SB 16

ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 16, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, prohibit a public school from using public funds to join, become members of, or maintain membership in an association that regulates interscholastic athletics unless the association allows a high school student who transfers for the first time to another member school and the transfer is due to a significant academic, social-emotional, environmental, or mental health need to be immediately eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at the member schoo l to which the student transfers, as long as the sending member school does not attest within seven days that the student's transfer is due to athletic or disciplinary reasons. ON APRIL 17, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 16 FOR HOUSE BILL 25, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1, AND RESET SENATE BILL 16, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 purports to delete and replace two sections of the introduced bill that were removed by Senate Amendment #1. ON FEBRUARY 4, 2026, THE HOUSE FURTHER CONSIDERED SENATE BILL 16, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #3, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 16, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #3 rewrites this bill to generally provide that a middle school student or high school student who transfers from one member school to another is immediately eligible to participate in interscholastic athletics at the member school to which the student transfers if: (1) The transfer is the student's first transfer in grades six through eight or nine through 12, as applicable; and (2) The transfer occurs in the summer between the end of one school year and the beginning of the ensuing school year. The immediate eligibility provided in this amendment does not apply to transfers: (1) That occur during the school year or to a second or subsequent transfer at the middle or high school level; and (2) By a student who is ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics by virtue of another rule or policy of the school or of the interscholastic athletic association with which the school is a member or otherwise affiliated that establishes el igibility rules for athletic activities. This amendment specifies that it does not prohibit an interscholastic athletic association from: (1) Determining the content, scope, and requirements of any rule or policy adopted by the association for purposes of implementing the immediate eligibility requirement; and (2) Establishing standards, requirements, and procedures for determining a student's eligibility to participate in interscholastic athletics. If an association that regulates interscholastic athletic competition among member schools maintains its principal office in this state, then this amendment establishes the venue for any civil action challenging an eligibility decision made by that assoc iation in the circuit or chancery court of the county in which the association's principal office is located. This amendment specifies that it does not create a private right of action against an association.