House File 639
HOUSE FILE
BY FORD
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to stipends for athlete students competing in a
2 state board of regents university football program and
3 including a conditional effectiveness provision.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
5 TLSB 2878HH 80
6 kh/pj/5
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS == ATHLETIC STIPENDS.
1 2 1. The general assembly finds and declares the following:
1 3 a. Scandals are rampant throughout college football as
1 4 evidenced by the number of schools placed on probation by the
1 5 national collegiate athletic association, coaches dismissed or
1 6 forced to resign for improprieties, and players declared
1 7 ineligible to compete for violating rules against receiving
1 8 fair financial compensation.
1 9 b. Many players are recruited from impoverished families
1 10 and the rules of the national collegiate athletic association
1 11 prohibiting reasonable financial compensation render such
1 12 players vulnerable to inducements, benefits, and other types
1 13 of compensation defined as illicit by the national collegiate
1 14 athletic association rules.
1 15 c. A fair rate of financial compensation would give
1 16 players a choice when offered illicit inducements,
1 17 compensation, or assistance.
1 18 d. The rules of the national collegiate athletic
1 19 association prohibiting compensation are unduly restrictive
1 20 and unreasonable, promote unfairness, encourage dishonesty in
1 21 recruiting and retaining players, and would not be tolerated
1 22 if applied to all students.
1 23 e. Players at United States service academies are
1 24 compensated while in attendance and are eligible to compete
1 25 against schools that are members of the national collegiate
1 26 athletic association.
1 27 f. Iowa state university of science and technology and the
1 28 university of Iowa participate in the national intercollegiate
1 29 football program that produces millions of dollars through
1 30 ticket sales, lucrative national television and other
1 31 electronic broadcast contracts, and postseason bowl games.
1 32 g. The football programs promote the universities and
1 33 generate valuable intangible benefits such as enhancement of
1 34 each university's image.
1 35 h. The exertion of players and the revenue they generate
2 1 produces employment and salaries for numerous others,
2 2 subsidizes other sports programs at the universities, and
2 3 underwrites travel expenses of numerous university officials,
2 4 staff, and others who attend postseason bowl games in which
2 5 the teams participate.
2 6 i. The universities employ large athletic departments to
2 7 administer their intercollegiate athletic programs and
2 8 sizeable football coaching staffs charged primarily with the
2 9 responsibility of producing teams capable of competing
2 10 successfully against the best teams in their conferences and
2 11 in the nation and of generating as much revenue as possible.
2 12 j. Maintaining winning football teams has become an
2 13 integral aspect of the overall business or occupation of the
2 14 universities as institutions.
2 15 k. The football programs could not exist without the
2 16 athletes who play the arduous and dangerous game.
2 17 l. Such athletes do not appear at the university by
2 18 accident or happenstance, but are actively recruited by
2 19 university personnel at considerable expense.
2 20 m. Such athletes are not recruited nor are scholarships
2 21 awarded on the basis of need or academic achievement, but for
2 22 athletic prowess, the recipients having been recruited to be
2 23 football players first, scholars second.
2 24 n. Many players spend more time on football=related
2 25 activities than academics.
2 26 o. Because a sound academic program for football players
2 27 may be difficult to develop due to the demands of the sport,
2 28 football players are entitled to some tangible return for the
2 29 strenuous work they perform and the revenue they generate for
2 30 the benefit of the universities.
2 31 2. The general assembly further finds and declares that,
2 32 in the same manner nonathlete students are compensated for
2 33 performing various tasks while enrolled as students, football
2 34 players shall be entitled to fair financial compensation for
2 35 playing football.
3 1 3. Any person who competes for an institution of higher
3 2 learning under the control of the state board of regents in an
3 3 intercollegiate football program sanctioned by the national
3 4 collegiate athletic association shall be granted a stipend by
3 5 the university in which the person is enrolled. The amount of
3 6 the stipend shall be determined by the university.
3 7 4. This section shall not be construed to make a person a
3 8 professional athlete.
3 9 Sec. 2. CONDITIONAL EFFECTIVENESS. This Act takes effect
3 10 whenever laws granting a similar stipend are enacted in at
3 11 least three other states that have teams competing in national
3 12 collegiate athletic association division I-A and I-AA football
3 13 conferences.
3 14 EXPLANATION
3 15 This bill states legislative findings and declarations
3 16 regarding the necessity for allowing athlete students who
3 17 compete in regents university football programs to receive
3 18 stipends for their participation in the football program. The
3 19 bill requires the universities to pay their athlete students
3 20 who compete in an intercollegiate football program sanctioned
3 21 by the national collegiate athletic association a stipend, but
3 22 states that nothing in the bill shall be construed to make a
3 23 person who receives such a stipend a professional athlete.
3 24 The amount of the stipend is to be determined by the
3 25 university. The bill takes effect when at least three other
3 26 states with comparable football programs require similar
3 27 stipends.
3 28 LSB 2878HH 80
3 29 kh/pj/5.1