On Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law a bill (SB 1525) that requires financial protections for student athletes who experience injuries that leave them unable to play sports, AP/U-T San Diego reports.
Details of Law
The measure -- by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) -- protects student athletes at four universities that receive more than $10 million annually in sports media revenue, including:
- Berkeley;
- Stanford
- UCLA; and
- University of Southern California.
Under the new law, students at the universities who lose their athletic scholarships because of a sports-related injury must be given academic scholarships. In addition, the law requires the universities to cover health insurance deductibles and pay insurance premiums for low-income athletes.
The law takes effect at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic year (Thompson, AP/U-T San Diego, 9/27).