BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 735
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Date of Hearing: January 21, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
735 (Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended January 4, 2016
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|Policy |Arts, Entertainment, Sports, |Vote:|6 - 0 |
|Committee: |Tourism, and Internet Media | | |
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| |Higher Education | |12 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: >
SUMMARY:
This bill eliminates the January 1, 2012 sunset date on the
Student Athlete Bill of Rights, which places specified
requirements on collegiate athletic programs at those California
higher education institutions that receive income of more than
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$10 million annually through media rights (contracts with
television networks).
FISCAL EFFECT:
No state costs for the impacted public institutions to continue
compliance with the Student Athlete Bill of Rights. Based on
their annual revenue from media rights, the bill of rights
applies only to four schools-the University of California's
(UC's) Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses, Stanford University,
and the University of Southern California. The bill of rights
requires these institutions to rely exclusively on this revenue
to cover the costs of compliance.
According to UC, in the past 18 months, the Pac-12 Conference,
which includes the four institutions subject to this bill, have
obtained autonomy from NCAA and have adopted reforms in support
of student athlete welfare and academic success that go beyond
the provisions in Student Athlete Bill of Rights.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Because of the success of
the Student Athlete Bill of Rights, it is unnecessary to wait
any longer to repeal the sunset date and to place undue stress
on our student athletes and to not extend common sense
protections indefinitely." The author contends that, given
the January 2021 sunset date, student athletes enrolling in
school in 2017 and thereafter, will lack the certainties of
the protections of the bill of rights being available to them
throughout their entire collegiate experience.
2)Background. SB 1525 (Padilla), Chapter 625, Statutes of 2012,
enacted the Student Athlete Bill of Rights, which in part:
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a) Requires the postsecondary education institution, if a
student athlete's athletic scholarship is not renewed due
to incapacitating injury or illness result 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.
b) 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.
c) Requires each athletic program to conduct a financial
and life skills workshop, as specified, for all first-year
and third-year student athletes.
d) Requires an athletic program to respond within seven
business days to a student athlete's written request to
transfer.
e) 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.
f) Stipulates that an athletic program is responsible for
paying the insurance deductible amount applicable to a
student who suffers an 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
separate from the institution, either necessary medical
treatment or health insurance covering the injury and
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resulting deductibles.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081