It is against the law to haze in the state of Washington now. The “Sam Martinez Stop Hazing Law,” or House Bill 1002 passed unanimously off the floor of the House on March 1, and the state Senate approved the measure April 6. Washington is the 15th state to make hazing a felony under the new law. Under “Sam’s Law,” the most severe type of hazing would be a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
The head of the state’s executive branch showed that he was also against hazing. Gov. Jay Inslee signed off on the law that strengthens anti-hazing laws in Washington state. The law increases penalties for the most serious types of hazing from a misdemeanor to a felony. “It recognizes the death of a Washington State University student and reflects the inherent danger of hazing rituals that can pressure students to consume large amounts of alcohol,” Inslee said at the bill signing.
The subject, Sam Martinez of Bellevue, died in 2019 after a night of hazing at a fraternity at Washington State University. Over a dozen (total of 15) fraternity members were charged with misdemeanors for supplying alcohol to Martinez who was a minor. Since then, Martinez’s parents have pushed lawmakers to strengthen hazing laws.
The law has teeth now. The “Sam Martinez Stop Hazing Law” makes hazing a gross misdemeanor, instead of a lower-level misdemeanor. In incidents where someone is killed or suffers “substantial bodily harm,” hazing could be charged as a felony.
This is the second anti-hazing law for which Sam Martinez’s family has advocated. In 2022, lawmakers approved a bill that requires universities to publically report hazing violations and provide hazing education for students.
“People, they don’t send their kids off to college to be hazed to death,” said Sam Martinez’s mother, Jolayne Houtz. “That’s what happened to us and really we’ve just committed ourselves to making sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child.”
