I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5491 

To establish due process requirements for the investigation of intercollegiate 

athletics, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 

Mr. KUSTOFF (for himself, Mr. HARDER of California, and Mr. OWENS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To establish due process requirements for the investigation 

of intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NCAA Accountability 

5 Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DUE PROCESS REQUIREMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each covered athletic association 

8 shall establish and administer due process requirements 

9 for the investigation of any member institution, student 

10 athlete enrolled in such member institution, or other indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:05 Sep 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491

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1 vidual for any alleged infraction of the covered athletic as2 sociation’s bylaws or failure to meet the conditions and 

3 obligations of membership if the matter cannot be resolved 

4 without a formal investigation, consistent with the fol5 lowing: 

6 (1) If the covered athletic association or any 

7 governing body subordinate to the covered athletic 

8 association, initiates an investigation whether formal 

9 or informal into a member institution, the covered 

10 athletic association shall provide written notice to 

11 the member institution detailing the nature of the 

12 inquiry by not later than 60 days after the covered 

13 athletic association receives information indicating 

14 that a bylaw violation may have occurred, and that 

15 the covered athletic association has determined that 

16 an investigation is warranted. The notice shall in17 clude, to the extent such information is available, the 

18 following: 

19 (A) Each program under investigation. 

20 (B) All persons under investigation. 

21 (C) The specific alleged violations under 

22 investigation including any sources relief on by 

23 the covered athletics association, whether verbal 

24 or written. 


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1 (D) Each date or time period an alleged 

2 violation may have occurred. 

3 (E) The rights and resources available to 

4 the accused party or parties. 

5 (2) The notice under paragraph (1)(C) shall be 

6 limited to possible violations occurring not earlier 

7 than 2 years before the date the notice is provided 

8 to the member institution. The covered athletic asso9 ciation shall thereafter promptly notify the member 

10 institution of any other relevant information discov11 ered in the course of the investigation. 

12 (3) Prior to commencing any enforcement pro13 ceeding, the covered athletic association shall provide 

14 the member institution with a notice of allegations 

15 not later than 8 months after the notice of inquiry 

16 is received under paragraph (1), which shall include 

17 the following: 

18 (A) Details about each allegation. 

19 (B) The potential penalties for each allega20 tion. 

21 (C) The information including any sup22 porting evidence relief on to form the basis of 

23 the allegations’’ between ‘‘information and fac24 tors the covered athletic association considered 

25 in its determination to file charges. 


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1 (D) The rights and resources available to 

2 the member institution and involved individuals. 

3 (4) Not earlier than 60 days after the notice of 

4 allegations is received, there shall be a hearing be5 fore the covered athletic association’s infractions 

6 committee or body with authorization to hear cases 

7 and prescribe punishments to member institutions 

8 which shall conform to the following requirements: 

9 (A) The hearing shall commence not later 

10 than 1 year after the notice is provided under 

11 paragraph (1). 

12 (B) No information from confidential 

13 sources may be offered into evidence or form 

14 the basis for any decision. 

15 (5) In the event that there is any dispute re16 garding the covered athletic association’s punish17 ment of a member institution, the member institu18 tion may compel entry into arbitration conducted in 

19 accordance with the standard commercial arbitration 

20 rules of an established major national provider of ar21 bitration and mediation services based in the United 

22 States, which will provide an independent review and 

23 binding decision. The arbitration shall be conducted 

24 by a three-person panel. The covered athletic asso25 ciation and member institution shall each appoint 


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1 one arbitrator of their respective choosing. The third 

2 arbitrator shall be appointed in agreement by the 

3 two arbitrators appointed by each party. 

4 (6) The covered athletic association shall con5 duct its enforcement proceedings and investigations 

6 in a fair and consistent manner, and the penalties 

7 issued against member institutions for bylaw infrac8 tions shall be equitable with respect to severity of 

9 the infraction and the member institution’s history 

10 of infractions. 

11 (7) The covered athletic association shall not 

12 disclose information relating to an ongoing investiga13 tion into a member institution until formal charges 

14 are filed in the notice of allegations submitted under 

15 paragraph (3). The member institution shall have 

16 discretionary authority to disclose any information 

17 relating to an ongoing investigation, and no informa18 tion relating to an ongoing investigation shall be 

19 subject to any disclosure requirement under State 

20 law. 

21 (b) REPORT.—A covered athletic association shall 

22 submit an annual report to the Attorney General summa23 rizing its enforcement proceedings, investigations, and 

24 issuance of punishments to member organizations under 

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1 ciation shall submit an annual report to each State Attor2 ney General (and the Attorney General for the District 

3 of Columbia) summarizing its enforcement proceedings, 

4 investigations, and issuance of punishments to member in5 stitutions headquartered in the State. Section 552 of title 

6 5, United States Code, and any similar provision of State 

7 law does not apply to such report. 

8 SEC. 3. LIMITATION. 

9 The privileges of membership of any member institu10 tion in the covered athletic association may not be im11 paired as a consequence of any rights granted under this 

12 Act. Additionally, nothing herein shall be deemed to grant 

13 to the covered athletic association or any member institu14 tion any rights against a person or individual which it does 

15 not otherwise have. 

16 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

17 (a) PROCEDURES.—The Attorney General shall es18 tablish procedures— 

19 (1) for individuals and entities to file written, 

20 signed complaints respecting potential violations of 

21 this Act by a covered athletic association or any per22 son acting as an agent thereof; 

23 (2) for the investigation of those complaints 

24 which have probable validity; 


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1 (3) for the investigation of such other violations 

2 of this Act as the Attorney General determines to be 

3 appropriate; and 

4 (4) for the evaluation of a covered athletic asso5 ciation’s annual report to determine compliance with 

6 this Act. 

7 (b) INVESTIGATIONS AND HEARINGS.—In conducting 

8 investigations and hearings pursuant to this section, the 

9 following shall apply: 

10 (1) Any hearing so requested shall be conducted 

11 before an administrative law judge of the Depart12 ment of Justice determined by the Attorney General. 

13 The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with 

14 the requirements of section 554 of title 5, United 

15 States Code. The hearing shall be held at the near16 est practicable place to the place where the person 

17 or covered athletic association resides or of the place 

18 where the alleged violation occurred. If no hearing is 

19 so requested, the Attorney General’s imposition of 

20 the order shall constitute a final and unappealable 

21 order. 

22 (2) Officers and employees of the Department 

23 of Justice (including the administrative law judges 

24 referred to in paragraph (1)) shall have reasonable 


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1 access to examine evidence of any person or covered 

2 athletic association being investigated. 

3 (3) If the administrative law judge determines, 

4 upon the preponderance of the evidence received, 

5 that a person or covered athletic association named 

6 in the complaint has violated the statute, the admin7 istrative law judge shall state his or her findings of 

8 fact and issue and cause to be served on such person 

9 or covered athletic association an order as follows: 

10 (A) The administrative law judge shall 

11 order the person or covered athletic association 

12 to cease and desist from such violations and to 

13 pay a civil penalty in an amount of not less 

14 than $10,000 and not more than $15,000,000. 

15 (B) In determining the amount of the pen16 alty, due consideration shall be given to the 

17 good faith of the covered athletic association or 

18 person, the seriousness of the violation, and the 

19 history of previous violations. 

20 (C) The administrative law judge may 

21 order the permanent removal of any member of 

22 the covered athletic association’s governing 

23 body in the case of a violation, with due consid24 eration for the good faith of the covered athletic 


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1 association or person, the seriousness of the vio2 lation, and the history of previous violations. 

3 (4) The Attorney General may, not earlier than 

4 30 days after providing notice thereof to the person 

5 or covered athletic association, commence a hearing 

6 before an administrative law judge of the Depart7 ment of Justice for any alleged violation of this Act 

8 by that person or covered athletic association. The 

9 administrative law judge may impose a civil penalty 

10 for any violation determined to have occurred. 

11 (5) Administrative law judges may, if necessary, 

12 compel by subpoena the attendance of witnesses and 

13 the production of evidence at any designated place 

14 or hearing case of contumacy or refusal to obey a 

15 subpoena lawfully issued under this paragraph and 

16 upon application of the Attorney General, an appro17 priate district court of the United States may issue 

18 an order requiring compliance with such subpoena 

19 and any failure to obey such order may be punished 

20 by such court as a contempt thereof. 

21 (6) The decision and order of an administrative 

22 law judge shall become the final agency decision and 

23 order of the Attorney General unless, within 30 days 

24 after the administrative law judge issues such order, 

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1 sion and order, in which case the decision and order 

2 of the Attorney General shall become a final order 

3 under this subsection. 

4 (7) A person or covered athletic association ad5 versely affected by a final order under this section 

6 may, within 45 days after the date the final order 

7 is issued, file a petition in the Court of Appeals for 

8 the appropriate circuit for review of the order. 

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) COVERED ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.—The 

12 term ‘‘covered athletic association’’ means an inter13 state athletic association, conference, or other orga14 nization with authority over intercollegiate athletics 

15 or that administers intercollegiate athletics, with at 

16 least 900 member institutions. 

17 (2) MEMBER INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘mem18 ber institution’’ means an institution of higher edu19 cation that maintains at least one intercollegiate 

20 athletic program that is a member of a covered ath21 letic association. 

22 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

23 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

24 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

25 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 


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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 A covered athletic association shall carry out the re3 quirements of this Act by not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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