House Bill 518

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 73-42-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE DEFINITIONS IN THE UNIFORM ATHLETES AGENT LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 73-42-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE PROHIBITED ACTS; TO AMEND SECTION 73-42-34, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN VIOLATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 73-42-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-42-3. In this chapter:

(a) "Agency contract" means an agreement in which a student-athlete authorizes a person to negotiate or solicit on behalf of the student-athlete a professional-sports-services contract, an endorsement contract, or enrollment at any educational institution that offers an athletic scholarship to the student-athlete.

(b) "Athlete agent" means an individual who enters into an agency contract with a student-athlete or, directly or indirectly, recruits, induces or solicits a student-athlete to enter into an agency contract. The term does not include a spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent or guardian of the student-athlete or an individual acting solely on behalf of a professional sports team or professional sports organization. The term includes an individual who represents to the public that the individual is an athlete agent.

(c) "Athletic director" means an individual responsible for administering the overall athletic program of an educational institution or, if an educational institution has separately administered athletic programs for male students and female students, the athletic program for males or the athletic program for females, as appropriate.

(d) "Contact" means a communication, direct or indirect, written or oral, between an athlete agent and a student-athlete, to recruit, induce or solicit the student-athlete to enter into an agency contract.

(e) "Endorsement contract" means an agreement under which a student-athlete is employed or receives consideration or anything of value for the student-athlete's publicity, reputation, following, or fame obtained because of the student-athlete's athletic ability or performance.

(f) "Immediate family" means a student athlete's spouse, child, parent or guardian of a child, parent, stepparent, grandparent, brother, sister, mother-in-law, father-in-law, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle, first cousin, and the spouses of any such individuals.

( * * *g) "Intercollegiate sport" means a sport played at the collegiate level for which eligibility requirements for participation by a student-athlete are established by a national association for the promotion or regulation of collegiate athletics.

(h) "Mississippi university" means any state institution of higher learning recognized in Section 37-101-1(a)(i).

( * * *i) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government; governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality; public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity.

( * * *j) "Professional-sports-services contract" means an agreement under which an individual is employed or agrees to render services as a player on a professional sports team, with a professional sports organization, or as a professional athlete.

( * * *k) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

( * * *l) "Registration" means registration as an athlete agent pursuant to this chapter.

( * * *m) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

( * * *n) "Student-athlete" means an individual who engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, a sport for a professional sports team or in any intercollegiate sport at any educational institution. If an individual is permanently ineligible to participate in a particular intercollegiate sport, the individual is not a student-athlete for purposes of that sport.

SECTION 2. Section 73-42-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-42-27. (1) An athlete agent may not engage in any of the following activities, within this state or otherwise, with the intent to induce a student-athlete to enter into an agency contract:

(a) Give any materially false or misleading information or make a materially false promise or representation;

(b) Furnish anything of value to a student-athlete before the student-athlete enters into the agency contract; or

(2) An athlete agent may not intentionally:

(a) Initiate contact with a student-athlete unless registered under this chapter;

(b) Refuse or willfully fail to retain or permit inspection of the records required by Section 73-42-25 or fail to provide the Secretary of State with any statements, documents, records or testimony required by the secretary under Section 73-42-5(3) and (4);

(d) Provide materially false or misleading information in an application for registration or renewal of registration;

(e) Predate or postdate an agency contract; or

(f) Fail to notify a student-athlete prior to the student-athlete's signing an agency contract for a particular sport that the signing by the student-athlete may make the student-athlete ineligible to participate as a student-athlete in that sport.

(3) No person shall give, offer, or promise to give anything of value to a student-athlete, or member of a student-athlete's immediate family, which has caused the loss of an athletic scholarship by a Mississippi university as a result of:

(a) Inducing, encouraging, or rewarding the student-athlete's application, enrollment, attendance, or participation in intercollegiate sports at a Mississippi university.

(b) This section shall not apply to:

(i) Any Mississippi university or any officer or employee of such Mississippi university if the officer or employee is acting in accordance with the official policy of the Mississippi university.

(ii) Intercollegiate athletic awards approved or administered by the student-athlete's institution;

(iii) Grants-in-aid or other full or partial scholarships awarded to a student-athlete;

(iv) Members of the student-athlete's immediate family; and

(v) Any person who is induced by a person named in Section 73-42-27(3)(b) and (l) to violate this section.

SECTION 3. Section 73-42-34, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-42-34. (1) If the Secretary of State determines that a person has engaged in or is engaging in an act, practice, or course of business constituting a violation of this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under this chapter, or that a person has materially aided or is materially aiding in an act, practice, or course of business constituting a violation of this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under this chapter, then the secretary may:

(a) Issue an order directing the person to cease and desist from engaging in the act, practice, or course of business, or to take other action necessary or appropriate to comply with this chapter or any rule adopted or order issued under this chapter; * * *

(b) Issue an order imposing an administrative penalty against an athlete agent who violated any provision of this chapter or any rule adopted or order issued under this chapter; * * *

(c) Issue an order imposing an administrative penalty against a person who violated Section 73-42-27(3). The administrative penalty in this section shall include, but not exceed, the total cost of tuition for a four-year period to the aggrieved Mississippi university for each athletic scholarship lost by that Mississippi university. Penalties imposed as a result of this violation shall be nondeductible for Mississippi income tax purposes and shall be made to a nonathletic scholarship fund established by the Mississippi university; and

( * * *d) Take any other action authorized under the provisions of this chapter.

(2) An order issued under subsection (1) of this section is effective on the date of its issuance. Upon the order's issuance, the Secretary of State shall promptly serve each person subject to the order with a copy of the order and a notice that the order has been entered. The order must include a statement of any civil penalty or other administrative remedy to be imposed under subsection (1) of this section, a statement of the costs of investigation that the secretary will seek to recover, a statement of the reasons for the order, and a statement notifying the person of his or her right to a hearing under Section 72-42-13. If a person subject to the order does not request a hearing in writing within thirty (30) days of the date of the order and none is ordered by the hearing officer, then the order, including the imposition of a civil penalty or requirement for payment of the costs of investigation, shall become final as to that person by operation of law.

(3) In a final order, the secretary may charge the actual cost of an investigation or proceeding for a violation of this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under this chapter.

(4) If a petition for judicial review of a final order is not filed in accordance with Section 73-42-37, or the petition is denied by the court, the secretary may file a certified copy of the final order with the clerk of a court in the jurisdiction where enforcement will be sought. The order so filed has the same effect as a judgment of the court and may be recorded, enforced, or satisfied in the same manner as a judgment of the court.

(5) If a person does not comply with an order issued under this section, the secretary may petition a court of competent jurisdiction to enforce the order and collect administrative civil penalties and costs imposed under the final order. The court may not require the secretary to post a bond in an action or proceeding under this section. If the court finds, after service and opportunity for hearing, that the person did not comply with the order, the court may adjudge the person in civil contempt of the order. The court may grant any relief the court determines is just and proper in the circumstances.

(6) Any person aggrieved by a final order of the secretary may obtain a review of the order in the circuit court of the county of residence of the athlete agent, the student-athlete, or the public or private college, university, community or junior college in the state that issued an athletic scholarship to the student-athlete, by filing within thirty (30) days after the entry of the order, a written petition praying that the order be modified or set aside, in whole or in part. A copy of the petition shall be served upon the secretary, and the secretary shall certify and file with the court a copy of the record and evidence upon which the order was entered. When these have been filed, the court has exclusive jurisdiction to affirm, modify, enforce or set aside the order, in whole or in part. The findings of the secretary as to the facts, if supported by competent material and substantial evidence, are conclusive. The beginning of proceedings under this subsection does not operate as a stay of the secretary's order, unless specifically ordered by the court.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.