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Committee approves bill allowing Arkansas colleges to directly pay student-athletes
Summary
The House Insurance & Commerce committee voted to pass House Bill 19‑17, a change to the Arkansas Student Athlete Publicity Rights Act that allows institutions to directly compensate student‑athletes for name, image and likeness (NIL) rights and adds related protections and tax accommodations.
With the committee’s approval, House Bill 19‑17 — an amendment to the Arkansas Student Athlete Publicity Rights Act — would allow Arkansas public institutions to directly pay student‑athletes for name, image and likeness use and add related legal and administrative clarifications.
Representative Shepherd, who presented the bill, said the change is a response to recent national litigation and settlements that are reshaping collegiate athletics. “This bill allows for institutions to directly pay student athletes,” Shepherd said, adding the measure clarifies that student‑athletes are not employees and preserves institution immunity. Matt McCoy, senior associate general counsel for athletics at the University of Arkansas, told the committee the provisions align state law with a pending settlement in the House v. NCAA litigation in the Northern District of California.
Supporters who testified included athletic directors and coaches from multiple Arkansas universities. Sam Pittman, head football coach at the University of Arkansas, said allowing institutional payments would “take a third party out of payments and let it come through the university, which we won't have to sit around and go, oh, did they get paid and get paid on time because we can control that.” Hunter Jurczyk, athletics director at the University of Arkansas, said the change helps create a level recruiting playing field for Arkansas institutions.
Committee members pressed on implementation details. Representative Richardson asked whether directly paying athletes could alter their employment status; McCoy said that question is the subject of pending litigation and that the bill is crafted around payments for publicity rights rather than wages. Representative Wooden asked where the institutional funds would come from; Shepherd and witnesses described the payments as coming from athletic department revenue, including media and conference distributions, and noted the bill builds on previous state NIL laws and earlier amendments.
The committee approved the bill on a voice vote after Representative Laderman moved to pass. The record shows the motion passed; a roll‑call tally was not recorded in the transcript.
