A year after discussions reached a halt in the Florida Legislature, House Bill 7B cruised unanimously — 113-0 in the House of Representatives on Thursday and then 34-0 in the Senate on Friday — expanding the capability of name, image and likeness discussions between college employees and athletes.

The ammendment could be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis later Friday or next week, becoming the new law. DeSantis has long been an advocate of NIL legislation and Florida became the first state to push through a law that went into effect on July 1, 2021.

The biggest limitation of NIL legislation is that Florida's law prevents a coach, athletics director or administrator from facilitating a deal between a business and an athlete. This repeal opens the door for more communication, and levels the playing field by comparison to other states — where school officials could talk freely about opportunities to prospects or current athletes.

HB 7B is the latest effort by Rep. Chip LaMarca (R-Fort Lauderdale), who has long championed student-athletes abilities to capitalize on their name image and likeness. The bill "revises provisions relating to athlete agents representing intercollegiate athletes for certain purposes, compensation that intercollegiate athletes may receive, postsecondary educational institutions requirements, & specified workshops; & provides specified individuals are not liable for damages."

FSU athletics director Michael Alford has chaired the Lead1 working group on name, image and likeness. Alford has often lobbied in Tallahassee for the amended legislation as well as in Washington to educate on the importance of a uniform NIL law.

“When it comes to the NIL space, we’re constantly working up on this hill (Florida Capitol) and I'm in D.C. (US Capitol),” Alford told the Osceola in January. “I was actually on a phone call this morning and texting last night with the senator who just got sworn in about his thoughts on NIL and what they can do in D.C. And we're working here in the state every day to make some adjustments to the bill here as we can't be involved in (NIL) with the (current) state law. So you have various collectives out there but we can't have communication with them. And that's really what we're asking for is just the ability to communicate. We're not gonna go out and negotiate the agreements with the individual student-athletes. I think the communication, that right now is not allowed, needs to be in place, and that's something I think would be viable in the new bill.”

For colleges in Florida, NIL collectives have handled business deals for student-athletes. Battle's End has announced relationships with about 35 FSU football players. Rising Spear has focused its efforts on basketball players and Olympics sports athletes.

While the NCAA has asked Congress to enact legislation, efforts in Washington, D.C., to offer federal legislation have stalled out despite a push by a variety of elected officials — on both sides of the aisle as well as those who have backgrounds in college athletics.

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