House committee votes to approve college athletics bill aiming to avoid athlete employment

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, in a wood-paneled room on Capitol Hill, college leaders struck their biggest victory yet here.

Five years into their fruitless lobbying effort for congressional legislation, a college athletics bill is now one step away from a vote from a full chamber of the United States Congress.

Members of the House Committee on Education and the Work Force voted Thursday along party lines, 23-16, to advance a Republican-backed bill dubbed “Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act.” The narrowly focused, four-page bill exempts college athletes from being deemed employees — one of the most essential requests from NCAA and conference leaders who wish to avoid an athlete employment model.

To use a football analogy, the NCAA has, finally, crossed midfield in its lobbying effort — still a significant distance from the goal line but closer than it’s ever been.

The bill’s future is now in the control of House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders of what’s recently been an unruly chamber. The leadership can choose to let the legislation die or bring it to the floor of the House of Representatives for debate and a potential vote.

However, the bill lacks vast support from Democrats, many of whom are pro-unionization and against legislation that preempts an employment ruling from a court or the National Labor Relations Board. Both of those entities are presiding over active cases and complaints to determine if college athletes should be employees of their school or conference.

The bill likely needs to be attached to more broad legislation to gain enough bipartisan agreement, especially in a Democrat-controlled Senate, where legislation heads if it does pass the House. In a Republican-controlled House, college leaders hope the legislation can gain the necessary simple majority to pass.

A bill…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-13 20:08:10

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