In the News

January 29, 2020

Though few details are included in the legislation introduced at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Senate Bill 889 was proposed in “recognition that people under 21 still need guidance,” said its author, state Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). Skinner pointed to other laws, such as restrictions on purchasing tobacco, cannabis and alcohol, that require a person to be 21 as the “adult or responsible age,” she said.

 

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January 29, 2020

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat who has carried some of the most far-reaching criminal justice measures in recent years, is urging that the age for trying someone as an adult be raised to 20, CalMatters’ Adria Watson reports.

 

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January 27, 2020

 Last September, California became the first state to pass such a law. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the state’s Senate Bill 206,  “a game changer.” The Fair Pay to Play law allows California athletes to sign endorsement deals starting in January 2023.

If Colorado’s bill is passed, it would begin ahead of California’s. The Colorado proposal would start in August 2021, just in time for fall sports. 

 

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January 25, 2020

“The bigger the gap, the higher the tax,” explained Senator Nancy Skinner, SB 37’s author, in a statement on her site. The bill has attracted the attention of national media, drawing criticism from the California Business Roundtable and other business groups, and support from Abigail Disney, the entertainment heiress who has become a vocal opponent of income inequality. 

 

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January 24, 2020

Dr. M. Grace Calhoun, chairwoman of the NCAA Division I Council, said Wednesday at the association’s annual convention in Anaheim that the council is committed to drafting new proposals for regulating name, image and likeness by April to be reviewed by the NCAA Board of Governors.

“We’re well aware of the fact that we need to move quickly within the association,” said Calhoun, the athletic director at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re working very aggressively to start to think about what legislative solutions could look like.”

 

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January 23, 2020

“It is a hard environment with these sports writers who think amateurism is ludicrous. I think there is room for the definition of amateurism to evolve. In some sports, it is okay for students to compete in non-collegiate competition, like the Olympics, where there is an opportunity to make money through endorsements. And this inconsistency is ridiculous to me. Treat student-athletes like other students. If a pianist got an endorsement from Steinway, we go, yay. If it is an athlete, totally different story.”

 

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January 22, 2020

The man who played a lead role in helping the NCAA earn its status as a billion-dollar organization says there is no longer a way to justify the current limits on how college athletes can make money.

 

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January 21, 2020

Legislation set for a hearing today would allow cannabis companies to provide free samples to educate retailers about the products.

The problem: Proposition 64, the 2016 initiative that legalized commercial marijuana sales, supposedly barred free samples, stating:

“No licensee shall give away any amount of marijuana or marijuana products, or any marijuana accessories, as part of a business promotion or other commercial activity.” 

 

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January 21, 2020

Though the NCAA is not ready to vote this week on any rules proposals that address whether college athletes can profit off their name, image and likeness amidst unprecedented legal pressure from potentially more than a dozen state legislatures led by California and the U.S. Congress, the topic is undoubtedly going to dominate the conversation.

 

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January 18, 2020

The Arizona Legislature is joining the push by other states to allow college athletes to earn money from their name, image or likeness.

One such bill, sponsored by Rep. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, already has been introduced to the legislature this month with another, from Rep. Reginald Bolding, D-Phoenix, expected to be introduced next week.

Both are similar to a bill passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September to go into effect in 2023.

 

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