BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2079
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2079 (Torlakson) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Arts 6-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill specifies information that must be provided by
collegiate athletic recruiters and included in scholarship
offers made to California student athletes. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires a recruiter representing any intercollegiate athletic
program inside or outside California, within one week of any
direct personal contact with a California student athlete, to
provide in writing a disclosure letter of up to 1,250 words,
with specified content regarding the college's most recent
cost of attendance expenses; the portion of these expenses
prohibited, per NCAA rules, from inclusion in a full
grant-in-aid scholarship; whether the college provides
athletic scholarships for summer school; the average monthly
scholarship payment received by students living on- and
off-campus; and information regarding the college's and NCAA's
policies on scholarship renewals, payment of
athletically-related medical expenses, and athletic release
for student athletes wishing to transfer.
2)Requires the recruiter, for a student athlete who has not yet
entered grade 11, to provide the above information by
directing the student to a disclosure letter posted on the
institution's website.
3)Requires any scholarship offer made to a student athlete to be
made in writing within one week of a verbal offer, and to
contain specified information.
AB 2079
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT
University of California (UC) and California State University
(CSU) campuses would incur costs to develop and print the
materials to be provided to each recruit including regular
updates as information changes, developing a mailing list,
record keeping, orienting athletic recruiters to the new
procedures, and assuring compliance with the bill's
requirements.
UC costs are estimated at $290,000 ongoing, for a full-time
staff person at campuses engaged in national recruiting and a
half-time person at other campuses. Start-up costs would be
somewhat higher.
CSU's ongoing costs, assuming a half-time position per campus
for 23 campuses, would be about $575,000, again, with somewhat
higher start-up costs.
The above costs do not include potential litigation brought by
individuals challenging UC's and CSU's compliance with the above
requirements.
Both segments indicate that funding for athletic programs comes
from a mix of funds, including the General Fund, and that these
programs, like the rest of the universities, have been
experiencing cutbacks.
COMMENTS
1)Background . The NCAA is a voluntary association of about
1,200 colleges and universities, athletic conferences, and
sports organizations that administer intercollegiate
athletics. NCAA bylaws impose a number of restrictions on
student athlete financial assistance. For example, NCAA
Division 1 schools:
a) Cannot guarantee scholarships for more than one academic
year.
b) Cannot finance student health insurance if the insurance
is provided or offered to the general student body only on
an optional basis.
c) Cannot award financial aid to a student athlete that
AB 2079
Page 3
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.
d) 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.
2)Purpose . According to the author, current state law does
little to regulate the relationship between student athletes
and colleges and universities. These relationships instead
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.
According to the sponsors, the National College Players
Association (NCPA), "each year, tens of thousands of high
school student-athletes, most of whom are minors, are
recruited by college athletic programs. College recruiters
make verbal promises about various protections and benefits
that recruits will receive as college athletes. Sadly, these
recruits often wind up on campuses expecting protections and
benefits that are not provided by the university. While
college sports generate $10 billion per year, student-athletes
are too often left to pay for their own sports-related medical
expenses, can lose their scholarship if they get injured, can
have the eligibility held hostage for arbitrary reasons, and a
'full scholarship' can leave them with more than $30,000 of
education-related debt."
3)Prior Legislation . In 2009, a similar bill, AB 95 (Torlakson)
was never heard in policy committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081