BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1525 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1525 (Padilla) As Amended August 6, 2012 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :22-14 ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS 5-1 HIGHER EDUCATION 6-2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Campos, Butler, Carter, |Ayes:|Block, Achadjian, | | |Gatto, Mendoza | |Brownley, Fong, Galgiani, | | | | |Lara | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Beth Gaines |Nays:|Olsen, Miller | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- APPROPRIATIONS 12-5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | | | |Bradford, Charles | | | | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | | | |Mitchell, Solorio | | | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Enacts a Student Athlete Bill of Rights and places specified requirements on collegiate athletic programs commencing with the 2013-14 academic year and ending January 1, 2021. Specifically, this bill : 1)Applies all of the following requirements only to a higher education institution receiving income of more than $10 million annually through media rights (contracts with television networks), and requires the institution to rely exclusively on this revenue to cover the costs of these requirements. SB 1525 Page 2 2)Requires the postsecondary education institution, if a student athlete's athletic scholarship is not renewed due to incapacitating injury or illness resulting from participation in the athletic program, to provide an equivalent scholarship, that when combined with the previous athletic scholarship, provides the student with up to five academic years or until the student completes his academic degree, whichever comes first. A student's temporary leave of absence shall not count against the five-year limit. 3)Requires an athletic program with a six-year graduation success rate, disaggregated by team, of less than 60%, to provide a student athlete in good standing who has exhausted their athletic scholarship with an equivalent scholarship for up to one year. 4)Requires each athletic program to conduct a financial and life skills workshop, as specified, for all first-year and third-year student athletes. 5)Requires an athletic program to respond within seven business days to a student athlete's written request to transfer. 6)Stipulates that an athletic program, unless the student athlete declines, is responsible for paying the health insurance premiums of a student athlete whose household income does not exceed the level of Cal Grant A recipients, for insurance covering claims resulting from the student's participation in the athletic program. 7)Stipulates that an athletic program is responsible for paying the insurance deductible amount applicable to a student who suffers injury resulting from participation in the athletic program, and if the student requires ongoing medical treatment, the program is to provide, for at least two years after the student's graduation or separation from the institution, either necessary medical treatment or health insurance covering the injury and resulting deductibles. 8)Requires the athletic program to adopt and implement guidelines to prevent, assess and treat sports-related concussions and dehydration. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations SB 1525 Page 3 Committee: 1)Based on their annual revenue from media rights, this bill will initially only apply to four schools-the University of California's (UC's) Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California (USC). There will be no additional costs to UC, as the university indicates this bill's requirements are consistent with current policies and practices. 2)The California State University indicates that its San Diego campus will meet the media revenue threshold for this bill in the near future and estimates that annual costs for additional scholarships could be up to $500,000, covered by non-state sources. 3)To the extent former student-athletes, upon losing an athletic scholarship, receive extended scholarships paid for media rights revenues, instead of being entitled to state and institutional aid, there will be minor savings to these programs. COMMENTS : According to the author, "The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) regulations provide universities with a significant amount of discretion in how they protect student-athletes. Universities choose not to renew a scholarship annually from year to year at will. Similarly, university and NCAA medical insurance only kicks in after the student-athlete's insurance is exhausted. Lastly, there is little governing the due process and transfer rights for student-athletes, allowing universities to give student-athletes fewer rights than the student general body." As noted previously, the provisions of this bill would apply only to universities with annual media revenues of $10 million or more-UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, and Stanford. These universities enroll 2,500 of the state's 12,500 student athletes enrolled in Division I- or Division II-eligible institutions. They note that the scholarship, transfer, and insurance/medical coverage provisions of this bill are consistent with their existing practices. Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916) SB 1525 Page 4 319-3960 FN: 0004744