On August 31th, 2021, California passed a Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) law for their colleges and institutions. California will see the legislation go live, effective September 1, 2021. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 26 allowing intercollegiate student athletes the ability to earn compensation for the use of their NIL.
Bill
Status
Signed Into Law
Effective
Date
09/01/2021
NCAA
Institutions
57
Estimated
NCAA Athletes
17,100
High School
NIL Legislation
Yes
Last Updated 08/22/22
This bill was introduced to California’s Senate in early December 2020, to amend the already passed Senate Bill 206 and bump the effective date up to September 2021. It took a little under eight months to pass through the Senate and the House, and ultimately, be signed into law. The following components have been spelled out from the Bill:
In order to ensure that California postsecondary educational institutions and college athletes are not placed at a disadvantage to those in other states where name, image, and likeness laws will go into effect this year, and in order to ensure that California college athletes, including low-income student athletes and those with children and dependents, can adequately provide for themselves and their families, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
Now that Student Athletes will have the ability to profit off of their name, image and likeness, they have to remain conscious about certain thresholds that could have certain tax consequences. Specific to the State of California:
This bill, the Fair Pay to Play Act, would make these provisions operative on September 1, 2021, and would make them applicable to the California Community Colleges. The bill would prohibit California postsecondary educational institutions and every athletic association, conference, or other group or organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from providing a prospective intercollegiate student athlete with compensation in relation to the athlete’s athletic reputation, or preventing a student participating in intercollegiate athletics from earning compensation as a result of the use of the student’s athletic reputation. The bill would prohibit an athletic association, conference, or other group or organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from preventing a postsecondary educational institution from participating in intercollegiate athletics as a result of the compensation of a student athlete for the use of the student’s athletic reputation. The bill would prohibit the revocation of a student’s scholarship as a result of earning compensation for the use of the student’s athletic reputation.
California NIL started on July 1, 2021, per the NCAA Interim Policies and with the passage of Senate Bill 26, California State NIL laws also took effect on September 1, 2021.
California NCAA Student-Athletes will be able to earn compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness (NIL) through a multitude of different opportunities. Student-Athletes can now make money for things such as endorsements, sponsorships, appearances, autographs, memorabilia, podcasts, camps, clinics, private lessons, crowdfunding, and many more!
Both athletes and administrators in the State of California should start by making sure they have a proper understanding of the rules and regulations set-forth by Senate Bill 26. A working-knowledge of the ‘Dos and Don’ts’ for California NIL will allow all parties to safely and successfully navigate the new landscape. The next most important aspect would be the compliance component of NIL. Not only do students need to make sure they are entering agreements that are compliant with the passed state regulations, but they need to make sure they are transparent with their school to avoid any institutional conflicts.
All institutions with NCAA athletic programs are affected by NIL. In the state of California, the following schools will be affected:
D1
D2
D3
NAIA
NJCAA
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