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 12 bills from eight states. The report includes six bills that have been recently introduced and six pending bills where legislative action has occurred since the publication of the April 9, 2001, NCAA News. Newly introduced 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 5, 2001. 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 4

Athletic trainers 1

High-school extracurricular/

home-school 1

contests 1

Sports officials 4

Tickets 1

Arkansas H 1084 (Author: Biggs)

Athletic trainers. Amends existing law by replacing the Arkansas State Board of Physical Therapy with the Arkansas State Board of Athletic Training. Changes the board's composition, powers and duties.

Status: 1/8/2001 introduced. 2/19/2001 passed as amended by House. 3/14/2001 passed as amended by Senate. 3/22/2001 House concurred in Senate amendments. 3/27/2001 signed by governor.

Arkansas H 1694 (Author: Rackley)

Scheduling of athletics contests. Requires the playing of annual football game called the "Arkansas Football Classic" between the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and Arkansas State University. Establishes an annual basketball tournament called the "Arkansas Meals-On-Wheels Basketball Tournament," which includes men's and women's teams from Arkansas, Arkansas State, the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, and the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff.

Status: 2/9/2001 introduced. 3/2/2001 passed as amended by House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. 3/22/2001 failed to pass House. 3/27/2001 reconsidered by House. Referred to House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs.

Arkansas H 2435 (Author: Bright)

Sports officials. Amends state law to make it a class D felony to attack, strike, harass,

stalk, or otherwise physically abuse an athletics contest official.

Status: 3/5/2001 introduced. 4/2/2001 passed as amended by House. Referred to Senate Committee on Judiciary.

Idaho S 1063 (Author: Committee on Judiciary)

Status: 2/6/2001 introduced. 2/20/2001 passed Senate. 3/16/2001 passed House. 3/27/2001 signed by governor.

*Louisiana H 1685 (Author: Daniel)

Athlete agents. Amends existing athlete-agent law by changing the definitions of "athlete agent" and "athlete."

Status: 3/26/2001 introduced. Referred to House Committee on Commerce.

*Louisiana S 15 (Author: Hollis)

Status: 3/26/2001 introduced. Referred to Senate Committee on Judiciary C.

*Minnesota S 2169 (Author: Tomassoni)

Status: 3/29/2001 introduced. Referred to Senate Committee on Crime Prevention.

Mississippi S 2312 (Author: Hamilton)

Athlete agents. Creates the Uniform Athlete Agents Act, a model state law developed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and endorsed by the NCAA and its membership. Establishes a uniform set of rules regulating athlete agents. Requires athlete-agent registration with a specified state agency. Provides for reciprocal registration with those states that have substantially similar registration requirements. Contains a detailed application process providing consumer information. Establishes requirements for agency contracts between student-athletes and athlete agents. Lists a number of prohibited acts. Permits specified state agency to issue subpoenas for any material that is relevant to the administration of the act. Imposes criminal, civil and/or administrative penalties for violations of the act. Provides for an action by an educational institution against an athlete agent or a former student-athlete for damages caused by a violation of the act.

New Mexico S 400 (Author: Romero)

Sports officials. Creates criminal offenses for assault or battery upon a sports official. Prescribes felony penalties.

Status: 2/2/2001 introduced. 3/8/2001 passed as amended by Senate. 3/14/2001 passed as amended by House. 3/17/2001 Senate concurred in House amendments. 4/2/2001 signed by governor.

*New York S 3942 (Author: DeFranciso)

Athlete agents. Creates the Uniform Athlete Agents Act, a model state law developed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and endorsed by the NCAA and its membership. Establishes a uniform set of rules regulating athlete agents. Requires athlete-agent registration with a specified state agency. Provides for reciprocal registration with those states that have substantially similar registration requirements. Contains a detailed application process providing consumer information. Establishes requirements for agency contracts between student-athletes and athlete agents. Lists a number of prohibited acts. Permits specified state agency to issue subpoenas for any material that is relevant to the administration of the act. Imposes criminal, civil and/or administrative penalties for violations of the act. Provides for a civil action by an educational institution against an athlete agent or a former student-athlete for damages caused by a violation of the Act.

Status: 3/27/2001 introduced. Referred to Senate Committee on Consumer Protection.

*North Carolina H 823 (Author: Decker)

High-school extracurricular activities/
home-school students. Permits local boards of education to adopt rules to allow home-school and nonpublic-school students to participate in public-school extracurricular activities, including athletics, which are otherwise unavailable to them.

Status: 3/27/2001 introduced. Referred to House Committee on Education.

*West Virginia H 3061 (Author: Kiss)

Sports officials. Increases the penalty for a violation of existing law prohibiting battery of an athletics official from a misdemeanor to a felony offense. Raises fines associated with the crime to not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000. Provides a minimum imprisonment sentence of not less than one or more than two years.

Status: 3/29/2001 introduced. Referred to House Committee on Judiciary.