AB829: Bill Text

AB829,13,11 (3) If a student athlete cancels an agency contract, the student athlete is not required to pay any consideration under the contract or to return any consideration received from the athlete agent to induce the student athlete to enter into the contract.

AB829,13,13 440.9955 Required records. (1) An athlete agent shall retain all of the following records for a period of 5 years:

AB829,13,14 (a) The name and address of each individual represented by the athlete agent.

AB829,13,15 (b) Any agency contract entered into by the athlete agent.

AB829,13,17 (c) Any direct costs incurred by the athlete agent in the recruitment or solicitation of a student athlete to enter into an agency contract.

AB829,13,20 (2) Records required by sub. (1) to be retained are open to inspection by the department during normal business hours. Upon demand, an athlete agent shall provide a copy of such a record to the department.

AB829,13,22 440.996 Prohibited conduct. (1) An athlete agent, with the intent to induce a student athlete to enter into an agency contract, may not do any of the following:

AB829,13,24 (a) Give any materially false or misleading information or make a materially false promise or representation.

AB829,14,2 (b) Furnish anything of value to a student athlete before the student athlete enters into the agency contract.

AB829,14,4 (c) Furnish anything of value to any individual other than the student athlete or another registered athlete agent.

AB829,14,5 (2) An athlete agent may not intentionally do any of the following:

AB829,14,7 (a) Initiate contact with a student athlete unless registered under this subchapter.

AB829,14,9 (b) Refuse or fail to retain or permit inspection of the records required to be retained by s. 440.9955.

AB829,14,10 (c) Fail to register when required by s. 440.991.

AB829,14,12 (d) Provide materially false or misleading information in an application for registration or renewal of registration.

AB829,14,13 (f) Predate or postdate an agency contract.

AB829,14,17 (g) Fail to notify a student athlete before the student athlete signs or otherwise authenticates an agency contract for a particular sport that the signing or authentication may make the student athlete ineligible to participate as a student athlete in that sport.

AB829,14,19 440.9965 Criminal penalties. An athlete agent who violates s. 440.996 may be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 9 months or both.

AB829,14,24 440.997 Civil remedies. (1) An educational institution may bring an action against an athlete agent or a former student athlete for damages caused by a violation of this subchapter. In an action under this subsection, the court may award to the prevailing party costs and, notwithstanding s. 814.04, reasonable attorney fees.

AB829,15,7 (2) Damages of an educational institution under sub. (1) include losses and expenses incurred because, as a result of the conduct of an athlete agent or former student athlete, the educational institution was injured by a violation of this subchapter or was penalized, disqualified, or suspended from participation in athletics by a national association for the promotion and regulation of athletics, by an athletic conference, or by reasonable self-imposed disciplinary action taken to mitigate sanctions likely to be imposed by such an organization.

AB829,15,10 (3) A right of action under this section does not accrue until the educational institution discovers or by the exercise of reasonable diligence would have discovered the violation by the athlete agent or former student athlete.

AB829,15,12 (4) Any liability of the athlete agent or the former student athlete under this subchapter is several and not joint.

AB829,15,14 (5) This subchapter does not restrict rights, remedies, or defenses of any person under law or equity.

AB829,15,17 440.9975 Administrative forfeiture. The department may directly assess a forfeiture against an athlete agent of not more than $25,000 for a violation of this subchapter.

AB829,15,21 440.998 Uniformity of application and construction. In applying and construing this subchapter, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among the states that enact the Uniform Athlete Agents Act.

AB829,16,3 440.9985 Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. The provisions of this subchapter governing the legal effect, validity, or enforceability of electronic records or signatures, and of contracts formed or performed with the use of such records or signatures conform to the requirements of section 102 of the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 USC 7002, and supersede, modify, and limit the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 USC 7001 to 7031.

AB829,16,5 440.999 Rules. The department shall promulgate rules that define unprofessional conduct for purposes of s. 440.992 (2) (c).

AB829, s. 4 Section 4. Nonstatutory provisions.

AB829,16,15 (1) If an athlete agent, as defined in section 440.99 (2) of the statutes, as created by this act, or student athlete, as defined in section 440.99 (11) of the statutes, as created by this act, is subject to a contract that is in effect on the effective date of this subsection and that contains provisions that are inconsistent with subchapter XII of chapter 440 of the statutes, as created by this act, then, notwithstanding subchapter XII of chapter 440 of the statutes, as created by this act, the athlete agent or student athlete may perform his or her obligations, and exercise his or her rights, under that contract until the contract expires, is extended, is modified, or is renewed, whichever occurs first.

AB829, s. 5 Section 5. Appropriation changes.

AB829,16,22 (1) Position authorization. In the schedule under section 20.005 (3) of the statutes for the appropriation to the department of regulation and licensing under section 20.165 (1) (g) of the statutes, as affected by the acts of 2001, the dollar amount is increased by $31,900 for fiscal year 2002-03 to increase the authorized FTE positions for the department by 0.5 PR position to perform services related to the regulation of athlete agents.

AB829, s. 6 Section 6. Initial applicability.

AB829,16,25 (1) The treatment of section 440.9945 of the statutes first applies to contracts entered into on the effective date of this subsection.

AB829,17,2 (2) The treatment of section 440.997 (2) of the statutes first applies to losses or expenses incurred on the effective date of this subsection.

AB829, s. 7 Section 7. Effective date.

AB829,17,5 (1) This act takes effect on the first day of the 7th month beginning after publication.

AB829,17,6 (End)