Committee postpones K‑12 portion of Anti‑Hazing Act after concerns; substitute advances for higher education review

Senate Education Committee members discussed a committee substitute to SB10, the Anti‑Hazing Act, which would define hazing to align with recently enacted federal law, impose reporting requirements and create penalties for violations.

Sponsor Senator Pope explained that the substitute updates the bill to match federal law "at the end of the bill, we just make sure to match the language, with the federal law that was signed at the December on the report requirements. And then at the beginning of the bill, we wanted to make sure that the definition of hazing matched the federal law as well." The substitute extended many institutional responsibilities to higher education institutions—including mandatory reporting, public reporting of verified violations, and requirements for fraternities and sororities.

Why it matters: Committee members and stakeholders said the bill addresses serious incidents that have caused injuries to students. Senator Pope said the measure seeks to "foster a campus culture of respect, inclusion, and accountability," and to hold organizations and individuals responsible where appropriate.

K‑12 concerns and juvenile code: Several witnesses and committee members, including Stan Rounds of the Coalition of Educational Leaders, urged caution about applying criminal misdemeanors and higher‑education style reporting requirements to juveniles and public schools. Rounds said that juvenile discipline and the children’s code have different legal standards and enforcement pathways and recommended carving K‑12 out of the bill and sending those issues to the Legislative Education Study Committee for deeper study.

Sponsor response and committee direction: Senator Pope acknowledged the concerns and said he would amend the substitute to remove public and private K‑12 school language and return a cleaned substitute for the committee to consider on Friday. "I would be willing... to really amend this and take out k through 12," Pope said, adding that he would work with stakeholders and LESC to craft appropriate K‑12 rules if needed.

Committee action and next steps: The committee moved procedural steps to replace the original bill with the committee substitute and to advance discussion on the revised substitute; after stakeholder input and member requests, the sponsor agreed to return with a revised committee substitute that omits K‑12 provisions for separate study. The committee did not adopt final passage for the K‑12 portions and held the item for further markup.

Ending: Committee members supported the concept of holding organizations and individuals accountable for hazing but asked the sponsor to separate higher education measures from K‑12 to avoid unintended consequences under juvenile law and to allow LESC study of school‑level implementation.