TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7-B into law Thursday, a move that will allow student-athletes in the state to protect themselves from financial exploitation of their name, image or likeness. 

The new law would ease a restriction established in a 2020 law that barred colleges and other educational institutions from helping to connect student-athletes with NIL opportunities.

 The act also provides for an expansion of financial literacy, life skills and entrepreneurship workshops that allow athletes to be better prepared for the quickly changing sports economy. 

The legislation also requires agents of student-athletes to protect them from exploitation and unauthorized use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). The law adds that postsecondary educational institutions aren't liable for damages as a result of "routine actions" taken in the course of intercollegiate athletics. 

"In 2020, we took a commonsense approach to ensure that student-athletes could control their name, image and likeness and be paid fairly for it," DeSantis said in a statement. "Now that the NCAA has taken necessary steps to ensure fairness for student-athletes, we can focus on making sure that those athletes are supported and protected under the law."

The issue of compensation for student-athletes was most recently in the news after high school quarterback Jaden Rashada formally switched his verbal commitment from the University of Florida over a failed NIL compensation agreement.

The Associated Press reported that Rashada had a signed payment deal with the Gator Collective, a group that had agreed to compensate him during his time playing for the University. The group terminated the deal for unknown reasons, and Rashada recently committed to Arizona State.