Mississippi introduces bill to govern NCAA investigations

The Mississippi legislature proposed a bill which would force the NCAA to speed up its investigation process, with heavy fines if it does not meet certain deadlines, according to Antonio Morales of The Clarion-Ledger.

"So many times the cloud of uncertainty with these investigations drag on and drag on is unnecessarily more harming than the infractions themselves," Rep. Trey Lamar (R) said. "Really started thinking about it just in the last month or so ... I put the bill together myself."

The bill is in response to the four-year-old investigation of Ole Miss' football program and would set a nine-month limit for a member institution to respond to a letter of inquiry.

Ole Miss' football program is under investigation, after the NCAA reopened the file following former player Laremy Tunsil's admittance of accepting money from coaches.

The bill would mandate that any appeal to the committee on an infraction's final decision be completed within six months of the original ruling. If the NCAA failed to do so, it would be fined $10,000 each day it goes past, with the money going to the university being investigated.

"The bottom line is the NCAA is doing business in the state of Mississippi and I understand they have a job to do," Lamar said. "And I want them do their job. I just want them to do it in a reasonably timely manner. In my opinion, these four and five years, continuing to drag on is not a reasonable matter."

Lacking subpoena power, the NCAA cannot force a person to be investigated outside of university officials and current student-athletes, largely leading to long investigations when third parties are involved.

In terms of Lamar's bill, it is unlikely to be passed, as thousands of bills are introduced each year, with the majority of them never even coming to a vote.