Colorado lawmakers could decide next year whether collegiate athletes should be eligible to make money from the billion-dollar industry they contribute to.

California took the leap first when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday allowing collegiate players to receive endorsement deals, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Colorado representatives told 9News that they had already planned on doing the same prior to California’s move.

“As painful as it is for me to admit, California got it right,” Republican state Sen. Owen Hill to 9News.

Colorado’s forthcoming bill would break the rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and allow student athletes the right to sue the organization if it got in the way of profits.

“This law doesn’t compel anyone to do anything,” Hill said. “It just says if a player wants to go out and work an endorsement to get sponsored, that they can do that, and if the NCAA tries to prevent them, then enforcement of that violates Colorado’s law.” 

The NCAA has criticized California’s bill, saying that any new rules should be decided within their organization to allow for equality.

“It isn’t possible to resolve the challenges of today’s college sports environment in this way – by one state taking unilateral action,” the NCAA said in a release prior to the bill’s passing. “We urge the state of California to reconsider this harmful and, we believe, unconstitutional bill and hope the state will be a constructive partner in our efforts to develop a fair name, image and likeness approach for all 50 states.”

Disagreements with the practice have centered around whether college athletes should be considered workers or students.

“College athletics is about college students playing other college students, not employees playing employees,” Mark Emmert, NCAA president told CBS Sports earlier this month.

But polling of college students has shown that most support the athletes’ right to get paid.

“What we found is that the majority of students are in favor of paying student-athletes and give overwhelming support for allowing student-athletes to profit off their name and image,” said CEO of polling platform College Pulse to CNBC.

Coloradans will be behind the 2020 bill, Colorado state House Majority Leader Alec Garnett told the Denver Post.

“The NCAA is behind the times in recognizing where the public’s at, where these athletes are at and where these institutions should be at,” Garnett said.