HR 2688 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act of 2025
To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an employee of an institution, a conference, or an association based on participation in certain intercollegiate athletics.
Summary
The Protecting Student Athletes' Economic Freedom Act of 2025 would prohibit student athletes from being classified as employees of colleges, conferences, or athletics associations under Federal or State law, based on their participation in varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The bill applies this prohibition regardless of rules or requirements associated with varsity sports team membership. The legislation defines key terms including "student athlete," "varsity intercollegiate athletics program," and related athletics organizations, establishing that participation in college sports would not grant employee status under any Federal or State law or regulation. This provision would supersede any conflicting Federal or State laws or regulations that might otherwise classify student athletes as employees.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
9 cosponsors
- Rep. Aderholt, Robert B. [R-AL-4] (R-AL)
- Rep. Allen, Rick W. [R-GA-12] (R-GA)
- Rep. Foxx, Virginia [R-NC-5] (R-NC)
- Rep. Harris, Mark [R-NC-8] (R-NC)
- Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] (R-CA)
- Rep. Onder, Robert [R-MO-3] (R-MO)
- Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4] (R-UT)
- Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA)
- Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-5] (R-MI)
Actions (2)
- Apr 7, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · house
- Apr 7, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 7, 2025
Mrs. McClain (for herself, Mr. Walberg, Mr. LaMalfa, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Allen, Mr. Owens, Mr. Harris of North Carolina, and Mr. Onder) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an employee of an institution, a conference, or an association based on participation in certain intercollegiate athletics.
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 “Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT STANDINGS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal or State law, a student athlete (or former student athlete) may not be considered an employee of an institution, a conference, or an association under any Federal or State law or regulation based on participation of the student athlete (or former student athlete) in a varsity intercollegiate athletics program or a varsity intercollegiate athletics competition, or the existence of rules or requirements for being a member of any varsity sports team.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Association.—The term “association” means an organization that—
(A) has multiple conferences and institutions as members;
(B) arranges championships for varsity intercollegiate athletics programs;
(C) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate athletics programs;
(D) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate athletics competitions; and
(E) is not a conference.
(2) Conference.—The term “conference” means an organization that—
(A) has multiple institutions as members;
(B) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate athletics competitions;
(C) arranges championships for varsity intercollegiate athletics programs; and
(D) is not an association.
(3) Institution.—The term “institution” means an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that sponsors a varsity intercollegiate athletics program in the United States.
(4) Student athlete.—The term “student athlete” means an individual who participates in a varsity intercollegiate athletics program.
(5) Varsity intercollegiate athletics competition.—The term “varsity intercollegiate athletics competition” means a competition involving 2 or more varsity intercollegiate athletics programs sponsored by different institutions.
(6) Varsity intercollegiate athletics program.—The term “varsity intercollegiate athletics program” means a team or other program unit of an institution participating in a sport—
(A) played at the intercollegiate level;
(B) administered by an athletic department; and
(C) for which eligibility requirements for participation by student athletes are established by an association.
(7) Varsity sports team.—The term “varsity sports team”—
(A) means a team of student athletes organized by a varsity intercollegiate athletics program to participate in a varsity intercollegiate athletics competition; and
(B) does not include a team that is traditionally characterized as an intramural or club team. <all>
Comments