institution
if a specific academic level is achieved during the
remainder of the student athlete's high school career and a
description of any such academic level.
f) The terms and the amount of any death benefit provided
by the postsecondary educational institution in case of a
sports-related death.
3)If the written offer is sent more than one year in advance of
the earliest date a student athlete is authorized to sign an
agreement with an institution's athletic program, pursuant to
the rules and regulations of the NCAA, the athletic program
shall send a subsequent letter stating whether or not the
offer is still valid no later than five months prior to the
earliest signing period.
4)Defines the following:
a) "Student athlete" means an individual who resides in
California and who attends an elementary, junior high, high
school, or college.
b) "Athletic program" means any intercollegiate athletic
program from a postsecondary educational institution in or
outside of California that solicits student athletes to
apply, enroll, or attend the postsecondary educational
institution in order to have the student athlete
participate in intercollegiate sporting events, contests,
exhibitions, or programs at that institution.
c) "Personal contact" means any direct, individualized
contact made by a collegiate athletic recruiter for
purposes of athletic recruiting with a student athlete or
his or her family members, including, but not limited to,
telephone calls, personalized mail, in-person contact, or
e-mail.
5)Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a
postsecondary educational institution to revise athletic
scholarship contracts entered into prior to the effective date
of this bill.
AB 2079
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines a student athlete as a student at a public or private
institution of postsecondary education who engages in, is
eligible to, or may be eligible to engage in, any
intercollegiate sporting event, contest, exhibition, or
program, or any individual who has applied, is eligible to, or
may be eligible to apply in the future to a public or private
institution of postsecondary education.
2)Prohibits any person from offering, promising or attempting to
give money or other item of value to induce, encourage or
reward a student athlete's application, enrollment or
attendance at a public or private institution of higher
education to participate in specified intercollegiate
activities. Exceptions to this prohibition:
a) Any public or private institution of higher education
acting in accordance with a written policy in compliance
with NCAA bylaws.
b) Any intercollegiate athletic awards approved or
administered by the student athlete's institution.
c) Any other student of the institution (non-athletes).
d) Any of the student athlete's immediate family members.
3)Prohibits student athletes and members of their immediate
family from soliciting money or other item of value as an
inducement, encouragement or reward, subject to the same
exceptions listed above.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Double-referral : This bill is double-referred to the
Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet
Media Committee.
Background : The NCAA is a voluntary association of about 1,200
colleges and universities, athletic conferences, and sports
organizations that administer intercollegiate athletics.
Volunteer representatives from these schools and conferences
establish rules that govern the NCAA and programs designed to
further its purposes and goals. Currently, NCAA bylaws impose
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a number of restrictions on student athlete financial
assistance. For example, NCAA Division 1 schools:
1)Cannot guarantee scholarships for more than one academic year.
2)Cannot finance student health insurance if the insurance is
provided or offered to the general student body only on an
optional basis.
3)Cannot award financial aid to a student athlete that exceeds
the cost of attendance that normally is incurred by students
enrolled in a comparable program at that institution or that
exceeds the limitations established by Division I, whichever
is less.
4)Must include earnings from the student athlete's employment
during semester or term time to determine whether a full
grant-in-aid is reached and can only allow $2,000 in earnings
over a full grant-in-aid award, as defined.
Need for this bill : According to the author, current law does
little to regulate the relationship between student athletes and
colleges and universities-these relationships are governed by
the NCAA. The author contends that recruiters make verbal
scholarship offers that do not provide information regarding
summer school tuition, academic conflicts with practice
schedules, coverage of medical expenses, and the specifics of
scholarship offers.
Differing definitions between this bill and NCAA legislation :
There are a few areas where definitions in this bill are not
consistent with NCAA definitions, namely student athlete and
personal contact. According to the NCAA, violations may not
occur on definition alone, but institutions may face difficulty
due to the availability for contact with prospective
student-athletes as defined in NCAA legislation.
1)Student athlete definition: This bill defines a student
athlete as anyone in grades 1-12 and requires written
correspondence following any visit, as defined. Under NCAA
rules, unofficial visits may take place at any time but
written correspondence cannot begin until September 1 of a
prospective student-athlete's junior year (for sports other
than men's basketball and men's ice hockey) and June 15
following a prospective student-athlete's sophomore year
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(men's basketball and men's ice hockey). Under NCAA rules, if
a prospective student-athlete takes a visit in grade nine, the
institution would not be permitted to follow that visit with
the disclosure letter, which is contrary to this bill.
Staff recommendation : The Committee may wish to consider
requiring recruiters to direct student athletes to the
Disclosure Letter on the institution's Internet website,
instead of providing the information in writing, if the
student athlete is not yet a junior in high school.
2)Personal contact definition: NCAA legislation allows athletic
staff members to interact with prospective student-athletes
during camps and clinics without considering such interaction
a "contact" provided no recruiting occurs. This is an
instance where the definition of personal contact in this bill
differs greatly from the definition of contact in NCAA
legislation. In addition, as mentioned previously, if
personal contact takes place at a camp or clinic, the
prospective student-athlete may not be of the grade level when
written correspondence is permitted by the NCAA.
NCAA written disclosure requirements : Currently, the NCAA does
not allow financial aid awards to be awarded in excess of one
academic year. This bill stipulates that the written offer
include information regarding financial aid for summer school,
which is in excess of the academic year. According to the NCAA,
the written offer cannot include an offer of summer financial
aid but can describe the institution's policy for awarding
summer financial aid. The Committee may wish to consider
amendments to require the institution to describe its policy for
warding summer financial aid but not a specific offer.
Enforcement : This bill is silent on how violations will be
enforced. What is the recourse for student athletes if the
postsecondary institution does not provide this information,
inadvertently omits one of the data items from the Disclosure
Letter, or provides incorrect information? Who enforces these
provisions, and how are they enforced with out-of-state
institutions? Does this bill create a private right of action
for student athletes and/or their parent or guardian?
Previous legislation : SB 95 (Torlakson) of 2009, which was
never heard, would have required athletic recruiters to provide
student athletes with specified information relating to the
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college athletic program within one week of initiating personal
contact with the student athlete for purposes of athletic
recruiting. SB 193 (Murray) of 2003, which was held in the
Assembly Higher Education Committee, would have prohibited
California institutions of higher education from participating
in any organizations that regulates student athlete
scholarships, including the NCAA.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Labor Federation
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960