BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 735
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Date of Hearing: January 5, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS, TOURISM, AND
INTERNET MEDIA
Ian Charles Calderon, Chair
AB 735
(Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended January 4, 2016
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: Student Athlete Bill of
Rights.
SUMMARY: This bill would strike the sunset date from the
Student Athlete Bill of Rights (SABR), pursuant to which
intercollegiate athletic programs at 4-year institutions of
higher education in the state, as defined, are required to
comply with prescribed requirements with regard to their student
athletes. Specifically, this bill: removes the sunset date of
January 1, 2021 from the SABR, thereby extending the operation
of these rights for student athletes indefinitely.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the SABR, which 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
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costs of these requirements.
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
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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.
9)Declares that these provisions will become inoperative on
January 1, 2021.
FISCAL EFFECT: None known.
COMMENTS:
1)Author's statement of need for legislation: According to the
author, this legislation is needed to ensure that student
athletes continue to benefit from the SABR by force of law,
rather than simply through voluntary compliance through their
athletic conference or NCAA membership.
2)Scope of SABR and neutral position of impacted California
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Institutions of Higher Education: Based on their annual
revenue from media rights, this bill will initially only apply
to four schools-the University of California's Berkeley and
Los Angeles campuses, Stanford University, and the University
of Southern California. There will be no additional costs to
UC, as the university indicates this bill's requirements are
consistent with current policies and practices. The California
State University indicates that its San Diego campus will meet
the media revenue threshold for this bill sometime in the near
future. They anticipate absorbable costs of compliance at that
time coming from non-state sources.
Regarding the proposal to remove the sunset date on the SABR,
the Committee has heard from Stanford University, the
University of California, and the California State University
system on AB 735, each of whom express neutrality so long as
the bill only removes the sunset. The University of Southern
California is also neutral, but questions the need for
legislation six years prior to the expiration of the existing
sunset date.
3)SABR requirements were largely adopted by the NCAA and PAC 12
Conference: According to information supplied by the
University of California, the Pac-12 Conference rules adopted
in 2014, which apply to all Pac-12 student-athletes across all
sports, include:
" Athletic scholarships are guaranteed for four years
for student-athletes in all sports.
" Student-athletes who leave school before graduating
can use the remainder of their educational expenses later
to earn their degrees.
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" Medical expenses for student-athletes who are
injured during their college athletic careers are covered
for up to four years after a student-athlete leaves the
institution.
" Student-athletes who transfer between Pac-12
institutions are able to receive athletic scholarships
immediately.
" Student-athletes are represented in the Conference
governance structure.
In addition to the above, the Pac-12 presidents and
chancellors also reaffirmed their support for incorporating
the full cost of attendance for Pac-12 scholarship
student-athletes, which the NCAA subsequently adopted.
The PAC-12 includes the University of California-Berkeley, the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Stanford
University and the University of Southern California.
4) Prior related legislation:
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a) SB 1525 (Padilla), Chapter 625, Statutes of 2012,
created the original SABR discussed as "Existing Law"
above.
b) AB 1743 (Campos), Chapter 16, Statutes of 2012,
clarified that the online scholarship disclosures required
of a California postsecondary educational institution only
apply to institutions that offer athletic
scholarships to "student athletes".
c) AB 2079 (Torlakson-Davis), Chapter 592, Statutes of 2010
provided that all California postsecondary educational
institutions that offer athletic scholarships are required
to provide specified scholarship information on
their websites.
d) AB 95 (Torlakson), of 2008-09, would have required
athletic recruiters to provide student athletes 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.
Status: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule
56. Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec.10(c) of the
Constitution.
e) SB 193 (Murray), of 2002-03, would have prohibited
California institutions of higher education from
participating in any organizations that regulates student
athletic scholarships, including the NCAA. Status: Held
in the Assembly Higher Education Committee.
5) Double-referral: Should this bill pass out of this
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committee, it will be re-referred to the Assembly Committee on
Higher Education.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
There is no support on file.
Opposition
There is no opposition on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Dana Mitchell / A.,E.,S.,T., & I.M. / (916)
319-3450
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