As current and former athletes at NCAA-member institutions increasingly look toward the courts for relief from NCAA bylaws they deem unfair, a new ally has emerged in their endeavors to gain ground in this facet of the ongoing war between capital and labor. That new ally is state legislatures.

The mounting number of state legislatures who are considering drafting legislation aimed to give athletes at NCAA-member institutions more and new rights which aren’t currently afforded them under NCAA bylaws began in Washington state earlier this year.