Three Republican senators have filed an amendment to close what they see as a loophole in the Protect College Sports Act to prevent any possibility of the federal law overriding state bans on men who identify as women playing in women’s sports.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Jim Banks (R-IN), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), are worried that the bill’s federal preemption measure could be used to override state protections of women’s sports, according to OutKick.
“I’ve reviewed the current draft of the Senate NIL bill, and I am very concerned it PREEMPTS Missouri’s law banning men in women’s sports,” Hawley wrote on X. “This is what @Riley_Gaines_ has been saying. Big, big problem.”
Banks added that he cannot support the bill as written because it prevents Indiana from enforcing its own laws.
“Indiana has one of the strongest laws in the country that keeps biological men from competing in women’s sports,” Banks explained. “As the father of three daughters, I can’t support any legislation that would preempt Indiana’s law. This amendment would make sure the Protect College Sports Act protects female athletes.”
Tuberville called protecting women’s sports one of this era’s biggest civil rights issues.
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“Democrats have proven again and again they don’t give a rip about protecting women from mentally ill men who wake up one day and decide to dress up like a girl,” Tuberville said. “I’m proud to stand with Senators Hawley and Banks in introducing this commonsense amendment to protect millions of female student athletes.”
The current bill could also allow the NCAA to become exempt from being held accountable for violating Title IX rules because the bill would shield the NCAA from liability for its past and future eligibility rules.
The current bill does not address the issue of any such NCAA violations, but it could be read to give the NCAA protection against challenges under federal law.
The bill was filed to bring national guidance to the wildly growing controversies over Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules in college sports, which allow colleges to pay student athletes to play their sport and also allow those athletes to earn money and endorsement deals based on their images and sports fame.
Currently every state is doing its own thing on NIL rules and the mix of rules is causing havoc in college sports. The NCAA has been calling for some sort of national rules for several years and has been angling to be allowed more power to regulate the practices nationally through its own league rules.
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