PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington Governor Jay Inslee is expected to sign a bill on Monday that strengthens anti-hazing laws.
The bill is named after Sam Martinez, who died in 2019 after a night of hazing at a fraternity at Washington State University.
The "Sam Martinez Stop Hazing law" increases the penalty for hazing from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor. It becomes a felony when someone is injured or killed. It's the second hazing bill that Sam's family has advocated for, with the first bill passing into law last year.
Ahead of the signing of the new law, Sam's mother, Jolayne Houtz, said seeing these efforts come to fruition is bittersweet.
"Sam would be graduating from college next week, and it's heartbreaking that we won't get to see him do that," Houtz said.
Since his death, Sam's parents Houtz and Hector Martinez, have fought to eliminate hazing. They hoped advocating for reform on these laws would prevent another family from feeling the same devastating loss.
But in January, WSU freshman Luke Tyler was found dead in his dorm room. His family believes hazing was a factor.
"That really tears me up inside," Houtz said. "I really had so hoped that Sam would be the last. I hope that we never see another case."
When Governor Inslee signs the new hazing law, it will make Washington the 15th state to make hazing a felony. The bill made its final passage in the Senate three weeks ago.
"I really feel like we started a movement to raise the visibility of hazing that is still happening on college campuses and to bring an end to it," Houtz said.
She adds it's a legacy that Sam would be proud of.
"That feels so incredible to me to be able to say that Washington is sending a clear message that we have no tolerance for hazing, and we actually mean that we're going to put some teeth behind that," Houtz said.
When asked if this law is enough to eliminate hazing, she believes criminal penalties alone are not sufficient.
"I think of these as a package of reforms, education, transparency, and penalties to be clear that there are consequences for these actions," Houtz said. "But we first have to educate people about it, help prevent it where we can and bring it into the light of day so that people know that it is, in fact, still happening."
Her family's work is not yet done. Right now, they're developing a national public database that shows hazing incidents on every college campus in the United States.
"I will be very excited to launch that publicly," she said. "Once we collect all of the data, we'll put it into a free and searchable database for families to use and others to use. That way, they can learn about the extent of hazing that is happening right now."
You can watch KREM 2's full interview with Jolayne Houtz in the YouTube video below:
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to add additional clarifications following its initial publishing.
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