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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 18, 2022 02:26 PM |
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| From: | Senator James R. Brewster |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Uniform Law Commission Bill – Athlete Agents Act |
| In the near future, I plan on introducing the Uniform Law Commission’s (ULC) updated Athlete Agents Act. Pennsylvania currently uses the 2000 version of the Athletes Agent Law. With the U.S. Supreme Court decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v Alston, it is time for Pennsylvania to adopt the updated Uniform Athlete Agents Act to ensure our law best reflects the current post-Alston decision landscape. In Alston, the Supreme Court upheld a district court ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Association rules limiting education-related compensation violated section 1 of the Sherman Act. There is an immense amount of money at stake for a wide variety of professional athletes and those who represent them post-Alston. While seeking to best position one’s clients and maximize potential income is both legal and good business practice, the recruitment of a student athlete while he or she is still enrolled in an educational institution can cause substantial eligibility problems for both the student athlete and the educational institution, which in turn leads to severe economic sanctions and loss of scholarships for the institution. The problem becomes worse where an unethical agent misleads a student, especially where the athlete is not aware of the possible effects of signing the agency agreement or where an agency is established without notice to the athletic director of the institution. In an effort to address these problems, the ULC drafted the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (UAAA), which was approved in 2000. The UAAA provided for the uniform registration and certification of individuals who sought to represent student athletes who were or may have been eligible to participate in intercollegiate sports. Agents who were issued a valid certificate of registration in one state were able to cross-file that application (or a renewal thereof) in all other states that adopted the act. Individuals who applied for registration as agents were required to disclose relevant information including their training, experience, and education, and whether they or an associate had been convicted of a felony or crime of moral turpitude or had their agent’s license denied, suspended, or revoked in any state. ULC revised the UAAA in 2019 to align more closely with NCAA changes to their bylaws and reflected a pre-Alston decision. After the decision, the ULC made some revisions to their 2019 recommendations to account for the Alston decision and it is that version of the Athlete Agents Act that will be introduced. Attached is a draft of the proposed legislation. I have worked with the Department of State, who oversees the Athlete Agents Act, and the ULC to ensure we have the best version of this legislation. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. |
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| View Attachment | ||
Introduced as SB1268