36 U.S.C. § 220505 — Powers and duties

(a) Constitution and Bylaws.— The corporation must adopt a constitution and bylaws. It can only amend its constitution if it— (1) publishes, in its main publication, notice of the proposed amendment, including (A) the amendment's substantive terms; (B) the time and place of the regular meeting where the amendment will be decided; and (C) a statement telling interested people they can submit comments as described in paragraph (2); and (2) gives all interested people at least 60 days after publishing that notice, and before adopting the amendment, to submit written comments and information. (b) General Corporate Powers.— The corporation may— (1) adopt and alter a corporate seal; (2) set up and maintain offices to run its affairs; (3) make contracts; (4) accept gifts, legacies, and devises that further its corporate purposes; (5) acquire, own, lease, mortgage, and transfer property as needed to carry out its purposes; (6) borrow money, issue debt instruments, and secure its obligations with security interests in its property; (7) publish a magazine, newspaper, and other publications consistent with its purposes; (8) approve and revoke membership in the corporation; (9) sue and be sued — except that any state-court lawsuit against the corporation that relates only to its responsibilities under this chapter must be moved, if the corporation asks, to the U.S. district court where the suit was filed, and that court has original jurisdiction over it regardless of the amount involved or the parties' citizenship; and except that nothing in this paragraph, or elsewhere in this chapter, creates a private right to sue under this chapter; and (10) do any other act necessary and proper to carry out its purposes. (c) Powers Related to Amateur Athletics and the Olympic Games.— The corporation may— (1) serve as the coordinating body for U.S. amateur athletic activity tied to international amateur athletic competition; (2) represent the United States as its national Olympic committee with the International Olympic Committee and the Pan-American Sports Organization, and as its national Paralympic committee with the International Paralympic Committee; (3) organize, finance, and control U.S. representation in the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Pan-American Games, and Parapan American Games, and get amateur representation for those games directly or through the right national governing body; (4) certify national governing bodies for any sport on the program of those games; (5) help resolve, through orderly administrative procedures, conflicts or disputes involving any of its members and an amateur athlete, coach, trainer, manager, administrator, official, national governing body, or amateur sports organization, that arise from eligibility for and participation in those games, world championship competition, Pan-American world championship competition, or other protected competition as defined in the corporation's constitution and bylaws; and (6) give financial help to any organization or association — except a for-profit corporation — to further the corporation's purposes. (d) Duties.— (1) In General.— The corporation's duty to amateur athletes includes adopting, carrying out, and enforcing policies and procedures designed to— (A) immediately report to law enforcement and the Center any allegation of child abuse of a minor amateur athlete; (B) make sure every national governing body has policies to immediately report any allegation of child abuse of an amateur athlete, consistent with the policies developed under section 220541(a)(1)(C) and the requirement in section 220542(a)(2)(A); (C) make sure every national governing body and the corporation enforces temporary measures and sanctions the Center issues; and (D) for a sport where the corporation runs separate programs for female and male athletes, make sure female and male athletes representing the United States internationally get equivalent, nondiscriminatory compensation, wages, benefits, medical care, travel arrangements, and expense payment or reimbursement — from money the corporation directly gives the athlete, not counting prizes or awards based on performance — wherever these apply to those events. "Equivalent" means "equal," except it is allowed to (i) consider merit, performance, seniority, or amount of play in setting contract or other participation terms; and (ii) give more generous terms to athletes representing the United States internationally, to address gaps in outside income — including money from international sports federations and other event organizers — or to support underdeveloped programs or address documented, justified individual need for specific athletes or teams. (2) Advocacy.— The corporation must take all reasonable steps, working with affected athletes, to push international sports federations and other event organizers to equalize prizes, compensation, funding, and other support given to athletes. (3) Rule of Construction.— Nothing in this subsection cuts back the corporation's duty of care under state law or common law.