Lawmakers in California this week passed landmark legislation that would force certain universities to provide academic scholarships to scholarship athletes no longer able to compete for their schools due to injury. It is the first legislation of its kind in the nation.
SB1525, which passed the State Senate by a 24-10 vote, awaits the signature of Governor Jerry Brown. It would affect only institutions receiving $10 million or more annually in media revenue and would require those schools to cover insurance deductibles and insurance premiums of low-income student-athletes in addition to the scholarships. State schools that would be affected by the law as of this year include Cal and UCLA, as well as private institutions USC and Stanford, which are chartered in California and offer state and federal scholarships. San Diego State is expected to reach the $10 million media revenue threshold next year. "We wanted to make sure that this bill is fiscally responsible," says Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, which championed the bill. "We didn't want to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on schools that would really face a financial burden to comply." Huma educated lawmakers that the Pac-12 Conference's current media contract will provide each member school with $15 million in new revenue each year for the next 12 years. "The new money is more than enough to pay for some of the modest reforms that we're talking about," he says.
Lawmakers in California this week passed landmark legislation that would force certain universities to provide academic scholarships to scholarship athletes no longer able to compete for their schools due to injury. It is the first legislation of its kind in the nation.
SB1525, which passed the State Senate by a 24-10 vote, awaits the signature of Governor Jerry Brown. It would affect only institutions receiving $10 million or more annually in media revenue and would require those schools to cover insurance deductibles and insurance premiums of low-income student-athletes in addition to the scholarships. State schools that would be affected by the law as of this year include Cal and UCLA, as well as private institutions USC and Stanford, which are chartered in California and offer state and federal scholarships. San Diego State is expected to reach the $10 million media revenue threshold next year. "We wanted to make sure that this bill is fiscally responsible," says Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, which championed the bill. "We didn't want to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on schools that would really face a financial burden to comply." Huma educated lawmakers that the Pac-12 Conference's current media contract will provide each member school with $15 million in new revenue each year for the next 12 years. "The new money is more than enough to pay for some of the modest reforms that we're talking about," he says.
Though the bill was not debated, it has its detractors - among them, Stanford interim athletic director Patrick Dunkley. "It applies just to four universities out of scores of institutions of higher education in California and fails to protect the rights of the vast majority of student-athletes," Dunkley wrote in a letter of opposition last month, as reported by the football career at UCLA was cut short by injury. "If Stanford has such a concern about student-athletes, this is the first time we've ever heard of it. Stanford not only has opposed these protections for their own players, they have never, ever expressed interest in making sure all the colleges in California are protecting their players. I think it was an excuse to kill the bill, because they didn't want to have that type of accountability." Huma has helped advocate for similar legislation in Indiana and Oklahoma, though bills in those states stalled. He sees the California precedent as perhaps giving additional states the confidence that these particular student-athlete welfare issues have been fully vetted. It will also provide incentive to neutralize a clear recruiting advantage. "If I'm a coach in California, I'm going to make sure that my recruits know that by law they have these protections, whereas anywhere else it's discretional. Anywhere else, they're gambling," Huma says. "I'm hoping that that will help raise the standard."
