BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 735 Page 1 Date of Hearing: January 21, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 735 (Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended January 4, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Arts, Entertainment, Sports, |Vote:|6 - 0 | |Committee: |Tourism, and Internet Media | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Higher Education | |12 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 735 Page 2 $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: AB 735 Page 3 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 AB 735 Page 4 resulting deductibles. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081