Legislation that would empower certain university employees to provide greater guidance to student athletes seeking to benefit from the use of their name, image and likenesses has been scheduled for a committee vote Friday after being heard in the Senate yesterday.
The NCAA adopted guidelines in 2021 that allow individuals to engage in NIL activities consistent with the law of the state where the school is located. However, policies vary state by state. In Washington, the Ethics in Public Service Act puts limits on what employees at public institutions can do. Senate Bill 5913 would clarify that public university employees in Washington are not prohibited from using public resources in advising, facilitation, acknowledgement or education pertaining to NIL and student athletes seeking to benefit from it so long as those resources are under the direction of the university employee.
WSU has been supportive of this bill, working in collaboration with the University of Washington. Chris Mulick, WSU Director of State Relations, told the Senate State Government and Elections Committee on Tuesday that “the bill clarifies that university personnel would be permitted to go beyond providing the high level of educational awareness that we’re already able to do and it moves towards providing specific counseling on the actual NIL opportunities.”
Mulick added that student athletes that would benefit most “are those who are on sports that are not the revenue generators.”
You can view the testimony below: