No Elite Athletes Using X-pro status to ensure Prioritizing Recruitment Of Student-athletes (NEAUX PROS) Act
Sponsored By: Representative Fuller, Clay [R-GA-14]
Introduced
Summary
Bars professional athletes under contract from competing on college varsity teams. This bill would tie a college's access to federal student aid to a rule that bars anyone with a professional sports contract from competing in that sport and would make recruiting or signing such athletes a federal crime.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.
New rules for college pro athletes
If enacted, the bill would bar a person who is party to a professional sports contract from competing in that same varsity sport at a school that participates in federal student aid when the school knows or should know they are a professional athlete. The Department of Education would publish diligence rules schools must use and offer a written determination process schools and officials could rely on. The ban would start on the first day of the first academic year that begins after enactment, but people already playing under a pro contract on enactment could keep playing until then. You could avoid the ban only by rescinding the pro contract in writing before receiving any pay or performing any athletic services, and by notifying both the school and the pro organization in writing. The bill would not stop draft selection or most name/image/likeness payments unless those payments are part of a professional sports contract as the bill defines it.
Criminal penalties for athletics officials
If enacted, the bill would make it a federal crime for a covered athletics official to knowingly recruit, enroll, sign, certify, or cause to compete an individual the official knows to be a professional athlete when the act affects interstate commerce or the school received more than $10,000 in federal assistance in the prior year. Penalties would include fines and up to 5 years in prison, or up to 10 years if the offense was for financial gain or part of a pattern. The official could raise an affirmative defense by reasonably relying on an unwithdrawn written Department of Education determination that the person was not a professional athlete. The criminal rule would apply only to conduct on or after the date of enactment, and criminal liability would be limited to the individual official, not the school.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Fuller, Clay [R-GA-14]
GA • R
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov