BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1525
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1525 (Padilla) - As Amended: August 6, 2012
Policy Committee: Arts Vote:5-1
Higher Education 6-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill 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.
2)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. 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
SB 1525
Page 2
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 separate 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
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. There will be no additional costs to UC, as the
university indicates the bill's requirements are consistent
with current policies and practices.
2)The California State University (CSU) 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
SB 1525
Page 3
programs.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "Current law only requires
that institutions of higher education post information related
to athletic financial aid, cost of attendance, the cost of
medical expenses, who holds the responsibility to pay for
medical expenses and transfer policies. 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."
2)Opposition . While recent amendments have removed the
opposition of UC and USC, Stanford opposes the bill being
applied only to four institutions based on their level media
revenue. Stanford argues that, at a minimum, provisions of the
bill that in their view would have little or no cost impact
should be applied to all institutions with Division I or II
programs.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081