In light of the changing college sports landscape with student-athletes able to make money off of their athletic images and sports agents playing a larger role in negotiating and managing those contracts, the D.C. Council has pending legislation regulating those areas.
D.C. Council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) serves as the chief sponsor of the bill, the College Student Athlete Compensation Amendment Act of 2021.
“My bill would allow student athletes in the District to be compensated for NIL activity, set boundaries on the types of products or activities that athletes may endorse, enables universities to set reasonable rules around NIL activity and protect intellectual property, updates the athletes’ agent statute requirements, and maintains prohibitions on pay-for play or performance as well as payments to induce attendance at a particular school,” Henderson said in her Sept. 29 e-newsletter to District residents.
Henderson’s bill has the support of Council members Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8), Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1) and Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4). The bill sits in the Committee of the Whole, chaired by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D). A hearing on the bill occurred on Sept. 28.
Mendelson hasn’t indicated when further consideration of Henderson’s bill will take place. She said “I look forward to working with the chairman to advance this legislation during this Council Period” in her e-newsletter.
The present Council Period ends on Dec. 31.
Mendelson has two bills dealing with college athletics. One bill, the Uniform Athlete Agents Act Amendment Act of 2021, would require an athlete agent to notify the school at which the student-athlete plays before contacting the athlete and give the student-athlete a right of legal action against am athlete agent. The agents bill would also expand the definition of “athlete agent”, provide for reciprocal registration of agents licensed in other states, among other things.
Mendelson’s second bill, the Uniform College Athlete Name, Image and Likeness Act of 2021, would set up a framework for District-level regulation of NIL providing college athletes with protections for their NIL rights while correcting competitive imbalances created by inconsistent NIL laws of other states.
Mendelson’s bills received attention during the Committee of the Whole meeting on Sept. 28. The chairman hasn’t indicated when further action will take place on his bills.
@JamesWrightJr10
