HouseH.R. 10266119th Congress
No Elite Athletes Using X-pro status to ensure Prioritizing Recruitment Of Student-athletes (NEAUX PROS) Act
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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10266 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10266
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to condition institutional
eligibility for participation in programs under title IV of that Act on
an institution's not permitting certain professional athletes to
compete in intercollegiate athletics competition in the sport in which
they hold a professional sports contract, to establish criminal
penalties for athletics officials who knowingly recruit or sign such
athletes to compete in violation of that condition, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 3, 2026
Mr. Fuller introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committee
on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to condition institutional
eligibility for participation in programs under title IV of that Act on
an institution's not permitting certain professional athletes to
compete in intercollegiate athletics competition in the sport in which
they hold a professional sports contract, to establish criminal
penalties for athletics officials who knowingly recruit or sign such
athletes to compete in violation of that condition, 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 ``No Elite Athletes Using X-pro status
to ensure Prioritizing Recruitment Of Student-athletes (NEAUX PROS)
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Federal Government, through title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.), provides
substantial financial assistance to institutions of higher
education, including institutions that sponsor intercollegiate
athletics programs.
(2) Intercollegiate athletics in the United States have
historically been organized and promoted as competition among
student-athletes who are not simultaneously under contract to
compete professionally in the same sport.
(3) Permitting an individual under contract to a
professional sports team, league, club, or organization in a
given sport to also compete as a student-athlete in that same
sport at an institution receiving Federal student assistance
blurs the distinction between amateur and professional
competition and may disadvantage student-athletes who are not
also under professional contract.
(4) It is appropriate for Congress to condition an
institution's continued eligibility to participate in title IV
programs on the institution's not permitting such dual
participation, in the same manner Congress has conditioned
title IV eligibility on other institutional conduct unrelated
to the direct administration of student financial aid.
(5) Athletics department officials who knowingly direct,
lead, or carry out the recruitment or signing of a professional
athlete in violation of this Act bear individual responsibility
for circumventing the eligibility condition established by this
Act that is distinct from, and in addition to, the
institution's own responsibility under its program
participation agreement.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Covered institution.--The term ``covered institution''
means an institution of higher education (as defined in section
102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) that
has entered into a program participation agreement under
section 487 of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1094).
(2) Covered sport.--The term ``covered sport'' means a
sport in which a covered institution sponsors a varsity
intercollegiate athletics team.
(3) Intercollegiate athletics competition.--The term
``intercollegiate athletics competition'' means participation,
as a member of a varsity team representing a covered
institution in a covered sport, in organized practice or
competition against another institution of higher education,
whether or not the individual receives athletically related
student financial assistance.
(4) Professional sports contract.--
(A) In general.--The term ``professional sports
contract'' means a binding contract, express or
implied, between an individual and a professional
sports team, league, club, or other organization that
organizes or sanctions professional-level competition
in a sport, under which the individual is entitled to
receive a salary, signing bonus, or other compensation
in exchange for the individual's athletic services in
that sport.
(B) Exclusions.--The term does not include--
(i) an agreement relating solely to the use
of an individual's name, image, or likeness
that does not obligate the individual to render
athletic services to a professional sports
team, league, club, or organization; or
(ii) compensation paid to the individual
directly by a covered institution, including
compensation paid under a revenue-sharing
arrangement permitted under the settlement
approved in In re College Athlete NIL
Litigation (N.D. Cal.) or successor authority,
or under any Federal statute enacted after the
date of enactment of this Act that expressly
authorizes such compensation without loss of
intercollegiate athletics eligibility.
(5) Professional athlete.--The term ``professional
athlete'' means, with respect to a covered sport, an individual
who is a party to a professional sports contract for that
covered sport and who has not rescinded that contract in
accordance with section 5(a).
(6) Covered athletics official.--The term ``covered
athletics official'' means, with respect to a covered
institution, an individual who, as an employee or agent of the
covered institution (including a head coach, assistant coach,
athletic director, general manager, or other athletics
department staff member), has authority to recruit prospective
student-athletes, extend an offer of athletically related
student financial assistance, sign a prospective student-
athlete to a National Letter of Intent or substantially
equivalent instrument, or certify the eligibility of a student-
athlete to compete in intercollegiate athletics competition, or
who knowingly directs or authorizes another person to take any
such action.
(7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Education.
SEC. 4. CONDITION ON PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS.
(a) In General.--Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (28), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (29), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(30) The institution will not permit an individual whom
the institution knows, or in the exercise of reasonable
diligence should know, is a professional athlete (as defined in
section 3 of the Collegiate Amateur Athletics Protection Act of
2026) to compete in intercollegiate athletics competition (as
so defined) in the covered sport in which the individual holds
a professional sports contract.''.
(b) Guidance and Verification Process.--The Secretary shall issue
guidance establishing--
(1) standards for the diligence a covered institution is
expected to exercise in determining whether a prospective or
current student-athlete is a professional athlete for purposes
of paragraph (30) of section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act
of 1965, as added by subsection (a); and
(2) a process by which a covered institution or a covered
athletics official may seek a written determination from the
Department of Education regarding the status of a particular
individual under that paragraph.
(c) Enforcement.--A violation of paragraph (30) of section 487(a)
of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as added by subsection (a), shall
be treated as a violation of a program participation agreement for
purposes of part G of title IV of that Act (20 U.S.C. 1094 et seq.),
and shall be subject to the limitation, suspension, and termination
procedures, and other remedies, available to the Secretary under that
part.
SEC. 5. RESCISSION; TRANSITION FOR CURRENT COMPETITORS.
(a) Rescission.--An individual who has entered into a professional
sports contract for a covered sport is not a professional athlete for
purposes of this Act with respect to that covered sport if, before
receiving any compensation under the contract and before rendering any
athletic services under the contract, the individual--
(1) rescinds the contract in writing; and
(2) provides written notice of the rescission to the
covered institution at which the individual seeks to compete
and to the professional sports team, league, club, or
organization that was a party to the contract.
(b) Transition for Current Competitors.--The amendment made by
section 4(a) shall not apply with respect to an individual who, as of
the date of enactment of this Act, is both a party to a professional
sports contract for a covered sport and is competing in intercollegiate
athletics competition in that covered sport, until the first day of the
first academic year of the relevant covered institution that begins
after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act, or the amendment made by this Act, shall be
construed to--
(1) restrict the eligibility of an individual to be
selected in, or to negotiate the terms of a potential contract
arising from, a draft or other selection process conducted by a
professional sports team, league, club, or organization;
(2) affect the eligibility of an individual to receive
compensation for the use of the individual's name, image, or
likeness, except to the extent such compensation is paid
pursuant to a professional sports contract as defined in
section 3;
(3) limit the authority of a covered institution, or of an
athletic association or conference of which a covered
institution is a member, to adopt or enforce eligibility rules
more restrictive than the requirements of this Act;
(4) create a private right of action against a covered
institution, the Secretary, or any other person; or
(5) affect the availability of prosecution under any other
applicable Federal criminal statute, including sections 201,
224, 1001, 1341, and 1343 of title 18, United States Code.
SEC. 7. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR KNOWING RECRUITMENT OR SIGNING OF
PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES.
(a) In General.--Chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 228. Recruitment or facilitation of ineligible professional
athlete participation in intercollegiate athletics
``(a) Offense.--It shall be unlawful for a covered athletics
official knowingly to recruit, offer to enroll, sign to a National
Letter of Intent or substantially equivalent instrument, certify the
eligibility of, or otherwise cause to compete in intercollegiate
athletics competition, an individual whom the official knows to be a
professional athlete, if--
``(1) the recruitment, offer, signing, certification, or
other act is in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or
``(2) the covered institution by which the official is
employed, or for which the official acts as an agent, receives,
in the 1-year period before the offense, benefits in excess of
$10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract,
subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal
assistance.
``(b) Penalty.--A person who violates subsection (a) shall be fined
under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
``(c) Enhanced Penalty.--A person who violates subsection (a) shall
be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both,
if the violation was undertaken for financial gain or was part of a
pattern of 2 or more violations of subsection (a).
``(d) Affirmative Defense.--It is an affirmative defense to a
prosecution under this section that the defendant reasonably relied on
a written determination issued under section 4(b)(2) of the Collegiate
Amateur Athletics Protection Act of 2026 that the individual was not a
professional athlete, and that the determination had not been withdrawn
or superseded at the time of the conduct at issue.
``(e) No Institutional Liability.--This section does not impose
criminal liability on a covered institution as an organization.
Liability under this section attaches only to an individual covered
athletics official who violates subsection (a).
``(f) Venue.--A prosecution under this section may be brought in
any judicial district in which the covered institution involved is
located or in which any act in furtherance of the offense occurred.
``(g) Definitions.--In this section, the terms `covered athletics
official', `covered institution', `professional athlete', and
`intercollegiate athletics competition' have the meanings given those
terms in section 3 of the Collegiate Amateur Athletics Protection Act
of 2026.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 11 of
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``228. Recruitment or facilitation of ineligible professional athlete
participation in intercollegiate
athletics.''.
SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) Funding Condition.--Except as provided in section 5(b), the
amendment made by section 4(a) shall take effect on the first day of
the first academic year of a covered institution that begins after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Criminal Penalties.--Section 7, and the amendments made by that
section, take effect on the date of enactment of this Act, and apply
only to conduct occurring on or after that date.
SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of a provision to
any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional or otherwise
invalid, the remainder of this Act, and the application of that
provision to any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected.
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