H.R. 4693

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4693 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4693

To establish collective bargaining rights for college athletes, and for 
other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 23, 2025

Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Ms. Ansari, Mr. Casar, Mr. 
Cleaver, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Omar, Mrs. Ramirez, 
Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To establish collective bargaining rights for college athletes, and for 
other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``College Athlete Right to Organize 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) seeks to remedy the inequality of bargaining power 
between employees and employers primarily through establishing 
and protecting the rights of employees to self-organize and 
designate representatives of their own choosing for the purpose 
of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or 
other mutual aid or protection.
(2) Labor organizations often originate to remedy unfair 
and exploitative labor practices by employers through assisting 
employees in securing more equitable terms and conditions of 
their employment, including fair compensation and safe working 
conditions, which individual employees would be unlikely to 
negotiate successfully for on their own.
(3) Labor organizations serve unique and essential purposes 
for professional athletes competing in sports leagues, where it 
is desirable to establish uniform rules and standards across 
multiple employers. These rules and standards bear significant 
consequences to the athletes in terms of compensation, health 
and safety, and the ability or lack thereof for athletes to 
choose their employer, among other issues related to the 
athletes' well-being.
(4) The formation of labor organizations representing 
athletes in professional sports leagues in the United States 
has helped end exploitative practices by team owners and 
management, particularly through establishing collective-
bargaining agreements that have secured athletes a fair share 
of the revenues their talent and labor produces, as well as 
more equitable terms of their employment and protections for 
their short- and long-term health.
(5) College athletes face exploitative and unfair labor 
practices by the National Collegiate Athletic Association 
(referred to in this section as the ``NCAA'') and its member 
institutions, primarily through the denial of the basic 
economic and labor rights of such athletes, which the NCAA and 
its member institutions have justified by defining college 
athletes as amateurs.
(6) The NCAA and its member institutions have denied 
college athletes a fair wage for their labor by colluding to 
cap compensation; they maintain strict and exacting control 
over the terms and conditions of college athletes' labor; and 
they exercise the ability to terminate an athlete's eligibility 
to compete if the athlete violates these terms and conditions.
(7) College athletes exhibit the markers of employment as 
established under the common law definition of the term 
``employee'': They perform a valuable service for their 
respective colleges under a contract for hire in the form of 
grant-in-aid agreements; these agreements assert significant 
control over how athletes perform their work and the conditions 
under which they work; and they receive compensation in the 
form of grant-in-aid and stipends in exchange for their 
athletic services.
(8) To establish more equitable terms and conditions for 
college athletes' labor, college athletes need representation 
of their own choosing to negotiate collective-bargaining 
agreements with their respective colleges and the athletic 
conferences that help set rules and standards across an entire 
league.
(9) To organize effectively, college athletes must be able 
to form collective bargaining units across institutions of 
higher education that compete against each other, including 
within athletic conferences; and, accordingly, to establish 
effective collective bargaining rights for college athletes 
under this Act, the National Labor Relations Act must be 
amended to cover both private and public institutions of higher 
education to the extent that college athletes attending such 
institutions fall within the definition of ``employee'' under 
that Act, as amended by this Act.
(10) The Constitution of the United States vests Congress 
with the power to regulate commerce between the States, and 
intercollegiate sports, which are maintained by athletic 
associations that host competitions between colleges across 
States, involves interstate commerce that generates annual 
revenue of more than $15,000,000,000.
(11) Intercollegiate sports' significant engagement in 
interstate commerce justifies application of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) to regulate the labor 
market within which public and private institutions of higher 
education compete and set rules pertaining to the wages and 
working conditions of college athletes.

SEC. 3. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS OF COLLEGE ATHLETES.

(a) Definitions.--Section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 
U.S.C. 152) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following: 
``Notwithstanding the previous sentence, the term `employer' 
includes a public institution of higher education with respect 
to the employment of college athlete employees of the 
institution.'';
(2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the following: 
``Any individual who participates in an intercollegiate sport 
for an institution of higher education, and is a student 
enrolled in the institution of higher education, shall be 
considered an employee of the institution of higher education 
if--
``(A) the individual receives any form of direct 
compensation, including grant-in-aid, from the institution of 
higher education; and
``(B) any terms or conditions of such compensation require 
participation in an intercollegiate sport.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(15) The term `grant-in-aid' means a scholarship, grant, or other 
form of financial assistance that is provided by an institution of 
higher education to an individual for the individual's undergraduate or 
graduate course of study.
``(16) The term `institution of higher education' has the meaning 
given the term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1002).
``(17) The term `intercollegiate athletic conference'--
``(A) means any conference, or other group or organization, 
of institutions of higher education that--
``(i) exercises authority over intercollegiate 
sports at such institutions of higher education; and
``(ii) is engaged in commerce or an industry or 
activity affecting commerce; and
``(B) notwithstanding subparagraph (A), does not include 
the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
``(18) The term `college athlete employee' means an individual 
described in the second sentence of paragraph (3).''.
(b) Multiemployer Bargaining Unit.--Section 9(b) of the National 
Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(b)) is amended by striking the 
period at the end and inserting the following: ``: Provided, That, for 
the purpose of establishing an appropriate bargaining unit for college 
athlete employees at institutions of higher education in an 
intercollegiate athletic conference, the Board shall recognize multiple 
institutions of higher education within an intercollegiate athletic 
conference as a multiemployer bargaining unit, but only if consented to 
by the employee representatives for the intercollegiate sports 
bargaining units at the institutions of higher education that will be 
included in the multiemployer bargaining unit.''.
(c) Jurisdiction Related to Intercollegiate Sports.--Section 
14(c)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 164(c)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``Provided,'' and inserting the following: 
``Provided, That the Board shall exercise jurisdiction over 
institutions of higher education and college athlete employees of such 
institutions in relation to all collective bargaining matters under 
this Act pertaining to such employees, including any representation 
matter, such as recognizing or establishing a bargaining unit for such 
employees and any labor dispute involving such institutions and 
employees: Provided further,''.
(d) Prohibition on Waiver.--An individual may not enter into any 
agreement (including an agreement for grant-in-aid, as defined in 
section 3(15) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152(15))) 
or legal settlement that waives or permits noncompliance with this Act 
or the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF DIRECT COMPENSATION FOR TAX PURPOSES AND 
ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.

Nothing in this Act, or an amendment made by this Act, shall--
(1) cause any type of direct compensation described in 
section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 
152(3)) that was not previously treated as income for which a 
tax may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
become a type of direct compensation for which such a tax may 
be imposed;
(2) cause any individual to be treated as an employee, or 
cause any amounts received by an individual to be treated as 
wages, for purposes of any provision in the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 relating to employment taxes or the withholding of 
taxes by an employer if such individual or amounts would not 
otherwise be so treated;
(3) affect the treatment of qualified scholarships under 
section 117 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
(4) otherwise affect the treatment of any direct 
compensation described in such section 2(3) in determining 
income, including gross income or adjusted gross income, for 
purposes of--
(A) the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including 
any reporting requirements under such Code; or
(B) determining eligibility for any form of Federal 
financial assistance, including assistance under 
subpart 1 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070a et seq.).

SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY.

If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this Act, or the 
application of such provision or amendment to any person or 
circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act 
and the amendments made by this Act, and the application of the 
provision or amendment to any other person or circumstance, shall not 
be affected.
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