No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section sets forth 11 congressional findings supporting application of the National Labor Relations Act to college athletes at both private and public institutions of higher education, including findings that college athletes meet the common law definition of employee, face exploitative labor practices by the NCAA and its member institutions (e.g., compensation caps and control over terms and conditions of employment), require collective bargaining across athletic conferences, and that intercollegiate sports generate over $15 billion in annual interstate commerce revenue.
This section amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to extend collective bargaining rights to certain college athletes at public institutions of higher education (IHEs), as follows: (1) Redefines "employer" to include public IHEs with respect to their "college athlete employees"; redefines "employee" to include individuals enrolled at an IHE who participate in intercollegiate sports and receive direct compensation—including grant-in-aid (i.e., scholarships, grants, or other financial aid for undergraduate or graduate study)—conditioned on such participation; and adds definitions of "grant-in-aid," "institution of higher education" (per the Higher Education Act of 1965), "intercollegiate athletic conference" (excludes the NCAA), and "college athlete employee." (2) Authorizes the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to recognize multiple IHEs within an intercollegiate athletic conference as a multiemployer bargaining unit for college athlete employees, if consented to by employee representatives of the relevant single-employer units. (3) Requires the NLRB to exercise jurisdiction over IHEs and their college athlete employees for all collective bargaining matters, including representation and labor disputes. (4) Prohibits any agreement or legal settlement—including for grant-in-aid—that waives rights under the NLRA or these amendments.
This section specifies that nothing in the Act affects the tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC) of direct compensation to employees as defined in section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(3))—which excludes agricultural laborers, domestic workers, independent contractors, supervisors, and certain others—by (1) making previously nontaxable compensation taxable; (2) treating individuals or amounts as employees or wages for employment tax or withholding purposes if not otherwise so treated; (3) altering the treatment of qualified scholarships under IRC §117; or (4) changing the treatment of such compensation in determining IRC income (including reporting), or eligibility for federal financial assistance, including Pell Grants under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et seq.).
This section includes a standard severability clause, providing that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and its amendments, and their application to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.