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prepared by LESC staff for standing education committees of the New Mexico Legislature. LESC does not assume
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LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE
BILL ANALYSIS
57th Legislature, 1st S ession, 2025
Bill Number SB10 Sponsor Pope/Herndon
Tracking Number .229562.3 Committee Referrals SEC/SJC
Short Title Anti-Hazing Act
Original Date 1/27/2025
Analyst Hicks Last Updated
BILL SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 10 (SB10) would create the Anti -Hazing Act. The bill provides definitions related to
hazing and designates both the act of hazing and failure to report hazing as misdemeanors. These
criminal penalties outlined in SB10 would potentially impact individuals and organizations at
public and private schools in New Mexico, as well as higher education institutions. SB 10 would
require public and private postsecondary educational institutions to prohibit hazing by holding participating individuals and student organizations accountable. The bill would require
postsecondary institutions to establish an anti-hazing code of conduct policy aligned with hazing
prevention education. Postsecondary educational institutions would be required to support a hazing
prevention committee to promote and address hazing prevention. SB10 would also require
postsecondary educational institutions to maintain and publicly report actual findings of violations
of the anti-hazing code of conduct, or any violation of state or federal law, including offenses
related to alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, or physical assault on the institution’s website. SB10 also
sets requirements related to hazing for social fraternities and sorority organizations. FISCAL IMPACT
SB10 does not contain an appropriation. Fiscal impacts to kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools would likely be limited, as the
scope of the bill primarily focuses on higher education and law enforcement. The Higher Education Department (HED), the New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ), the New Mexico Courts, the Law Offices of the Public Defender, and the state’s postsecondary educational institutions
would all likely see fiscal impacts related to SB10’s mandated training, annual reporting requirements, and mandatory investigations. According to HED, there could be costs to postsecondary education institutions as they implement the Anti-Hazing Act such as updates to webpages and development of new training materials.
SB10 – Page 2
SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Hazing Prevention Best Practices. A toolkit jointly released by anti-hazing organizations—the
Clery Center, StopHazing, and the Hazing Prevention Consortium—identifies a number of key
steps institutions can take to prevent hazing. SB10 appears to align with many of these practices, including anti-hazing policies that apply to entire school campuses, communication about and
accountability for hazing incidents, incentivizing stakeholder involvement in anti-hazing efforts,
and data collection and reporting.
Penalizing Hazing. SB10 would set a criminal penalty and postsecondary educational institutional
penalties for individuals and postsecondary educational organizations that willingly participate in
or permit hazing rituals. Criminal Penalty. Under the proposed provisions of SB10, any person who intentionally commits
or fails to report hazing is guilty of a misdemeanor. This would include any administrator, faculty member, coach, school employee, independent contractor, or volunteer. Further, any
organizational entity that permits hazing is strictly liable for damages caused to a person or property. SB10 includes accountability measures for both for-profit and nonprofit corporations,
under which members of the board of directo rs may be held individually liable for damages.
Postsecondary Educational Institution Penalties. Any person who intentionally commits hazing
would forfeit any entitlements, including state-funded grants, scholarships, and awards, for a time
determined by the postsecondary educational institution. Furthermore, any organizational entity,
including social fraternities and sororities, that permits hazing would forfeit any official
recognition or approval granted by the postsecondary institution. Code of Conduct Policies and Hazing Prevention Education. SB10 requires postsecondary
educational institutions to prohibit in their code of conduct hazing off- and on- campus. Beginning
with the 2025 fall academic term, SB10 would require a postsecondary educational institution to
provide students with an educational program on hazing as part of the new student orientation sessions. Hazing educational programs would include information regarding hazing awareness, prevention, intervention, and the institution’s policy on hazing. Anti-hazing materials would be
provided to all student groups and organizations regarding anti-hazing policy and student rights
and responsibilities. Hazing prevention education would also be provided to employees at the beginning of each academic year and at the beginning of each academic term for new employees.
SB10 would mandate that if there is reasonable cause to believe hazing has or will occur, students
or employees must report the incident at the first opportunity to do so to a designated authority at the postsecondary educational institution. Individuals who made a report in good faith may not be
sanctioned or punished unless the person is directly engaged in the planning, directing, or act of hazing. Hazing Prevention Committee. The bill would require postsecondary educational institutions to
establish a minimum- six-member hazing prevention committee to promote and address hazing
prevention. Committee members would include current students, a student from any student organization, one faculty or staff member, and one parent or legal guardian.
Annual Reports. SB10 would require postsecondary educational institutions to maintain and
publicly report actual findings of violations of the anti-hazing code of conduct, or any violation of
state or federal law, including offenses related to alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, or physical assault.
SB10 – Page 3
SB10 would require postsecondary educational institutions to make their reports available on their
website.
The annual reports would have to include the name of the violating organization, the start and end
date of the investigation, a description of the incident, the date of the incident, findings and
sanctions placed on the organization, and the date of the violation charged. In respect to the federal
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
including exemption to the Inspection of Public
Records Act, reports would not include any personal or identifying information of individual
students.
Requirements for Social Fraternity and Sorority Organizations. SB10 would require social
fraternity and sorority organizations to notify the postsecondary educational institution before
chartering, rechartering, opening, or reopening a local chapter or operation and when the organization instigates an investigation related to hazing. Under SB10, an organization would have
to provide a full report to its institution on the findings from any investigation it conducts. SB10
would require social fraternity and sorority organizations to publicly report on their websites a full
list of the previous five years of all findings of violations of anti-hazing policies to maintain
registration. Social fraternity and sorority organizations that fail to comply with SB10 requirements would result in an automatic loss of recognition until the organization comes into compliance.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Higher education institutions would need to examine their existing policies to ensure compliance with the proposed Anti-Hazing Act and would be required to establish new policies and practices
around training and annual reporting. Law enforcement entities may see increased workloads should hazing be given a criminal penalty under SB10. OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
According to StopHazing
, New Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana
are the only states that do not have an anti-hazing law.
According to NMDOJ, the proposed definition of hazing in SB10 differs from the definition included in the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act (H.R. 5646
). Should SB10 become law, there is
potential for confusion for both law enforcement and educational institutions looking to maintain compliance with both federal and state requirements.
In November 2023, Attorney General Raúl Torrez issued a press release
regarding three former
New Mexico State University (NMSU) basketball players who were charged with multiple felony sex crimes related to hazing incidents that occurred in fall 2022. NMSU also fired its head
basketball coach and ended the 2022-2023 basketball season due to hazing allegations.
In October 2024, two Santa Fe High School football players were accused of sexually assaulting a teammate in a hazing incident
. Santa Fe High School’s head football coach resigned in the
aftermath of this event.
SB10 – Page 4
In December 2024, NMDOJ released a report on hazing failures at NMSU during the 2022-2023
basketball season. Following the release of this report, NMSU President Valerio Ferme terminated
the employment of the university’s athletic director.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
• LESC Files
• Higher Education Department (HED)
• New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT)
• University of New Mexico (UNM)
• New Mexico Independent Community Colleges (NMICC)
• New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ)
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