[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 386 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 386

  To provide that professional baseball teams and leagues composed of 
           such teams shall be subject to the antitrust laws.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 1995

Mr. Traficant introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide that professional baseball teams and leagues composed of 
           such teams shall be subject to the antitrust laws.

    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 ``Professional Baseball Antitrust 
Reform Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the business of organized professional baseball is in, 
        or affects, interstate commerce, and
            (2) the antitrust laws should be amended to reverse the 
        result of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
        States in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 
        200 (1922), Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356 
        (1953), and Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972), which exempted 
        baseball from coverage under the antitrust laws.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS TO PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL.

    The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following section:
    ``Sec. 27. Except as provided in Public Law 87-331 (15 U.S.C. 291 
et seq.) (commonly known as the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961), the 
antitrust laws shall apply to the business of organized professional 
baseball.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall--
            (1) take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of 
        this Act,
            (2) apply to conduct that occurs and any agreement in 
        effect after such effective date, and
            (3) not apply to conduct that occurred before such 
        effective date.
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