Pared-back ‘Right to Play’ bill advances in General Assembly, awaits
Senate action
[April 17, 2025]
By Peter Hancock
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House gave its approval to legislation that
would give high school athletes a limited right to compete in non-school
events or on non-school teams during the same season in which they play
for their school.
The House voted 68-39 on April 9 to pass a scaled-back version of a bill
known as the Right to Play Act. It would partially override an existing
rule of the Illinois High School Association that says students who
participate on a school team may not also participate on a non-school
team or compete in outside tournaments or events in the same sport
during the same season, unless they obtain permission from both their
school and IHSA.
The association currently allows students to obtain as many as three
waivers in a season to compete in outside contests or tournaments if
those events are sanctioned by the sport’s national governing body.
Rep. Janet Yang-Rohr, D-Naperville, said she thinks that rule is too
restrictive because it doesn’t allow for events sponsored by
international sports organizations.
“Our athletes right now in Illinois have to decline invitations from
FIFA (the international soccer governing body), from the Olympic
development program, from offers to play with national teams in Canada
and Scotland, because these IHSA rules compel the organization to deny
their waiver requests,” she said on the House floor. “This legislation
will finally be able to let those student athletes participate in those
events too.”
Under the amended bill, student athletes would be able to obtain waivers
for as many as two outside events per year, including “all-star team”
events. But they would only need the agreement of their school’s
principal or athletics director, not IHSA. The bill also would not
require the events to be sanctioned by any official governing body.
That is significantly more restrictive than the original bill, which
would have removed the prohibition on simultaneous participation almost
entirely. It would have prohibited participating in both a school
competition or practice and a non-school activity on the same day.
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Rep. Janet Yang-Rohr urges passage of a bill to let high school
athletes compete simultaneously on school teams and in non-school
events during debate on the House floor Wednesday, April 9. (Capitol
News Illinois photo by Andrew Campbell)
That proposal passed out of the House Education Policy Committee in
March, despite warnings from some critics that allowing unrestricted
dual participation could endanger the health and safety of the athletes
while also setting up the possibility of conflict between a school coach
and non-school coach.
But Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, who voted for the
amended bill, said during floor debate that he would have preferred
going even further in limiting the authority of IHSA.
“This is an unfortunate turn with your amendments, but I completely
appreciate … what you had to do to get this started,” he said during
floor debate. “But frankly, let’s next year – and I’ll join you – get
this completely wiped out. Get the IHSA back in the lane where they
should be, which is to be fair and to allow all these students to have
every equal opportunity for scholarships that they can get.”
IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in an email Wednesday that
the association still opposes the proposed legislation because it puts
principals and athletic directors in charge of deciding whether a
student should be granted a waiver.
“It’s my understanding that the schools prefer a process whereby review
of such participation is considered by the Association to create equity
in opportunities across the membership,” Anderson said.
The bill now awaits further action in the Senate.
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