Iowa Hawkeye athletes could be considered University employees if a recently introduced bill becomes law.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports that Rep. Bruce Hunter (D-Des Moines), who currently serves as the ranking member of the Iowa House Labor Committee, has introduced a bill that would classify college athletes in the state as employees due to their compensation by universities.

If passed, the bill would apply to Iowa’s three public institutions: Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa, but not to any private schools in the state. Per Dodd’s report, Hunter’s bill would allow the Iowa state board of regents the ability to set athlete compensation, similarly to the way it sets compensation for other university employees.

While name, image and likeness (NIL) deals have revived the debate surrounding whether student-athletes should be considered employees, Dodd reports that Hunter’s bill is unlikely to pass in Iowa:

“My intel says it has no legs,” said a high-ranking source from one of those public schools who did not want to be identified.

It will certainly be interesting to see if other state lawmakers start having these kinds of conversations about student-athletes.