Anti Hazing Bill Progressing Through California Legislature

Chico Enterprise-Record
June 22, 2006
http://www.chicoer.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3961370

Anti-hazing bill clears Assembly committee
By MELISSA DAUGHERTY - Staff WriterChico Enterprise-Record

SACRAMENTO -- An anti-hazing bill named in honor of a former Chico State University student jumped another major hurdle at the state Capitol on Tuesday when it was passed by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

The committee approved Senate Bill 1454 -- better known as Matt's Law -- on a 6-0 vote, according to the office Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, author of the proposed legislation.

The bill is named for Matthew Carrington, a 21-year-old fraternity pledge who died last year during an initiation ritual in which he was required to drink copious amounts of water.

Carrington's mother, Pleasant Hill resident Debbie Smith, has been spearheading the effort to get California lawmakers on board with Matt's Law. Her first big challenge came in April when the bill was introduced to the Senate.

If approved by the Legislature, it would strengthen California's hazing law by moving it from the Education Code to the Penal Code, making the act of hazing illegal for anyone. In hazing incidents resulting in serious injury or death, it would also increase the crime from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Smith spent most of the day Monday going from office to office at the Capitol, talking to the committee members' staff about her cause. She did the same thing months ago at the Senate level. At the time, many lawmakers had not heard of the tragic events that ended her son's life.

This time around things were different.

"Not one person had not heard his story," Smith said.

That's in large part due to the work of Smith, along with friends and family, many of whom have accompanied her to Sacramento as the bill heads through the Legislature.

About 30 supporters wore red -- Carrington's favorite color -- during Tuesday's hearing. One of them, Jim Moon, Chico State's vice president of student affairs, testified as to the university's backing of the bill.

Moon retires this summer, but he said he's committed to going to each hearing.

"As far as the bill goes, retired or not, I'm seeing it 'til the end," he said.

While Chico State is fully behind Matt's Law, much of the reason Moon makes the trip to the Capitol is to support Smith, whose complex work in the political sphere is most impressive, he said.

Smith has been overwhelmed by support that has included dozens of organizations, like the California District Attorneys Association, the University of California and the California State University.

The result of Tuesday's vote ended in tears of joy, she said.Matt's Law is aimed at punishing those who haze, but the main goal is to end hazing altogether, Smith said."It's so people don't go through ... what we have to live with forever."