[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4693 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4693
To establish collective bargaining rights for college athletes, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 23, 2025
Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Mr. Casar, Mr.
Cleaver, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Omar, Mrs. Ramirez,
Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish collective bargaining rights for college athletes, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``College Athlete Right to Organize
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et
seq.) seeks to remedy the inequality of bargaining power
between employees and employers primarily through establishing
and protecting the rights of employees to self-organize and
designate representatives of their own choosing for the purpose
of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or
other mutual aid or protection.
(2) Labor organizations often originate to remedy unfair
and exploitative labor practices by employers through assisting
employees in securing more equitable terms and conditions of
their employment, including fair compensation and safe working
conditions, which individual employees would be unlikely to
negotiate successfully for on their own.
(3) Labor organizations serve unique and essential purposes
for professional athletes competing in sports leagues, where it
is desirable to establish uniform rules and standards across
multiple employers. These rules and standards bear significant
consequences to the athletes in terms of compensation, health
and safety, and the ability or lack thereof for athletes to
choose their employer, among other issues related to the
athletes' well-being.
(4) The formation of labor organizations representing
athletes in professional sports leagues in the United States
has helped end exploitative practices by team owners and
management, particularly through establishing collective-
bargaining agreements that have secured athletes a fair share
of the revenues their talent and labor produces, as well as
more equitable terms of their employment and protections for
their short- and long-term health.
(5) College athletes face exploitative and unfair labor
practices by the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(referred to in this section as the ``NCAA'') and its member
institutions, primarily through the denial of the basic
economic and labor rights of such athletes, which the NCAA and
its member institutions have justified by defining college
athletes as amateurs.
(6) The NCAA and its member institutions have denied
college athletes a fair wage for their labor by colluding to
cap compensation; they maintain strict and exacting control
over the terms and conditions of college athletes' labor; and
they exercise the ability to terminate an athlete's eligibility
to compete if the athlete violates these terms and conditions.
(7) College athletes exhibit the markers of employment as
established under the common law definition of the term
``employee'': They perform a valuable service for their
respective colleges under a contract for hire in the form of
grant-in-aid agreements; these agreements assert significant
control over how athletes perform their work and the conditions
under which they work; and they receive compensation in the
form of grant-in-aid and stipends in exchange for their
athletic services.
(8) To establish more equitable terms and conditions for
college athletes' labor, college athletes need representation
of their own choosing to negotiate collective-bargaining
agreements with their respective colleges and the athletic
conferences that help set rules and standards across an entire
league.
(9) To organize effectively, college athletes must be able
to form collective bargaining units across institutions of
higher education that compete against each other, including
within athletic conferences; and, accordingly, to establish
effective collective bargaining rights for college athletes
under this Act, the National Labor Relations Act must be
amended to cover both private and public institutions of higher
education to the extent that college athletes attending such
institutions fall within the definition of ``employee'' under
that Act, as amended by this Act.
(10) The Constitution of the United States vests Congress
with the power to regulate commerce between the States, and
intercollegiate sports, which are maintained by athletic
associations that host competitions between colleges across
States, involves interstate commerce that generates annual
revenue of more than $15,000,000,000.
(11) Intercollegiate sports' significant engagement in
interstate commerce justifies application of the National Labor
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) to regulate the labor
market within which public and private institutions of higher
education compete and set rules pertaining to the wages and
working conditions of college athletes.
SEC. 3. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS OF COLLEGE ATHLETES.
(a) Definitions.--Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29
U.S.C. 152) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following:
``Notwithstanding the previous sentence, the term `employer'
includes a public institution of higher education with respect
to the employment of college athlete employees of the
institution.'';
(2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the following:
``Any individual who participates in an intercollegiate sport
for an institution of higher education, and is a student
enrolled in the institution of higher education, shall be
considered an employee of the institution of higher education
if--
``(A) the individual receives any form of direct
compensation, including grant-in-aid, from the institution of
higher education; and
``(B) any terms or conditions of such compensation require
participation in an intercollegiate sport.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(15) The term `grant-in-aid' means a scholarship, grant, or other
form of financial assistance that is provided by an institution of
higher education to an individual for the individual's undergraduate or
graduate course of study.
``(16) The term `institution of higher education' has the meaning
given the term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1002).
``(17) The term `intercollegiate athletic conference'--
``(A) means any conference, or other group or organization,
of institutions of higher education that--
``(i) exercises authority over intercollegiate
sports at such institutions of higher education; and
``(ii) is engaged in commerce or an industry or
activity affecting commerce; and
``(B) notwithstanding subparagraph (A), does not include
the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
``(18) The term `college athlete employee' means an individual
described in the second sentence of paragraph (3).''.
(b) Multiemployer Bargaining Unit.--Section 9(b) of the National
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(b)) is amended by striking the
period at the end and inserting the following: ``: Provided, That, for
the purpose of establishing an appropriate bargaining unit for college
athlete employees at institutions of higher education in an
intercollegiate athletic conference, the Board shall recognize multiple
institutions of higher education within an intercollegiate athletic
conference as a multiemployer bargaining unit, but only if consented to
by the employee representatives for the intercollegiate sports
bargaining units at the institutions of higher education that will be
included in the multiemployer bargaining unit.''.
(c) Jurisdiction Related to Intercollegiate Sports.--Section
14(c)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 164(c)(1)) is
amended by striking ``Provided,'' and inserting the following:
``Provided, That the Board shall exercise jurisdiction over
institutions of higher education and college athlete employees of such
institutions in relation to all collective bargaining matters under
this Act pertaining to such employees, including any representation
matter, such as recognizing or establishing a bargaining unit for such
employees and any labor dispute involving such institutions and
employees: Provided further,''.
(d) Prohibition on Waiver.--An individual may not enter into any
agreement (including an agreement for grant-in-aid, as defined in
section 3(15) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(15)))
or legal settlement that waives or permits noncompliance with this Act
or the amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF DIRECT COMPENSATION FOR TAX PURPOSES AND
ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
Nothing in this Act, or an amendment made by this Act, shall--
(1) cause any type of direct compensation described in
section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.
152(3)) that was not previously treated as income for which a
tax may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to
become a type of direct compensation for which such a tax may
be imposed;
(2) cause any individual to be treated as an employee, or
cause any amounts received by an individual to be treated as
wages, for purposes of any provision in the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 relating to employment taxes or the withholding of
taxes by an employer if such individual or amounts would not
otherwise be so treated;
(3) affect the treatment of qualified scholarships under
section 117 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
(4) otherwise affect the treatment of any direct
compensation described in such section 2(3) in determining
income, including gross income or adjusted gross income, for
purposes of--
(A) the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including
any reporting requirements under such Code; or
(B) determining eligibility for any form of Federal
financial assistance, including assistance under
subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et seq.).
SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the
application of such provision or amendment to any person or
circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act
and the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the
provision or amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall not
be affected.
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