After months of traveling through California’s legislature, Senate Bill 1525 was signed into law today in Sacramento by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bill, also known as the “Student-Athlete Bill of Rights,” requires universities in California that generate more than $10 million in annual media revenues to provide added protections to student-athletes.
“With this bill, California is leading by example,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, the author of the bill, in a press release. “Neither personal injury nor poverty should dim the dreams of a student-athlete pursuing a college degree, particularly when their performance has enriched their college.”
This new bill will guarantee student-athletes who are forced to retire because of injury or have exhausted their NCAA eligibility the opportunity to keep their scholarships until graduation.
UCLA football had two players ““ linebacker Patrick Larimore and offensive lineman Chris Ward ““ who retired in recent months.
While UCLA already compensated Larimore and Ward with its own policy, the new law sets a written precedent for all California universities to follow, the first law of its kind.
Along with scholarship guarantees, universities will now hold financial and life skills workshops for all first- and third-year student-athletes, pay health care premiums for low-income student-athletes and cover all deductibles for injuries related to their participation in an intercollegiate sport.
All of the funding from this bill will come from media revenues, and none of the scholarships given to former student-athletes will go against the allotted NCAA amount given to each sport.
Based on current media contracts, UCLA, Stanford, UC Berkeley and USC will all comply with the new law, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
Compiled by Jacob Ruffman, Bruin Sports senior staff.