Undoubtedly, one of the biggest pieces of legislation at the Colorado Capitol this year is House Bill 1041.

Known as the Student Athlete Name Image or Likeness Act, HB 1041 would allow colleges and universities to pay student athletes directly. But one small clause in this bill prevents us from being able to put our weight behind it: the fact that athlete’s compensation would be exempt from open records requests.

In 2021, the NCAA authorized students to be compensated in so-called name, image and likeness deals, so long as the source of compensation was a non-school entity. That NIL authorization fundamentally reorganized college athletics — and quickly made the top stars into millionaires.

Now, the NIL field is changing again. The settlement of the class action lawsuit House v. NCAA opened up the door for student athletes to be paid directly by their schools.

But in order for Colorado’s schools to be able to do so, the state Legislature will have to OK these direct payments. That’s where HB 1041 comes in. The Student Athlete Name Image or Likeness Act would help keep schools like CU on a level playing field.

To be absolutely clear: We take no issue with the Legislature’s effort to allow schools to directly pay their athletes. It is a big issue that has the potential to reshape both college athletics and universities themselves. But it also continues to help address the historic exploitation of the talents of student athletes.

But despite our support for NIL reform, we cannot back this measure. The fundamental flaw in the bill is a provision that exempts the contracts of student athletes from the Colorado Open Records Act.

The bill’s sponsors, including Boulder’s Rep. Lesley Smith and Sen. Judy Amabile, argue that keeping student compensation private will help to protect the students. They also say it is necessary for “recruiting and competitive balance.”

We sympathize with the desire to protect student athletes in principle. But hiding their compensation from public scrutiny is not the way to go about it. One tough but inherent reality of being an athlete in the spotlight is that scrutiny will come with attention. Providing students with mental health support and the necessary resources and environment where they can develop into responsible citizens would go a long way further than simply hiding their salary.

Especially when the trade-off is put into context. Our state’s taxpayer-supported universities are going to begin doling out contracts that are potentially worth millions of dollars — don’t we taxpayers want to be able to make sure these schools are using that money wisely?

In a perfect world, we could trust these schools to always play by the rules and act with integrity. But this is not a perfect world. Considering some of the many scandals that have marred college athletics in pursuit of glory — including the situation at CU Boulder that resulted in the Title IX lawsuit Simpson v. University of Colorado — it is always better to prioritize transparency.

Finally, the notion that private contracts will help our schools stay competitive is a stretch. Last year, the Washington Post reported that 24 states require public colleges and universities to disclose NIL deals, and another 26 states, Colorado included, require that student-athletes disclose NIL deals to their schools. In other words, NIL deals have been — and should remain — public.

We can’t put it any better than the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in their opposition to HB 1041: “We object to the notion of keeping details of these payments under wraps because transparency, ultimately, is the only antiseptic that can keep big-time college athletics from becoming infected by avarice any more than it already is. How money comes in and out of public institutions is clearly a matter of public interest.”

To some, whether or not NIL contracts at public universities are subject to open records requests might seem like a small issue. But we must all look at this issue in its true context: Transparency is the only thing preventing our government from acting with impunity. Considering the world we are living in today, do we really want to let transparency be eroded any further?

Before HB 1041 goes any further, our lawmakers must make sure that NIL contracts are subject to open records requests. On issues big and small, we must remember that the government is doing our bidding with our money. We deserve to be able to throw open the curtains and let the sun shine.

— Gary Garrison for the Editorial Board