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House Bill 1123 |
House Author: Dutton |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
Senate Sponsor: West |
House Bill 1123 amends the Occupations Code to prohibit a person who is not an individual from registering as an athlete agent in Texas and establishes that a certificate of registration as an athlete agent is for either a professional athlete agent certificate or a limited athlete agent certificate. The bill sets out terms and requirements for registering as a professional athlete agent, establishes the terms under which an agent contract with an athlete is void, and expands the information an applicant is required to provide for both an original and a renewal of registration.
House Bill 1123 requires a registered athlete agent to notify the secretary of state of the athlete agent's decertification as an agent or the agent's conviction of a crime that in Texas is an offense other than a Class C misdemeanor. The bill sets out requirements relating to the surety bond an athlete agent must deposit with the secretary of state. The bill amends provisions relating to the form for an agent contract or financial services contract and extends the deadline by which a registered athlete agent is required to file with certain persons a copy of an agent contract or financial services contract. The bill expands the prohibited actions for an athlete agent and sets out provisions relating to an administrative penalty for a violation of these prohibitions. The bill sets terms for revoking or refusing to renew or issue an agent's or applicant's certificate of registration.
House Bill 1123 makes it a third degree felony for an athlete agent to intentionally or knowingly furnish a thing of value to an athlete or an individual related to the athlete within the second degree by affinity or consanguinity before the athlete completes the athlete's last intercollegiate sports contest or to intentionally or knowingly commit an act or cause a person to commit an act on the athlete agent's behalf that causes an athlete to violate a rule of the national association for the promotion and regulation of intercollegiate athletics of which the athlete's institution of higher education is a member. The secretary of state is required to send notice of an athlete agent's conviction of an offense for violating provisions relating to athlete agents or a rule under those provisions to each national professional sports association that has certified the agent.
House Bill 1123 removes the authority of an institution of higher education to file suit for damages against a former athlete who causes an institution to be adversely affected by the athlete's violation of provisions relating to athlete agents. The bill authorizes an athlete to file suit against an athlete agent for damages if the athlete is adversely affected by an athlete agent's violation of a certain prohibition against the agent under certain conditions and establishes what constitutes an agent adversely affecting an athlete. The bill amends provisions relating to the secretary of state's requirement to publish information prescribing compliance responsibilities of an institution of higher education governing athlete agents and sets out procedural provisions governing a change to the compliance responsibilities.
House Bill 1123 repeals provisions of the Occupations Code relating to an exemption from bond requirements for an athlete agent who enters into only an agent contract with an athlete, relating to registration as a corporation, association, or partnership, and relating to supplemental application requirements.