Georgia Senate Passes 'Todd Gurley Bill' to Punish People for Paying Athletes

Todd Gurley's suspension last season for putting his autograph on merchandise for a dealer to sell has inspired a new bill that was passed by the Georgia Senate on Tuesday.   

According to Walter C. Jones and Fletcher Page of The St. Augustine Record, the bill is designed to punish the sports dealers "who tempt college athletes to risk their eligibility" by signing merchandise: 

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House Bill 3 bears the same number as University of Georgia’s former star running back Todd Gurley, who had to sit out four games last season for selling his autograph to a dealer in violation of NCAA rules. According to media reports, when the dealer couldn’t sell enough of the autographed items, he reported the violation to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, angering many Bulldog fans.

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The next step in the process of turning the bill into a law will be getting Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to sign off on it. If it goes through, this is a huge deal for collegiate athletics. 

Per Bill Hendrick of The Associated Press (via The Atlanta Journal Constitution), the initial idea for the bill came about in January thanks to a University of Georgia graduate and state Sen. Barry Fleming:

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In January, Fleming proposed a bill to punish "solicitors of student-athlete transactions," and there was talk of a fine as high as $25,000.

That turned out to be an exaggeration, but the bill passed by the Senate would make it a "high and aggravated misdemeanor" to solicit student athletes to accept money, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

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Gurley was forced to sit out four games by the NCAA after the violation was reported, but two other men, Bryan Allen and Shane Smith, faced no consequences for illegally attempting to profit off a college athlete. 

Allen, who leaked details about Gurley signing merchandise, did a joint interview with Sports Illustrated and ESPN in December, and he said that he wasn't trying to hurt the Georgia star running back:

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I can't change any of that stuff—any of those emails, me talking to the school, how it was handled—I can't change any of that. If I could, I would. Because I never wanted to screw over Gurley. I never wanted to screw over their fans or anything like that. That was never my intention. I wish I had never even gone down there. It's not worth it.

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Gurley wasn't blameless in the situation, because he knew what he was doing, and he's quoted in the report from Jones and Page from Georgia's pro day as saying that he had "a couple of regrets, but then again I don't" because he felt "great about his career." 

As the collegiate governing body, the NCAA punishes student-athletes for violating its rules, but it has no jurisdiction to punish dealers who tempt players with money. 

Georgia's Senate has taken steps to explore the idea of changing that dynamic in an attempt to stop the practice, though it's going to be difficult to enforce—if the bill is approved by the governor—unless someone like Allen passes along information about getting into a deal with a student-athlete.