NCAA Act

National Collegiate Athletics Accountability Act or the NCAA Act

This bill amends title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require program participation agreements to prohibit an institution with an intercollegiate athletic program from membership in a nonprofit athletic association unless the association:

• requires annual baseline concussion testing prior to a student athlete's participation in contact sports;
• requires certain due process procedures for students and institutions prior to enforcing a remedy for any infraction;
• requires athletically related student aid to be guaranteed for the duration of the student's attendance, up to four years, and irrevocable due to skill or injury; and
• permits member institutions to pay stipends to student athletes.

The legislation also establishes the Presidential Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics to review, analyze, and report to the President and Congress on certain issues related to intercollegiate athletics, including the interaction of athletics and academics, the financing of intercollegiate athletics, the recruitment and retention of student athletes, oversight and governance practices, health and safety protections for student athletes, and due process and equal enforcement of student athlete rules and regulations.