2003 WISCONSIN ACT 150
An Act to amend 440.05 (intro.); and to create 440.08 (2) (a) 14d. and subchapter XII of chapter 440 [precedes 440.99] of the statutes; relating to: regulating athlete agents, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, making an appropriation, and providing penalties.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
150,1
Section
1. 440.05 (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:
440.05 Standard fees. (intro.) The following standard fees apply to all initial credentials, except as provided in ss. 440.42, 440.43, 440.44, 440.51, 440.9935, 444.03, 444.05, 444.11, 447.04 (2) (c) 2., 449.17, 449.18 and 459.46:
150,2
Section
2. 440.08 (2) (a) 14d. of the statutes is created to read:
440.08 (2) (a) 14d. Athlete agent: July 1 of each even-numbered year; the amount specified in rules promulgated under s. 440.9935.
150,3
Section
3. Subchapter XII of chapter 440 [precedes 440.99] of the statutes is created to read:
chapter 440
subchapter xii
Uniform athlete agents act
440.99 Definitions. In this subchapter:
(1) "Agency contract" means an agreement in which a student athlete authorizes a person to negotiate or solicit on behalf of the student athlete a professional-sports-services contract or an endorsement contract.
(2) "Athlete agent" means an individual who enters into an agency contract with a student athlete or recruits or solicits a student athlete to enter into an agency contract. "Athlete agent" includes an individual who represents to the public that the individual is an athlete agent. "Athlete agent" does not include a spouse, parent, sibling, grandparent, or guardian of the student athlete or an individual acting solely on behalf of a professional sports team or professional sports organization. "Athlete agent" also does not include an individual who provides information to a student athlete, but who does not recruit or solicit the student athlete to enter into an agency contract.
(3) "Athletic director" means an individual responsible for administering the overall athletic program of an educational institution or, if an educational institution has separately administered athletic programs for male students and female students, the athletic program for males or the athletic program for females, as appropriate.
(4) "Contact" means a communication, direct or indirect, between an athlete agent and a student athlete, to recruit or solicit the student athlete to enter into an agency contract.
(5) "Endorsement contract" means an agreement under which a student athlete is employed or receives consideration to use on behalf of the other party any value that the student athlete may have because of publicity, reputation, following, or fame obtained because of athletic ability or performance.
(6) "Intercollegiate sport" means a sport played at the collegiate level for which eligibility requirements for participation by a student athlete are established by a national association for the promotion or regulation of collegiate athletics.
(7) "Professional-sports-services contract" means an agreement under which an individual is employed, or agrees to render services, as a player on a professional sports team, with a professional sports organization, or as a professional athlete.
(8) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(9) "Registration" means registration as an athlete agent under this subchapter.
(10) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
(11) "Student athlete" means an individual who engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, any intercollegiate sport. If an individual is permanently ineligible to participate in a particular intercollegiate sport, the individual is not a student athlete for purposes of that sport.
440.9905 Service of process. By acting as an athlete agent in this state, a nonresident individual appoints the secretary of state as the individual's agent for service of process in any civil action in this state related to the individual's acting as an athlete agent in this state.
440.991 Athlete agents: registration required; void contracts. (1) Except as otherwise provided in sub. (2), an individual may not act as an athlete agent in this state without holding a certificate of registration under s. 440.992 or 440.993.
(2) Before being issued a certificate of registration, an individual may act as an athlete agent in this state for all purposes except signing an agency contract, if all of the following are satisfied:
(a) A student athlete or another person acting on behalf of the student athlete initiates communication with the individual.
(b) Within 7 days after an initial act as an athlete agent, such as an effort to recruit or solicit a student athlete to enter into an agency contract, the individual submits an application for registration as an athlete agent in this state.
(3) An agency contract resulting from conduct in violation of this section is void and the athlete agent shall return any consideration received under the contract.
440.9915 Registration as athlete agent; form; requirements. (1) An applicant for registration as an athlete agent shall submit an application for registration to the department in a form prescribed by the department. The application must be in the name of an individual and, except as otherwise provided in sub. (2), signed or otherwise authenticated by the applicant under penalty of perjury and state or contain all of the following:
(a) The name of the applicant and the address of the applicant's principal place of business.
(b) The name of the applicant's business or employer, if applicable.
(c) Any business or occupation engaged in by the applicant for the 5 years next preceding the date of submission of the application.
(d) A description of all of the following:
1. The applicant's formal training as an athlete agent.
2. The applicant's practical experience as an athlete agent.
3. The applicant's educational background relating to his or her activities as an athlete agent.
(e) The name, sport, and last-known team for each individual for whom the applicant acted as an athlete agent during the 5 years next preceding the date of submission of the application.
(f) If the athlete agent's business is not a corporation, the names and addresses of the partners, members, officers, managers, associates, or profit sharers of the business.
(g) If the athlete agent is employed by a corporation, the names and addresses of the officers and directors of the corporation and any shareholder of the corporation having an interest of 5 percent or more.
(h) Whether the applicant or any person named pursuant to par. (f) or (g) has been convicted of a crime that, if committed in this state, would be a felony, and a description of the crime.
(i) Whether there has been any administrative or judicial determination that the applicant or any person named pursuant to par. (f) or (g) has made a false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent representation.
(j) Any instance in which the conduct of the applicant or any person named pursuant to par. (f) or (g) resulted in the imposition of a sanction, suspension, or declaration of ineligibility to participate in an interscholastic or intercollegiate athletic event on a student athlete or educational institution.
(k) Any sanction, suspension, or disciplinary action taken against the applicant or any person named pursuant to par. (f) or (g) arising out of occupational or professional conduct.
(L) Whether there has been any denial of an application for, suspension or revocation of, or refusal to renew, the registration or licensure of the applicant or any person named pursuant to par. (f) or (g) as an athlete agent in any state.
(2) An individual who has submitted an application for, and holds a certificate of, registration or licensure as an athlete agent in another state may submit a copy of the application and certificate in lieu of submitting an application in the form prescribed pursuant to sub. (1). The department shall accept the application and the certificate from the other state as an application for registration in this state if all of the following are satisfied:
(a) The application to the other state was submitted in the other state within the 6 months next preceding the submission of the application in this state and the applicant certifies that the information contained in the application to the other state is current.
(b) The application to the other state contains information substantially similar to or more comprehensive than that required in an application submitted in this state.
(c) The application to the other state was signed by the applicant under penalty of perjury.
440.992 Certificate of registration; issuance or denial; renewal. (1) Except as otherwise provided in sub. (2), the department shall issue a certificate of registration to an individual who complies with s. 440.9915 (1) or whose application has been accepted under s. 440.9915 (2), if the individual has paid the fees specified in s. 440.9935.
(2) The department may refuse to issue a certificate of registration if the department determines that the applicant has engaged in conduct that has a significant adverse effect on the applicant's fitness to act as an athlete agent. In making the determination, the department may consider whether the applicant has done any of the following:
(a) Subject to ss. 111.321, 111.322, and 111.335, been convicted of a crime that, if committed in this state, would be a felony.
(b) Made a materially false, misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent representation in the application or as an athlete agent.
(c) Engaged in unprofessional conduct or conduct that would disqualify the applicant from serving in a fiduciary capacity.
(d) Engaged in conduct prohibited by s. 440.996.
(e) Had a registration or licensure as an athlete agent suspended, revoked, or denied or been refused renewal of registration or licensure as an athlete agent in any state.
(f) Engaged in conduct the consequence of which was that a sanction, suspension, or declaration of ineligibility to participate in an interscholastic or intercollegiate athletic event was imposed on a student athlete or educational institution.
