Leaders of the House Education & Workforce, Energy & Commerce and Judiciary committees on 10 July introduced the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, the most comprehensive federal effort yet to govern college athletes’ name, image and likeness (NIL) income. The bipartisan bill is spearheaded by Chairs Tim Walberg, Brett Guthrie and Jim Jordan and is co-sponsored by Democrats Janelle Bynum of Oregon and Shomari Figures of Alabama alongside Florida Republican Gus Bilirakis. The legislation would replace the current patchwork of more than 30 state NIL statutes with uniform national rules and give a new Collegiate Sports Commission—and, by extension, the NCAA—clear authority to police them. It codifies athletes’ right to earn outside NIL income while empowering the NCAA to set transfer and eligibility rules, bars schools from treating athletes as employees, and shields governing bodies from antitrust suits arising from those regulations. The measure also requires Division I programs whose head coaches earn above $250,000 to field at least 16 varsity teams by July 2027, prohibits schools with at least $50 million in media-rights revenue from using student fees to fund athletics, and mandates health, academic and financial-literacy benefits. An initial markup is scheduled for 15 July, positioning the bill to advance amid mounting pressure created by a recent $2.7 billion antitrust settlement and escalating NIL spending.