I’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. The NCAA’s plan for college athletes’ NIL rights in the face of legislative action has been, shall we say, lukewarm at best, so what does California, where the first such statutory challenge emerged, do?
Why, California doubles down, bitch.
The California state legislator who wrote what became the first state law designed to allow college athletes to make money from their name, image and likeness introduced a bill Monday that would expand the law’s impact and could hasten potential conflicts between state statutes and NCAA rules.
As overwhelmingly passed by both houses of the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2019, the law already includes provisions that are less restrictive than proposed name-image-and-likeness (NIL) rules changes that the NCAA unveiled last month in preparation for a vote in January 2021.
Sen. Nancy Skinner’s new bill could create additional differences, and it would make the law effective as soon as Aug. 1, 2021 — 17 months earlier than the current date. Specifically, the bill would change the law’s effective date to either Jan. 1, 2022 or on the start date of the NCAA’s NIL rules changes. As currently proposed, that would be Aug. 1, 2021.
Skinner was joined in sponsoring the bill by state Sen. Steven Bradford.
“It’s good that the NCAA has followed California’s lead, but their proposed rules changes come up short,” Skinner said in a statement. “The NCAA doesn’t appear willing to give student athletes the autonomy and full range of benefits that California law does. My new bill will ensure that California athletes are not unfairly and unnecessarily restricted.”
I think I’m gonna need a bigger bag of popcorn.
Get The Picture 
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California is such a mixed bag. On one hand, they’re championing the individual’s right to make money with NIL legislation. But then the other hand tries to make side hustles illegal.
California is what happens when you try to legislate every possible thing under the sun that you can.
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The pessimist in me says California has a 99.9% state tax on NIL income hidden somewhere in the bill.
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Some college athlete, having been freed of his shackles by Cali’s progressive NIL statute, proceeds to sue the state claiming its restrictive Covid mandates prevent him from realizing his full NIL income because his athletic contests have been cancelled.
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Gotta wonder when the NIL starts to have an effect on recruiting. Contrary to the idea Californians lead miserable lives and are broke because of high taxes or regulations, most seem happy living there, and the schools are just fine. I’ve been to several campuses in Cali including UCLA, USC, Stanford, and Cal-Berkeley and been thoroughly impressed.
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“Contrary to the idea Californians lead miserable lives and are broke because of high taxes or regulations, most seem happy living there, and the schools are just fine.” — well said WCD, exactly. I’m originally from South GA and resemble this remark. I’ve got 30 years in GA and 20 in CA. Truly 2 places I am proud to call home.
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We don’t have to worry about Cal as much as we have to worry about Florida, their bill is set for July. SEC should get out front (I know it’s not going to happen) and do something or the SEC recruiting will be the wild wild west.
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