STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
649--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 7, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, PANEPINTO -- read twice and ordered print-
ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Educa-
tion -- recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education in accordance
with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- 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 student
athlete bill of rights; and providing for the repeal of such
provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "student
2 athlete bill of rights".
3 § 2. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
4 1. Meeting the educational needs of student athletes should be a
5 priority for intercollegiate athletic programs.
6 2. New York's institutions of higher education that participate in
7 Division I and Division II intercollegiate athletics collectively gener-
8 ate millions of dollars annually in media contracts, and this revenue
9 would not exist without the efforts of student athletes.
10 3. Student athletes generate large revenues for many athletic
11 programs, spend approximately forty hours per week participating in
12 their respective sports, and suffer current and historically low gradu-
13 ation rates.
14 4. Providing adequate health and safety protection for student
15 athletes can help prevent serious injury and death.
16 5. Current and former student athletes can be left to pay for medical
17 expenses incurred from injuries suffered while participating in inter-
18 collegiate athletics.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03259-02-6
S. 649--A 2
1 6. Institutions of higher education should provide their student
2 athletes with the same due process protection afforded to students who
3 do not participate in athletics.
4 7. Athletic programs in this state are subject to federal gender equi-
5 ty requirements under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20
6 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.).
7 8. An institution of higher education should not punish any student
8 athlete for transferring to another institution of higher education.
9 9. An institution of higher education should not use funds for
10 purposes of this part that are dedicated for the benefit of the general
11 student body.
12 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 679-h to
13 read as follows:
14 § 679-h. Collegiate athletic scholarship. 1. Definitions. As used in
15 this section:
16 (a) "Athletic association" means any organization that is responsible
17 for governing intercollegiate athletic programs.
18 (b) "Athletic program" means an intercollegiate athletic program at
19 any institution of higher education within the meaning of paragraph (d)
20 of this subdivision.
21 (c) "Graduation success rate" means the percentage of student athletes
22 who graduate from that institution of higher education within six years
23 of their initial enrollment, excluding outgoing transfers in good
24 academic standing with athletic eligibility remaining, and including
25 incoming transfers. The rate is to be calculated by combining the rates
26 of the four most recent classes that are available in the exact manner
27 as the rate is calculated under National Collegiate Athletic Association
28 rules.
29 (d) "Institution of higher education" means any campus of the state
30 university of New York, the city university of New York, community
31 colleges as defined in section sixty-three hundred one of this chapter
32 and any four-year private university located in New York, that maintains
33 an intercollegiate athletic program.
34 (e) "Media rights" means the rights to media coverage of intercollegi-
35 ate athletics included in contracts that are entered into by intercolle-
36 giate athletic conferences and television networks and that generate
37 monetary payments to individual institutions of higher education.
38 (f) "Student athlete" means any college student who participates in an
39 intercollegiate athletic program of an institution of higher education,
40 and includes student athletes who participate in basketball, football,
41 and other intercollegiate sports.
42 2. Scholarship. Commencing with the two thousand seventeen--two thou-
43 sand eighteen academic year, an athletic program shall comply with all
44 of the following:
45 (a) (1) If an athletic program does not renew an athletic scholarship
46 of a student athlete who suffers an incapacitating injury or illness
47 resulting from his or her participation in the athletic program, and the
48 institution of higher education's medical staff determines that he or
49 she is medically ineligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics,
50 the institution of higher education shall provide an equivalent scholar-
51 ship that, combined with the total duration of any previous athletic
52 scholarship or scholarships received by the student athlete, will be
53 provided for a total of up to five academic years or until the student
54 athlete completes his or her undergraduate degree, whichever period is
55 shorter. Additional years may be provided at the discretion of the
56 institution of higher education.
S. 649--A 3
1 (2) If a student athlete takes a temporary leave of absence from an
2 institution of higher education, the duration of that leave of absence
3 shall not count against the five-year limit on eligibility for an equiv-
4 alent scholarship as provided in subparagraph one of this paragraph.
5 (3) An athletic program shall provide an equivalent scholarship to a
6 student athlete who was on an athletic scholarship and is in good stand-
7 ing, but has exhausted his or her athletic eligibility, for up to one
8 year or until the student athlete completes his or her primary under-
9 graduate degree, whichever is shorter; provided, however, that an
10 athletic program with a graduation success rate that is above sixty
11 percent, disaggregated by team, shall not be subject to the requirements
12 of this paragraph.
13 (4) A student athlete whose athletic scholarship is not renewed for
14 cause by an athletic program shall receive no benefits under this part,
15 but may appeal this decision within the institution of higher education
16 attended by the student or within the athletic conference or association
17 of which that institution of higher education is a member, as appropri-
18 ate.
19 3. Financial and life skills counseling. Each athletic program shall
20 conduct a financial and life skills workshop for all of its first-year
21 and third-year student athletes at the beginning of the academic year.
22 This workshop shall include, but not be limited to, information concern-
23 ing financial aid, debt management, and a recommended budget for full-
24 and partial-scholarship student athletes living on or off campus during
25 the academic year and the summer term based on the current academic
26 year's cost of attendance. The workshop shall also include information
27 on time management skills necessary for success as a student athlete,
28 and academic resources available on campus.
29 4. Disciplinary actions. An institution of higher education shall
30 grant a student athlete the same rights as other students with regard to
31 any and all matters related to possible adverse or disciplinary actions,
32 including, but not necessarily limited to, actions involving athlet-
33 ically related financial aid.
34 5. Request for transfer. An athletic program shall respond within
35 seven business days with an answer to a student athlete's written
36 request to transfer to another institution of higher education.
37 6. Insurance. (a) Unless a student athlete declines the payment of
38 premiums, an athletic program shall be responsible for paying the premi-
39 ums of each student athlete whose household has an income and asset
40 level that does not exceed the federal poverty level, as adjusted annu-
41 ally, for insurance covering claims resulting from the student athlete's
42 participation in the athletic program.
43 (b) An athletic program shall be responsible for paying the insurance
44 deductible amount applicable to the claim of any student athlete who
45 suffers an injury resulting from his or her participation in the athlet-
46 ic program and makes a claim relating to that injury.
47 (c) If a student athlete suffers an injury resulting from his or her
48 participation in the athletic program that requires ongoing medical
49 treatment, the athletic program shall provide, for a minimum of two
50 years following the student athlete's graduation or separation from the
51 institution of higher education, one of the following:
52 (1) all medical treatment necessary for treatment of the student
53 athlete's injury or condition; or
54 (2) health insurance in an amount sufficient to provide coverage for
55 all medical treatment necessary for treatment of the student athlete's
56 injury or condition, together with all resulting deductible amounts.
S. 649--A 4
1 (d) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to pre-existing
2 medical conditions that pre-date the student athlete's participation in
3 the athletic program.
4 7. Guidelines. An athletic program shall adopt and implement guide-
5 lines to prevent, assess, and treat sports-related concussions and dehy-
6 dration. In addition, an athletic program shall adopt and implement
7 exercise and supervision guidelines for any student athlete identified
8 with potentially life-threatening health conditions who participates in
9 an athletic program.
10 8. Applicability. (a) The provisions of this section shall not apply
11 to an institution of higher education that receives, as an average, less
12 than ten million dollars in annual income derived from media rights for
13 intercollegiate athletics.
14 (b) An institution of higher education subject to the provisions of
15 this section shall rely exclusively on revenue derived from media rights
16 for intercollegiate athletics to defray any costs accrued under this
17 section.
18 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
19 deemed repealed June 30, 2027.
