Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the State Legislation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board of Regents HBCU advisory council outlines bills to watch in 2026 legislative session
Summary
Council leaders reviewed the 2026 legislative calendar and highlighted priorities for HBCUs including hazing-prevention legislation, a statewide dual-enrollment application, digital-misuse measures, NIL protections and mental-health supports, and flagged bills on TOPS, campus firearms policy and governance structure.
Brianna, the council moderator, reviewed the legislative calendar and urged members to prepare for the 2026 regular session beginning March 9. She and legislators on the council highlighted a slate of bills they said would be priorities for HBCU institutions.
Key items lawmakers and council staff listed: hazing-prevention legislation that would expand training requirements and impose organizational sanctions; a dual-enrollment bill to create a statewide single-application process; statutes addressing digital misuse and AI-generated images under existing power-based-violence frameworks; pending NIL-related protections for student-athletes (including trust-account proposals); proposals to increase mental-health supports and stabilize MJ Foster funding; and several fiscal and governance items including scrutiny of TOPS and a bill to allow management boards more discretion over campus firearms policies. The moderator also noted a recently filed measure that would remove certain harassment-training requirements for some boards.
Representative Young, who chaired the NIL task force, said the panel will propose student-protection measures and is considering high-school trust accounts for minors who earn significant NIL income. "This is more than kids getting paid," he said, urging institutions to prepare legal, tax and advising resources for athletes.
Senator Price and others emphasized hazing-prevention and accountability after past incidents and asked for broad support for measures that would create training and organizational accountability. Council staff said reports and task-force recommendations (hazing, NIL, power-based violence) would be circulated to members.
The council set HBCU Day at the Capitol for March 17, 2026, requested staff to share bill links and recommended members maintain frequent contact with Board of Regents staff during the session. No formal votes on legislation were taken at the meeting.
