republic-os/legislation/us/states/ky/2025rs/sb-3.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to student-athletes and declaring an emergency."
description: "Amend KRS 164.6941 to define terms; amend KRS 164.6943 to allow the limitation of earning compensation through a NIL agreement through an institutional agreement between the student-athlete and the institution or affiliated organization; permit an institution or association to require compensation be consistent with the prevailing range of compensation; amend KRS 164.6945 to conform and authorize a student-athlete to receive compensation from an institution or its affiliated corporation through a written institutional agreement; authorize an institution or affiliated corporation to designate a media rights holder or other third parties whom an institution's student-athletes may directly enter into NIL agreements with; amend KRS 164.6947 to conform and provide affiliated corporation's employees with the same liability protections as institution employees as it relates to damages resulting from decisions and actions routinely taken in the course of intercollegiate athletics; delete language providing that nothing in the section protects institutions from acts of gross negligence and certain misconduct; exempt a student-athlete's institutional agreements not from disclosure under the Kentucky Open Records Act; amend KRS 164.6949 to include the waiver for actions brought on institutional agreements under KRS 45A.245; amend KRS 164.6951 to conform and include prospective student athletes in provisions concerning the reaffirming of NIL agreements or agency contracts when no longer participating in intercollegiate athletics; amend KRS 156.070 to include school property in the prohibition of a high school student-athlete's use of member school property; EMERGENCY."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2025RS"
identifier: "SB 3"
citation: "Kentucky SB 3 (2025RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Athletics", "Education", "Finance", "Education", "Higher", "Effective Dates", "Emergency", "Public Records and Reports", "Universities and Colleges"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 3
action_count: 21
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-18T05:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2025-03-13T04:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6ae19381-66be-48e8-a9ed-b3a4389d9583"
source_url: "https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/25RS/sb3.html"
source_hash: "f80b0f50aec985f9682247fadbbe29f70df0fa9794d1cd32b57425355a97f4a4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky SB 3 (2025RS) — AN ACT relating to student-athletes and declaring an emergency.

Amend KRS 164.6941 to define terms; amend KRS 164.6943 to allow the limitation of earning compensation through a NIL agreement through an institutional agreement between the student-athlete and the institution or affiliated organization; permit an institution or association to require compensation be consistent with the prevailing range of compensation; amend KRS 164.6945 to conform and authorize a student-athlete to receive compensation from an institution or its affiliated corporation through a written institutional agreement; authorize an institution or affiliated corporation to designate a media rights holder or other third parties whom an institution's student-athletes may directly enter into NIL agreements with; amend KRS 164.6947 to conform and provide affiliated corporation's employees with the same liability protections as institution employees as it relates to damages resulting from decisions and actions routinely taken in the course of intercollegiate athletics; delete language providing that nothing in the section protects institutions from acts of gross negligence and certain misconduct; exempt a student-athlete's institutional agreements not from disclosure under the Kentucky Open Records Act; amend KRS 164.6949 to include the waiver for actions brought on institutional agreements under KRS 45A.245; amend KRS 164.6951 to conform and include prospective student athletes in provisions concerning the reaffirming of NIL agreements or agency contracts when no longer participating in intercollegiate athletics; amend KRS 156.070 to include school property in the prohibition of a high school student-athlete's use of member school property; EMERGENCY.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/sb3/orig_bill.pdf)
2. **Acts Chapter 10** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/25RS/documents/0010.pdf)
3. **Current/Final** (committee substitute) — [source](https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/25RS/sb3/bill.pdf)

## Votes

- Final Passage — **97–0** (pass) · upper
- PASS SB 3 — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2025-02-18T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (S) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-20T05:00:00+00:00** to Education (S) `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-26T05:00:00+00:00** taken from Education (S)
- **2025-02-26T05:00:00+00:00** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-26T05:00:00+00:00** returned to Education (S)
- **2025-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 2nd reading, to Rules `committee-passage`
- **2025-02-27T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 04, 2025
- **2025-03-04T05:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 38-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** received in House
- **2025-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** to Committee on Committees (H) `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-05T05:00:00+00:00** to Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H) `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-06T05:00:00+00:00** reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-07T05:00:00+00:00** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2025-03-07T05:00:00+00:00** posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 11, 2025
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** 3rd reading, passed 97-0 `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** received in Senate
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by President of the Senate `passage`
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House `passage`
- **2025-03-11T04:00:00+00:00** delivered to Governor
- **2025-03-13T04:00:00+00:00** signed by Governor (Acts Ch. 10) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6ae19381-66be-48e8-a9ed-b3a4389d9583`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).