Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2688 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2688
5	5	To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an employee of an
6	6	institution, a conference, or an association based on participation in
7	7	certain intercollegiate athletics.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	APRIL7, 2025
10	10	Mrs. M
11	11	CCLAIN(for herself, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. LAMALFA, Ms. FOXX, Mr.
12	12	A
13	13	DERHOLT, Mr. THOMPSONof Pennsylvania, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. OWENS,
14	14	Mr. H
15	15	ARRISof North Carolina, and Mr. ONDER) introduced the following
16	16	bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an em-
19	19	ployee of an institution, a conference, or an association
20	20	based on participation in certain intercollegiate athletics.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Student 4
25	25	Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act of 2025’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT STANDINGS. 6
27	27	Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal or 7
28	28	State law, a student athlete (or former student athlete) 8
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32	32	may not be considered an employee of an institution, a 1
33	33	conference, or an association under any Federal or State 2
34	34	law or regulation based on participation of the student 3
35	35	athlete (or former student athlete) in a varsity intercolle-4
36	36	giate athletics program or a varsity intercollegiate ath-5
37	37	letics competition, or the existence of rules or require-6
38	38	ments for being a member of any varsity sports team. 7
39	39	SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 8
40	40	In this Act: 9
41	41	(1) A
42	42	SSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘association’’ 10
43	43	means an organization that— 11
44	44	(A) has multiple conferences and institu-12
45	45	tions as members; 13
46	46	(B) arranges championships for varsity 14
47	47	intercollegiate athletics programs; 15
48	48	(C) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 16
49	49	athletics programs; 17
50	50	(D) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 18
51	51	athletics competitions; and 19
52	52	(E) is not a conference. 20
53	53	(2) C
54	54	ONFERENCE.—The term ‘‘conference’’ 21
55	55	means an organization that— 22
56	56	(A) has multiple institutions as members; 23
57	57	(B) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 24
58	58	athletics competitions; 25
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62	62	(C) arranges championships for varsity 1
63	63	intercollegiate athletics programs; and 2
64	64	(D) is not an association. 3
65	65	(3) I
66	66	NSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘institution’’ 4
67	67	means an institution of higher education (as defined 5
68	68	in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 6
69	69	(20 U.S.C. 1001)) that sponsors a varsity intercolle-7
70	70	giate athletics program in the United States. 8
71	71	(4) S
72	72	TUDENT ATHLETE .—The term ‘‘student 9
73	73	athlete’’ means an individual who participates in a 10
74	74	varsity intercollegiate athletics program. 11
75	75	(5) V
76	76	ARSITY INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS 12
77	77	COMPETITION.—The term ‘‘varsity intercollegiate 13
78	78	athletics competition’’ means a competition involving 14
79	79	2 or more varsity intercollegiate athletics programs 15
80	80	sponsored by different institutions. 16
81	81	(6) V
82	82	ARSITY INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS 17
83	83	PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘varsity intercollegiate ath-18
84	84	letics program’’ means a team or other program unit 19
85	85	of an institution participating in a sport— 20
86	86	(A) played at the intercollegiate level; 21
87	87	(B) administered by an athletic depart-22
88	88	ment; and 23
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92	92	(C) for which eligibility requirements for 1
93	93	participation by student athletes are established 2
94	94	by an association. 3
95	95	(7) V
96	96	ARSITY SPORTS TEAM.—The term ‘‘varsity 4
97	97	sports team’’— 5
98	98	(A) means a team of student athletes orga-6
99	99	nized by a varsity intercollegiate athletics pro-7
100	100	gram to participate in a varsity intercollegiate 8
101	101	athletics competition; and 9
102	102	(B) does not include a team that is tradi-10
103	103	tionally characterized as an intramural or club 11
104	104	team. 12
105	105	Æ
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