BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                             Alan Lowenthal, Chair
                           2011-2012 Regular Session
                                        

          BILL NO:       AB 1743
          AUTHOR:        Campos
          INTRODUCED:    February 17, 2012
          FISCAL COMM:   No             HEARING DATE:  May 16, 2012
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber

           SUBJECT  :  Postsecondary education: Information about 
          athletic scholarships.
          
           SUMMARY  

          This bill clarifies that existing law regarding the 
          provision of information about athletic scholarships 
          applies only to postsecondary educational institutions with 
          a physical campus and athletic facilities in California.

           BACKGROUND  

          Current law:

          1)   Requires California colleges and universities that 
               offer athletic scholarships to provide the following 
               information on the institution's website:

             a)   The college's most recent cost of attendance 
               expenses; 

             b)   The portion of these expenses prohibited, per the 
               National 
                    Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) rules, 
               from inclusion in a 
                    full grant-in-aid scholarship; 

             c)   Whether the college provides athletic scholarships 
               for summer 
                    school; 

             d)   The average monthly scholarship payment received by 
               students 
                    living on- and off-campus; 





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             e)   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; and,

             f)   NCAA scholarship rules related to verbal offers and 
               National 
                    Letters of Intent, as specified.

          2)   Requires a college or university that provides written 
               material regarding its athletic program to a student 
               athlete to include a direct link to the institution's 
               Internet Web page, where the student athlete shall be 
               able to access all of the information regarding the 
               institution's athletic scholarship program as 
               described above.  (Education Code � 67365)
           ANALYSIS
           
           This bill  clarifies that existing law regarding the 
          provision of information about athletic scholarships 
          applies only to postsecondary educational institutions with 
          a physical campus and athletic facilities in California.  
          Specifically, this bill defines "California postsecondary 
          educational institution" as a postsecondary educational 
          institution with a physical campus and athletic facilities 
          used to support one or more of the institution's athletic 
          programs that is located in the State of California.

           STAFF COMMENTS  

              1    Need for the bill  .  According to the author, "Prior 
               legislation provided that 
               all California postsecondary education institutions 
               that offer athletic scholarships are required to 
               provide information about athletic scholarships on 
               their websites.  Postsecondary schools with a primary 
               campus in another state that have satellite campuses 
               in California and/or online classes offered in 
               California are included within the meaning of 
               'California postsecondary educational institutions' 
               under the prior legislation.  Accordingly, these 
               off-campus facilities are required to comply with the 
               requirement to post information about athletic 
               scholarships online.  Since these schools do not have 




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               athletic teams operating in California, it is 
               impracticable to require them to provide athletic 
               scholarship information on their websites."

              2    Exemption  .  This bill would exclude from the 
               existing requirement to provide information about 
               athletic scholarships any postsecondary educational 
               institution that does not have a physical campus and 
               athletic facilities located in California.  Existing 
               law applies to California universities and colleges 
               that offer athletic scholarships.  It appears 
               reasonable to exempt postsecondary educational 
               institutions that do not offer athletic scholarships 
               to students who attend a satellite campus or take 
               online courses of an out-of-state college but who do 
               offer athletic scholarships to students attending a 
               campus in another state.  Is it possible that an 
               out-of-state college could offer an athletic 
               scholarship to a student attending a satellite campus 
               or online school in California to complete for the 
               college in another state?  Staff recommends an 
               amendment to strike the contents of the bill and 
               instead clarify that current law applies to 
               postsecondary educational institutions that offer 
               athletic scholarships to students attending a 
               university or college in California.

           SUPPORT  

          None on file.

           OPPOSITION
           
          None on file.