Florida’s NIL law is one step away from being repealed. The state’s House and Senate voted in favor of repealing a 2020 law. HB 7B has passed both chambers without any votes of opposition and will head to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

Florida was among the first states to pass a bill allowing for name, image and likeness compensation prior to the NCAA’s change in stance on the issue. With new NCAA guidelines, the Florida law has been viewed as putting the state’s universities at a competitive disadvantage with its restrictions.

“Unfortunately with new rules with the NCAA, we are behind the 8-ball in the state of Florida,” Sen. Travis Hutson (R-Palm Coast) told Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times. “So this bill will try to get us back on an even playing field from all the hard work (lawmakers) did a couple years ago.”

State lawmakers see the repeal as a way of following the NCAA guidelines without extra restrictions for Sunshine State universities.

“In my opinion, we in the state of Florida (don’t) want to keep coming back and chasing the NCAA every time they make new rules and new decisions, and they made some as recently as a couple weeks ago,” Hutson said, per Baker. “So this bill just says we’re going to follow the NCAA, but more importantly be on an even playing field with the rest of the nation as it relates to what other states are doing.”

The headlining change with the new bill is that teams and coaches can now be involved in facilitating compensation deals. NCAA rules prohibit programs from directly paying players.

The bill also calls for workshops for players on matters such as financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Liability protection for coaches and schools regarding players’ reduced participation is also addressed in the new Florida bill.