Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 452 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to enact the Uniform Athlete Agents Act.

The University of Hawaii, Department of Education, and Hawaii Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation testified in support of this measure. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs presented comments on the measure.

The proliferation of professional sports franchises in the nation and the large sums paid to athletes under commercial endorsement contracts have rendered the commercial marketplace in which athletes operate highly competitive. The competition to represent student-athletes and to earn the substantial fees that accompany this representation has resulted in the use of unscrupulous practices by some agents, placing student-athletes at risk of losing collegiate eligibility and the educational institutions they attend at risk of being sanctioned.

This measure proposes to establish protections for student-athletes and educational institutions by adopting the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (UAAA). Among other things, this measure mandates athlete agents to register with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs before being permitted to act as an athlete agent, establishes requirements for an agency contract that includes mandatory disclosures, prohibits certain conduct by athlete agents, and requires notice to an student-athlete's educational institution upon the execution of an agency contract.

Additionally, this measure permits cancellation of the agency contract by the student-athlete, establishes recordkeeping requirements, and authorizes criminal and administrative penalties, and civil remedies. Presently, more than thirty states have adopted the UAAA, and six other states have similar laws regulating athlete agents.

Your Committees find that with the prominence of many of the State's intercollegiate sports programs and the growing number of talented student-athletes in our educational institutions, more and more opportunities will arise for athlete agents to seek agency contracts in this State. The adoption of the UAAA will help to protect Hawaii's student-athletes and educational institutions and provide a consistent set of standards for athlete agent conduct that facilitates the regulatory process.

Your Committees have amended this measure:

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 452, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 452, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.