NCAA Act

Summary: National Collegiate Athletics Accountability Act or the NCAA Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require schools that have an intercollegiate athletic program and are participating in title IV programs to abstain from membership in a nonprofit athletic association unless the association:  requires annual baseline concussion testing of student athletes on the active roster of teams participating in contact/collision or limited-contact/impact sports before they participate in any contact drills or activities; holds remedies for violations of its policies in abeyance until the schools and student athletes subject to those remedies have been afforded certain due process procedures; requires athletically-related student aid provided to student athletes who play contact/collision sports to be guaranteed for the duration of their attendance at the school, up to four years, and irrevocable for reasons related to skill or injury; and does not prevent schools from paying stipends to student athletes.  Makes title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 inapplicable to any activity carried out by an institution of higher education to guarantee the continuance of student aid for student athletes in compliance with such membership requirements. (Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or visual impairment under any education program that receives federal funds.)

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``National 
Collegiate Athletics Accountability Act'', or the ``NCAA Act''.
    (b) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Nationwide, institutions of higher education receive 
        approximately $150,000,000,000 to $200,000,000,000 in funding 
        under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        1070 et seq.) annually, including approximately $20,000,000,000 
        to $30,000,000,000 in Federal Pell Grants;
            (2) In fiscal year 2014, institutions of higher education 
        are projected to receive approximately $140,000,000,000 in 
        Federal student aid under title IV of such Act, which accounts 
        for 77 percent of all funding received by these institutions 
        from the Federal Government.
            (3) Funding under title IV of such Act is used to provide 
        grants, loans, and work-study funds from the Federal Government 
        to eligible students enrolled in institution of higher 
        education, including career schools.
            (4) Many institutions of higher education participate in 
        voluntary, nonprofit athletic associations and athletic 
        conferences, with the largest such association having over 
        1,000 member institutions of higher education with more than 
        430,000 students participating in athletics, and providing 
        approximately $523,000,000 in revenue sharing to such members.
            (5) Athletic programs at institutions of higher education 
        are some of the largest revenue generators for such 
        institutions nationwide, accounting for approximately 
        $6,100,000,000 in revenue from ticket sales, radio and 
        television receipts, alumni contributions, guarantees, 
        royalties, and association distributions.
            (6) The Committee on a Sports Medicine of the American 
        Academy of Pediatrics published a classification of sports 
        based on the likelihood of contact, impact, or injury, and 
        determined that--
                    (A) boxing, field hockey, football, ice hockey, 
                lacrosse, martial arts, rodeo, soccer, and wrestling 
                are contact/collision sports; and
                    (B) baseball, basketball, bicycling, diving, high 
                jump, pole vault, gymnastics, horseback riding, ice 
                skating, roller skating, cross-country skiing, downhill 
                skiing, water skiing, softball, squash, handball, and 
                volleyball are limited-contact/impact sports.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS.

    Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(30) In the case of an institution that has an 
        intercollegiate athletic program, the institution will not be a 
        member of a nonprofit athletic association unless such 
        association--
                    ``(A) requires annual baseline concussion testing 
                of each student athlete on the active roster of each 
                team participating in a contact/collision sport or a 
                limited-contact/impact sport (based on the most recent 
                classification of sports published by the Committee on 
                Sports Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics) 
                before such student athlete may participate in any 
                contact drills or activities;
                    ``(B) prior to enforcing any remedy for an alleged 
                infraction or violation of the policies of such 
                association--
                            ``(i) provides institutions and student 
                        athletes with the opportunity for a formal 
                        administrative hearing, not less than one 
                        appeal, and any other due process procedure the 
                        Secretary determines by regulation to be 
                        necessary; and
                            ``(ii) hold in abeyance any such remedy 
                        until all appeals have been exhausted or until 
                        the deadline to appeal has passed, whichever is 
                        sooner;
                    ``(C) with respect to institutions attended by 
                students receiving athletically related student aid (as 
                defined in section 485(e)), requires any such 
                athletically related student aid provided to student 
                athletes who play a contact/collision sport (based on 
                the most recent classification of sports published by 
                the Committee on Sports Medicine of the American 
                Academy of Pediatrics) to be--
                            ``(i) guaranteed for the duration of the 
                        student athlete's attendance at the 
                        institution, up to 4 years; and
                            ``(ii) irrevocable for reasons related to 
                        athletic skill or injury of the student 
                        athlete; and
                    ``(D) does not have in place a policy that 
                prohibits institutions from paying stipends to student 
                athletes.''.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF TITLE IX OF THE EDUCATION AMENDMENTS OF 1972.

    Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 
seq.) shall not apply with respect to any activity carried out by an 
institution of higher education (as defined in section 102 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) to comply with a 
nonprofit athletic association membership requirement that is described 
in paragraph (30)(C) of section 487(a) of such Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1092(a)), as amended by section 2 of this Act.