IL Student Athlete Pay Bill Currently Being Heard in Legislature

By Benjamin Cox on October 2, 2019 at 9:30am

Illinois college athletes may soon be the second in the nation to be paid. Two bills were filed in the Illinois House of Representatives over the last week to seek to pay college athletes for the usage of their name, image, and likeness by the NCAA.

Calumet City Democratic Rep. Thaddeus Jones filed HB 3898 last Wednesday to keep a university or college from “upholding any rule, requirement, standard, or other limitation that prevents a student athlete of that institution from earning compensation as a result of the use of the student’s name, image, or likeness,” as well as placing other protections on athletes against punishment for being compensated. Jones has filed a similar bill in previous General Assemblies, according to Illinois Center Square.

Westchester Democratic Representative Chris Welch filed similar legislation on Monday. California became the first state to enact a similar law on Monday when Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law on an HBO show hosted by NBA Star Lebron James. Newsom cited the amount of money that NCAA athletics as well as universities receiving money while student athletes receive none as being a rigged system. The NCAA has come out vehemently denying the new law’s effectiveness for paying students and says that it has already begun to cause confusion with an athlete’s amateur status for international play among other problems. The NCAA is responsible for 1,100 campuses and almost half a million student-athletes.