Arkansas Speaker of the House Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R- El Dorado, filed House Bill 1671 on March 8; it has since been passed by members of the Arkansas House by a vote of 97-1 on March 29 and is now awaiting consideration in the Senate Education Committee.
The bill would allow collegiate athletes in Arkansas to enter into contracts and deals to earn money off of their name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness.
“Congress and the federal government have failed to act in the area,” Shepherd said. “Several states have passed similar legislation now. This is an issue that has come to the forefront across the country and if we don’t act now, we will have to wait two years to address it.”
The federal government may have been slow to act, but there is currently movement at the federal level on the topic. United States Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) introduced the The College Athlete Economic Freedom Act for consideration in early February.
The proposed legislation would similarly cover name, image and likeness (NIL) rights for college athletes. It goes well beyond existing proposed legislation at the federal and state level and the proposed new NCAA rules, according to Trahan’s website, by giving athletes broad rights, including virtually unrestricted access to earning NIL income in individual and group NIL agreements.
The restriction of access to income deals with the current consideration of NIL legislation by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that would put caps on earning power of collegiate athletes, according to CBS Sports. Whatever version of NIL that the NCAA comes up with, it is expected to be made public by August, according to CBS Sports reporting.
The College Athlete Economic Freedom Act is currently in the U.S. Senate committee of Commerce, Science, and Transportation for consideration.
One of the states Shepherd referred to that has adopted similar legislation is Florida. Florida’s bill, entitled Intercollegiate Athlete Compensation and Rights was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, in June of 2020 and will go into effect this July.
The bill currently in the state Senate allows student athletes to enter into outside contracts but would not strip students of their scholarships, nor does it require higher education institutions to pay students to play collegiate sports.
“If Coach [Dan] Mullen from the [University of] Florida is in our state, and we’re trying to keep our guy in our state and we don’t have the same opportunities for that young man to come to the University of Arkansas as they do at the University of Florida, we’re at a recruiting disadvantage,” Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Sam Pittman said in recent testimony to the Arkansas House about the importance of having a NIL law that will allow the state’s athletic programs to still be competitive in recruiting.
Some critics of the bill say it doesn’t go far enough in addressing “pay for play” and Shepherd says the current bill wasn’t designed to address those issues.
“That’s not something I’m trying to do or deal with at this point,” Shepherd said. “We’re trying to deal with the issue that was put in front of us which is the name, image and likeness issue. I think it is a positive step for student athletes but it also protects the institutions of higher education and balances both of their interests while allowing student athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.”