By Creg Stephenson
al.com
(TNS)
The controversial Mississippi Senate bill that would have made college athletes’ Name, Image and Likeness income exempt from state taxation died in committee, according to a report Tuesday by the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson.
The bill was met with widespread public backlash after it was proposed last month by Republican State Sen. Trey Lamar of Senatobia. When the bill reached the committee stage this week, the discussion was brief.
“I don’t know about the rest of you on this committee,” Republican Sen. Dean Kirby of Pearl said, “but I’ve had several constituents that have called me that are not happy at all about this bill.”
Lamar’s bill was proposed in order to help Mississippi and its two major-conference athletic programs, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, compete in recruiting with states such as Florida, Tennessee and Texas that have no state income tax.
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A similar bill introduced in the Alabama House in 2025 also died in committee.
Mississippi has plans to phase out state income tax for all citizens over the next 12 years, but the change would have been retroactive to Jan. 1 for college athletes.
The NIL bill passed the House but was killed Monday by a unanimous vote of the state’s Senate finance committee.
Photo credit: Mississippi State Athletics
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