(The Center Square) – Congress has dropped the ball on protecting college athletes making business deals, so it’s up to states to score some legislative victories, said the sponsor of a bill that passed in the Arizona Senate with near unanimous support.
Senate Bill 1615, which adds protections for student athletes, was approved 26-1 on March 13. Three senators abstained from voting. It has been assigned to the House Education and Rules committees.
“There has been no federal framework that has been worked out on names, images and likeness. It’s very difficult to get anything passed in Congress,” said the bill’s sponsor, Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope.
“My general feeling is if we have an opportunity to act and we’re waiting on Congress to act, we might as well make a move,” Shope, R-Coolidge, told The Center Square last week.
Shope also sponsored Senate Bill 1296, which was signed into law in 2021 and permits college athletes to earn compensation for the use of their name, image or likeness.
The new bill adds protections and matches what’s being done in other states, Shope said.
The bill protects students by regulating those who advise them, he explained.
The legislation also prohibits regulators from preventing athletes from competing in sports because they were paid for their name, image or likeness, according to the bill’s text. Students also couldn’t be penalized for having an attorney or agent.
Additionally, SB 1615 allows nonprofits associated with college sports to put on 50/50 raffles to raise money to pay athletes whose name, image and athletes are used by the nonprofits, Shope said. He called the legislation “a win-win” for everyone.
The goal is to encourage students to stay in college sports in Arizona and not leave school early for professional sports, Shope said
Before being signed into law, the bill is expected to get one minor amendment in the House, which means it will have to go through another vote in the Senate, Shope said. He added he expects the Legislature will pass the bill in three to four weeks and noted it would take effect once signed into law.
The bill has support from the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University and Northern Arizona University, Shope said.
SB 1615 puts Arizona universities on “a level playing field” with universities in states such as Virginia, Utah and Georgia, which has enacted or are in the process of enacting name, likeness and image laws, Jamie Boggs, the vice president for athletics at Grand Canyon University, told the Senate Education Committee last month.
