The wheels are in motion to allow the University of Colorado and other in-state institutions to provide financial compensation for student-athletes.

House Bill 1041 on student-athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) was introduced in January and was passed by the House Education Committee on Thursday, sending it to the House floor for a vote.

“As collegiate athletics continues to undergo seismic changes nationwide, Colorado House Bill 1041 gives CU Athletics and other athletic departments across the state the mechanism to meet the new realities of student-athlete revenue sharing,” CU athletic director Rick George said in a statement provided to BuffZone. “This bill will allow universities to compensate student-athletes for their name, image, and likeness rights, while simultaneously bringing previous state law up to date with these dynamic times and protecting student-athlete privacy.”

While the education committee moved the bill to the House by a 9-4 vote, there is concern from some representatives about one aspect of the bill, which includes an open records exemption for student-athlete NIL agreements. The bill received bipartisan support from the education committee but also concerns from both parties over the public records exceptions.

Even those who voted against the bill said they agree with the idea of compensating the student-athletes, but do not agree with keeping those agreements sealed from the public, as CU is a public institution.

“I think that the fact that we’re being asked for a CORA (Colorado Open Records Act) carve-out in this particular way still remains a bit unsettling to me,” House assistant majority leader Jennifer Bacon said. “CORA is a really important tool along with public procurement law to help the public understand how money is being spent from its public institutions.

“When I vote ‘no’ today, it’s for that point; not against the premise that our students deserve to get paid.”

Said Rep. Anthony Hartsook: “When we are dealing with public institutions, public funding, taxpayers’ money, I’m a believer that information should be disclosed.”

Bacon and others said they would like continued conversation on the open records aspect of the bill.

“I so want to vote for this, but that CORA piece, that transparency piece has me held up right now,” Rep. Lori Garcia Sander said. “For today I’m a no, but like Rep. (Eliza) Hamrick and Rep. Bacon said, hopefully there’s some more conversation and something that might shift me between now and the floor vote.”

The bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Lesley Smith, a former CU-Boulder regent, still needs to be passed by the House and Senate before going to the governor for final approval to become a law. Senators Judy Amabile and James Coleman also sponsored the bill.

The main premise of the bill is to allow CU, Colorado State and other schools to provide NIL compensation for student-athletes. Under current Colorado law, schools and athletic associations are not allowed to pay student-athletes directly.

“Colorado’s current NIL law is outdated and needs to be updated to comply with upcoming NCAA rules,” Smith said in her closing statement Thursday night. “This legislation aligns Colorado with a national trend and creates a level playing field with both public and private institutions in other states.”

NCAA rules have prohibited payment of student-athletes, as well, but in October a judge granted preliminary approval of a settlement in the (U.S.) House vs. NCAA antitrust case. That will allow schools across the country to compensate student-athletes. Final approval is expected at a hearing on April 7.

Once the House vs. NCAA settlement is approved, NCAA schools that opt in may distribute up to about $20 million during the 2025-26 school year to their student-athletes through revenue sharing. The Big 12 Conference has mandated that all of its schools, including CU, opt in to the settlement.

In order to comply with the House settlement, CU and other in-state NCAA institutions need House Bill 1041 to become a law.

Currently, there are 28 states, including Colorado, that have NIL laws on the books and have or are in the process of updating those laws to comply with NCAA rules. There are eight states that have adopted open records exceptions for student-athlete NIL agreements.

CU has argued that the agreements should be sealed in part because student-athletes are not identified as university employees. In addition, the money distributed to student-athletes through revenue sharing will come from media rights, and ticket and merchandise sales and not from state funds or tuition.

George also cited mental health as a primary reason for keeping those records sealed. He has been a major proponent of mental health during his nearly 12 years as CU’s athletic director.

“This is really important to protect our student-athletes,” George said when he spoke to the education committee on Jan. 29. “We are one of the most visible programs in the country. There’s already a ton of scrutiny on our student-athletes, where it impacts their mental health and their financial well-being.

“It’s important to note that if we put this out there about exactly what they’re making and all of that, it puts them under a lot more scrutiny. If they have a bad game, if they have a bad season, ‘Why are you paying this student athlete this much money?’ It impacts the student-athletes from the mental health perspective.”

Smith told the committee that a report on how the money is being spent will be available to the public, breaking it down by sport and gender, without identifying individual students.

Rep. Jarvis Caldwell had initial concerns over the open records exemption but said he was satisfied by the compromise to disclose financial records by sport and gender.

“If this were direct public taxpayer money going to it, I would be very unwilling to move on ‘no, this has to be disclosed,’” Caldwell said. “It being an enterprise does change that factor for me. I think offering that bit of protection (to the student-athletes) is important as well.”