In 1997, amid a series of scandals involving unscrupulous agents, the NCAA began to focus on regulation as a means of addressing the detrimental impact of improper agent conduct on college athletics.

The NCAA approached the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and urged the drafting of a model law to provide uniform regulation of agents. Working with representatives from the NCAA and professional players associations, the NCCUSL completed the Uniform Athlete Agent Act (UAAA) in 2000.

The NCCUSL is a national nonpartisan organization that drafts uniform and model state laws on behalf of the states. It convened an 11-person drafting committee that was given the responsibility of studying the problem and drafting a model act that would effectively address this issue. Upon completion, the NCCUSL and the NCAA sought to have the uniform act introduced into state legislatures where it could be enacted into law. The act received strong support from NCAA member institutions around the country, and within a year it had been introduced in 27 jurisdictions and adopted by 12.

The main purpose of the UAAA is to protect student-athletes and NCAA member institutions by providing uniform regulation of athlete-agent registration and activity throughout the states. Before the development of the UAAA, about half of the states had no laws regulating agents, and the other half had a disparate mixture of laws with regulatory requirements ranging from simple registration to substantial fees and difficult competency exams. The UAAA remedies these inconsistencies by providing a uniform registration process and penalties for violators of the act.

The UAAA helps protect student-athletes by requiring that agency contracts include specific warnings that signing with an agent may make them ineligible to participate in NCAA sports. It also guarantees student-athletes the right to cancel an agency contract without penalty for 14 days after it is signed.

In addition, the UAAA includes an important registration component. In order to fulfill registration requirements under the UAAA, agents must submit an application with information ranging from their formal training, practical experience and education to their criminal background and prior clients. Through reciprocal registration, an agent registered in one state can easily register in other states that have adopted the UAAA by filling out a simple form and paying a nominal fee. This important registration requirement provides a great service to student-athletes, coaches and member institutions by properly screening athlete agents during the registration process.

NCAA member institutions benefit greatly from the enactment of the UAAA in their state. First, agents with negative track records can be excluded from recruiting their student-athletes through the registration and approval process. Second, both agents and student-athletes are required to disclose the existence of an agency contract within 72 hours or before the student-athlete's next scheduled athletics event, whichever is earlier. This provides member institutions with the means to avoid forfeited games, negative publicity and substantial financial penalties that might be imposed for amateurism and other agent-related violations. Finally, the UAAA provides member institutions with an explicit cause of action to go after unscrupulous agents in the event an athlete agent violates the act.

Recently, federal legislation was passed that addresses many of the concerns that signaled the development of the UAAA. The Sports Agent and Responsibility Trust Act (SPARTA), which passed in September 2004, provides some of the protections of the UAAA, but is not as comprehensive. Like the UAAA, SPARTA seeks to prevent agents from luring student-athletes into signing agency contracts with valuable gifts and false or misleading information by subjecting them to FTC regulation. However, SPARTA lacks the UAAA's powerful registration requirement, and Congress specifically urged the states in Section 8 of the act to "enact the Uniform Athlete Agents Act of 2000, drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, to protect student-athletes and the integrity of amateur sports from unscrupulous sports agents." Thus, while SPARTA is a solid backstop to the UAAA, the process of enacting the UAAA in all 50 states remains important and necessary.

To date, the UAAA has been passed in 32 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands and currently is pending in Hawaii, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon and South Dakota. The active support of NCAA member institutions and their athletics conferences is by far the most important factor in whether a legislative effort to enact the UAAA succeeds in a given state. In states where member institutions actively seek adoption of the UAAA, it tends to pass easily. In other states where member institutions might be somewhat supportive but do not make the passage of the act a priority, adoption is much more difficult.

The NCCUSL and the NCAA government relations staff continue to work closely in a joint effort to support the nationwide adoption of the UAAA. Schools in states without the act will benefit from its passage, and resources are available to help make that passage a reality. For further information about the UAAA, or for further information about how to help seek its adoption in your state, visit the NCAA athlete-agent Web page at www.ncaa.org, or contact the NCAA government relations office at 202/293-3050 or the NCCUSL at 312/915-0195.

Mike Kerr is the deputy executive director for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.