This report summarizes legislation currently pending before state legislatures that could affect or is of interest to staff members of intercollegiate athletics programs and student-athletes. Set forth below is a list of 13 bills from nine states. The report includes two bills that have been recently introduced and 11 pending bills where legislative action has occurred since the publication of the April 10, 2000, NCAA News. Newly introduced bills are marked with an asterisk (*).

The State Legislation Report is based largely on data provided by the Information for Public Affairs online state legislation system as of April 7, 2000. The bills selected for inclusion in this report were drawn from a larger pool of measures that concern sports and, therefore, do not necessarily represent all of the bills that would be of interest to individual member institutions. Bills pending before the governing bodies of the District of Columbia and U.S. territories are not available on an online basis and are not included in this report.

The NCAA has not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data provided by Information for Public Affairs and is providing this summary as a service to its members. For further information regarding a particular bill, members should contact the state legislature concerned.

The bills set forth below address the following subjects:

Subject Number of Bills

Athlete agents 2

Athletics facilities 2

Athletic trainers 2

Gambling. 1

Gender equity 2

Sports officials 1

Tickets 2

University curriculum 1

Three bills have become law since the last report. In Arizona, two bills were signed into law by the governor. First, a bill that prohibits ticket forgery was adopted. Second, legislation was adopted regulating athletic trainers. In Georgia, legislation was enacted that provides for additional athlete-agent regulation.

Alabama HJR 257 (Author: Allen)

Athlete agents. Urges Roy Kramer, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, to encourage other states to enact legislation to provide stricter regulation of athlete agents.

Status: 3/23/2000 introduced. 4/4/2000 passed House. Referred to Senate Committee on Rules.

Alabama HJR 258 (Author: Allen)

Gambling. Encourages Congress to enact legislation banning gambling on high-school, collegiate and Olympic sports events.

Status: 3/23/2000 introduced. 4/4/2000 passed House. Referred to Senate Committee on Rules.

Arizona H 2485 (Author: Leff)

Tickets. Prohibits a person from forging or altering, with the intent to defraud, a ticket to any sports, amusement or concert event. Imposes criminal class I misdemeanor penalties on violators.

Status: 1/11/2000 introduced. 2/23/2000 passed House. 3/22/2000 passed Senate. 3/28/2000 signed by governor.

Arizona S 1202 (Author: Wettaw)

Athletic trainers. Appropriates $60,000 for the establishment of the Board of Athletic Trainers to oversee, evaluate and license athletic trainers. Requires athletic trainers to work under the direction of a licensed physician. Sets requirements for licensure and the use of professional titles. Lists grounds for disciplinary action and establishes penalties. Provides the public with the right to access information related to an athletic trainer's professional background and practice.

Status: 1/12/2000 introduced. 2/28/2000 passed as amended by Senate. 3/23/2000 passed as amended by House. 3/30/2000 Senate concurred in House amendments. 4/3/2000 signed by governor.

Delaware H 501 (Author: Reynolds)

Sports officials. Establishes the crime of Abuse of a Sports Official. Gives greater protection to sports officials who have been harassed, threatened, menaced or assaulted. Identifies certain types of prohibited acts against sports officials. Vests original jurisdiction of these offenses in Court of Common Pleas. Enables the Department of Justice and the courts to appropriately track repeat offenders.

Status: 3/21/2000 introduced. 4/4/2000 passed as amended by House. Referred to Senate.

Georgia H 331 (Author: Powell)

Tickets. Establishes a general prohibition for anyone other than a ticket broker or the original purchaser to sell or resell tickets to athletics contests at a price in excess of the price printed on the ticket. Permits original purchaser to resell tickets for any price, provided the person does not sell or offer to sell such tickets on the property where the contest is held. Exempts charitable organizations that offer tickets of admission in a raffle, auction or similar fund-raising activity. Sets criminal penalties.

Status: 1/29/99 introduced. 2/10/99 passed House. 2/1/2000 passed as amended by Senate. 2/8/2000 House concurred in Senate amendments. 3/24/2000 to governor.

Georgia H 1323 (Author: Hugley)

Athlete agents. Amends existing athlete-agent statute. Provides for additional grounds for refusing to register or for disciplining an athlete agent. Prohibits contact with the student-athlete before the completion of the athlete's last intercollegiate contest unless the contact is initiated by the student-athlete or his or her parent or guardian. Requires an athlete agent to send a copy of any written materials intended for a student-athlete to the athletics director of the institution of higher education in which the athlete is enrolled. Provides for the inclusion of language in agent contracts that warns the student-athlete of the loss of athletics eligibility and alerts the student-athlete of his or her right to cancel the contract. Permits the student-athlete's institution to bring a civil action against an athlete agent for recovery of damages, under certain circumstances.

Status: 2/3/2000 introduced. 2/16/2000 passed as amended by House. 3/14/2000 passed Senate. 3/28/2000 to governor.

Illinois S 1589 (Author: Karpiel)

Gender equity. Removes the provision that repealed the section authorizing the use of tuition waivers to attain gender equity in intercollegiate athletics. Changes the date when the Board must submit the gender-equity plans of public institutions of higher education to the governor and the state legislature.

Status: 2/1/2000 introduced. 2/24/2000 passed Senate. 3/30/2000 passed House.

*Kentucky H 115 (Author: Wayne)

Athletics facilities/bleacher safety. Requires public accommodations using bleachers that have open spaces more than 30 inches above the grade or floor to have no more than four inches of open space between the bleacher footboard, seat, and guard rails, or provide for the installation of an approved safety net. Imposes civil penalty of $500 for each violation.

Status: 1/4/2000 introduced. 1/28/2000 passed as amended by House. Referred to Senate.

*Oklahoma H 1710 (Author: Coleman)

University curriculum/remedial courses. Terminates all remedial courses in the comprehensive universities (for example, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University) by the fall of the 2001-02 school year. Allows technical branches of comprehensive universities to retain remedial classes as course offerings.

Status: 2/1/99 introduced. 3/7/2000 passed House. 3/13/2000 referred to Senate Committee on Education.

Oklahoma S 1214 (Author: Morgan)

Gender equity/tickets. Exempts admissions tickets to events of The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education from sales tax. Requires that an amount equivalent to the sales tax be collected and used for the purposes of promoting gender equity pursuant to the provisions of Title IX.

Status: 2/7/2000 introduced. 3/13/2000 passed as amended by Senate. 4/5/2000 passed as amended by House. To Senate for concurrence.

South Carolina S 975 (Authors: Short)

Athletics facilities. Provides bond funding for Winthrop University and The Citadel to acquire, construct, renovate, and equip certain athletics facilities. Secures debt by a pledge of the revenues derived from each university's athletics department and certain admissions fees charged to students.

Status: 1/11/2000 introduced. 3/29/2000 passed Senate. Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means.

Tennessee S 2559 (Author: Cooper)

Athletic trainers. Makes technical changes to athletic trainer laws. Replaces athletic trainer certificate with athletic trainer license. Changes student-trainer supervision requirements to include supervision by a licensed trainer and a licensed physician.

Status: 1/20/2000 introduced. 2/24/2000 passed as amended by Senate. 4/6/2000 substituted on House floor for H 2355. Passed House. Referred to Senate for concurrence.