Bill Text: NY A08620 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to enacting the "New York collegiate athletic participation compensation act"; allows student-athletes to receive compensation including for the use of a student's name, image or likeness; allows student athletes to seek professional representation; requires colleges to establish a sports injury health savings account to provide compensation to athletes for career ending or long-term injuries; requires colleges to establish a wage fund to be paid out to all student-athletes attending the college; requires colleges to take fifteen percent of revenue earned from athletics ticket sales and divide such revenue among student-athletes; establishes the community college athlete name, image and likeness working group.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to higher education [A08620 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A08620-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8620--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY October 2, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "New York collegiate athletic participation compensation act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "New York collegiate athletic participation compensation act". 3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding two new sections 6438-a 4 and 6438-b to read as follows: 5 § 6438-a. Student-athlete compensation. 1. (a) A college shall not 6 uphold any rule, requirement, standard, or other limitation that 7 prevents a student of that institution participating in intercollegiate 8 athletics from earning compensation pursuant to this section including 9 as a result of the use of the student's name, image, or likeness. Earn- 10 ing compensation pursuant to this section including from the use of a 11 student's name, image, or likeness shall not affect the student's schol- 12 arship eligibility. 13 (b) An athletic association, conference, or other group or organiza- 14 tion with authority over intercollegiate athletics, including, but not 15 limited to, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, shall not 16 prevent a student of a college participating in intercollegiate athlet- 17 ics from earning compensation pursuant to this section including as a 18 result of the use of the student's name, image, or likeness. 19 (c) An athletic association, conference, or other group or organiza- 20 tion with authority over intercollegiate athletics, including, but not 21 limited to, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, shall not 22 prevent a college from participating in intercollegiate athletics as a 23 result of the compensation of a student-athlete pursuant to this section 24 including for the use of the student's name, image, or likeness. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD12040-08-9A. 8620--A 2 1 (d) A community college shall be exempt from the requirements of this 2 section. 3 2. A college, athletic association, conference, or other group or 4 organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics shall not 5 provide a prospective student-athlete with compensation in relation to 6 the athlete's name, image, or likeness. 7 3. (a) A college, athletic association, conference, or other group or 8 organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics shall not 9 prevent a student-athlete participating in intercollegiate athletics 10 from obtaining professional representation in relation to contracts or 11 legal matters, including, but not limited to, representation provided by 12 athlete agents or legal representation provided by attorneys. 13 (b) Professional representation obtained by student-athletes shall be 14 from persons registered and/or licensed by the state. Professional 15 representation provided by athlete agents shall be by persons registered 16 pursuant to article thirty-nine-E of the general business law. Legal 17 representation of student-athletes shall be by attorneys licensed pursu- 18 ant to article fifteen of the judiciary law. 19 (c) Athlete agents representing student-athletes shall comply with the 20 federal Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act, established in chap- 21 ter 104 of title 15 of the United States Code, in their relationships 22 with student-athletes. 23 4. A scholarship from the college in which a student is enrolled that 24 provides the student with the cost of attendance at that institution is 25 not compensation for purposes of this section, and a scholarship shall 26 not be revoked as a result of earning compensation, obtaining legal 27 representation or receiving funds through a college's wage fund pursuant 28 to this section. 29 5. (a) A student-athlete shall not enter into a contract providing 30 compensation to the athlete for use of the athlete's name, image, or 31 likeness if a provision of the contract is in conflict with a provision 32 of the athlete's team contract. 33 (b) A student-athlete who enters into a contract providing compen- 34 sation to the athlete for use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness 35 shall disclose the contract to an official of the college, to be desig- 36 nated by the college. 37 (c) A college asserting a conflict described in paragraph (a) of this 38 subdivision shall disclose to the athlete or the athlete's legal repre- 39 sentation the relevant contractual provisions that are in conflict. 40 6. After the effective date of this section, a new team contract or a 41 renewal or modification of a team contract of a college's athletic 42 program shall not prevent a student-athlete from using the athlete's 43 name, image, or likeness for a commercial purpose when the athlete is 44 not engaged in official team activities. 45 7. (a) Each college shall establish a sports injury health savings 46 account and a wage fund pursuant to this subdivision. Such savings 47 account and wage fund shall be funded with fifteen percent of the reven- 48 ue earned from such college's athletics program. Half of such revenue 49 shall be deposited into such sports injury health savings account and 50 half shall be deposited into such wage fund. 51 (b) Each college's sports injury health savings account shall be 52 established to provide a student-athlete who suffers a career ending or 53 serious injury during a game or practice with compensation upon his or 54 her graduation. The amount of such compensation and qualifying injuries 55 shall be determined by the department. A qualifying injury shall beA. 8620--A 3 1 verified by an independent health care provider not affiliated with such 2 student-athlete's college. 3 (c) At the conclusion of each school year, each college's wage fund 4 shall be divided evenly and paid to all student-athletes attending such 5 college. 6 § 6438-b. Community college athlete name, image and likeness working 7 group. 1. There shall be established within the department by the chan- 8 cellor of the state university of New York, the community college 9 athlete name, image and likeness working group, to examine and review 10 existing state university of New York athletic bylaws, state and federal 11 laws and national athletic association bylaws regarding a college 12 athlete's use of such athlete's name, image and likeness for compen- 13 sation. The department shall provide necessary secretariat and support 14 services to the working group. 15 2. (a) The community college athlete name, image and likeness working 16 group shall consist of, but not be limited to, the following members: 17 (i) one representative from the office of the chancellor of the state 18 university of New York; 19 (ii) at least two community college student-athletes appointed by the 20 chancellor's office; 21 (iii) a community college athletic administrator appointed by the 22 chancellor's office; 23 (iv) a community college athletic coach appointed by the chancellor's 24 office; 25 (v) one member appointed by the governor; 26 (vi) one member appointed by the temporary president of the senate; 27 and 28 (vii) one member appointed by the speaker of the assembly. 29 (b) All appointments to the working group shall be completed on or 30 before July first, two thousand twenty. 31 3. On or before July first, two thousand twenty-one, the working group 32 shall provide a report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the 33 temporary president of the senate and the chancellor of the state 34 university of New York, which contains such working group's findings and 35 policy recommendations in connection with its review pursuant to subdi- 36 vision one of this section. 37 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 38 section 6438-a of the education law, as added by section two of this 39 act, shall take effect January 1, 2023.