KENTUCKY — Recently, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was joined at the State Capitol in Frankfort by lawmakers, university leaders, coaches and student athletes, as he signed legislation that allows student athletes in Kentucky to receive fair compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness.

"This is a multi-billion dollar industry and those who truly drive it, the athletes, have had other people profit off their name, off their image, what we look like, you know, those are things given to us by God or with your name by your parents. And so those are things that those athletes ought to be able to control. Now, the other thing it helps us with is to set athletes up for success, right? To try to get them financially stable to provide that financial literacy, and a lot of them are already giving back. I know the Louisville women's team put together backpacks for a West End School when they were going back to school on one of the first couple days and they did it with the NIL money that some of them were earning, pretty special," explains Beshear.

Gov. Beshear was the “first governor to sign an executive order immediately allowing students to receive such compensation after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA and its rules limiting educational benefits for college players as part of their scholarships” in June of last year after consulting with lawmakers and universities.

Senate Bill 6 codified the Governor’s Executive Order 2021-418 into state law.

You can watch the full In Focus segment above.