H. B. 4668
(By Delegates Harrison, Walters, Tillis and Henderson)
[Introduced February 27, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article ten, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-four, relating to unlawful actions by athlete agents;
providing that an athlete agent may not enter into contract
with, or give, promise or offer anything of value to, a
student athlete, or his or her immediate family, before the
student athlete's college eligibility expires or before the
student athlete declares himself or herself eligible for a
professional sport draft; providing that an athlete agent
may not enter into an agreement whereby the athlete agent
gives, offers or promises anything of value to an employee
of an institution of higher education in return for the
referral of a student athlete by that employee; definitions;
and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article ten, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-four, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY.
§61-10-24. Unlawful actions by athlete agents.
(a) Definitions. -- For purposes of this section:
(1) "Agent contract" means any contract or agreement
pursuant to which a person authorizes or empowers an athlete
agent to negotiate or solicit on behalf of the person with one or
more professional sport teams for the employment of the person by
a professional sport team or to negotiate or solicit on behalf of
the person for the employment of the person as a professional
athlete.
(2) "Athlete agent" means a person who, directly or
indirectly, recruits or solicits a person to enter into an agent
contract or professional sort services contract, or who procures,
offers, promises, or attempts to obtain employment for a person
with a professional sport team or as a professional athlete.
(3) "Institute of higher education" means a public or
private college or university, including a community college.
(4) "Person" means an individual, sole proprietorship,
partnership, association, corporation or other legal entity.
(5) "Professional sport draft" means a process by which a
professional sport league selects athletes to render services as
players on professional sport teams in that league.
(6) "Professional sport services contract" means a contract
or agreement pursuant to which a person is employed or agrees to
render services as a player on a professional sport team or as a
professional athlete.
(7) "Student athlete" means a student enrolled in an
institution of higher education who, while a student at the
institution in which enrolled, is eligible to participate in any
intercollegiate sporting event or contest in a particular sport
and may have athletic eligibility remaining in that particular
sport.
(8) "Value" means anything of value shall be any payment,
loan, gift, good, service, expense of any kind or the promise of
any of these for the future, regardless of the monetary worth of
any of these items.
(b) Offense defined. -- An athlete agent may not:
(1) Enter into an oral or written agent contract or
professional sport services contract with a student athlete
before the student athlete's eligibility for collegiate athletics
expires, or before the student athlete declares himself or
herself eligible for a professional sport draft;
(2) Give, offer or promise anything of value to a student athlete, to his or her parent or guardian or to any member of the
student athlete's immediate family before the student athlete's
eligibility for collegiate athletics expires, or before the
student athlete declares himself or herself eligible for a
professional sport draft;
(3) Enter into an oral or written agreement whereby the
athlete agent gives, offers or promises anything of value to an
employee of an institution of higher education in return for the
referral of a student athlete by that employee.
(c) Penalty. -- An athlete agent who violates the provisions
of subsection (b) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or an
amount equal to three times the amount given, offered or promised
as an inducement as described in subdivision (2), subsection (b)
of this section or three times the value of the agreement entered
into as described in subdivision (3), subsection (b) of this
section, whichever is greater, or confined in the county or
regional jail not more than one year, or both fined or
imprisoned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that it is
unlawful for an athlete agent to enter into contract or give
anything of value to a student athlete before the student
athlete's college eligibility expires or before the student
athlete declares himself or herself eligible for a professional
sport draft.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.