A new state law inspired by the 2018 death of a UC Riverside student during a fraternity event aims to hold universities responsible for failing to prevent hazing.
The family of Tyler Hilliard applauded the passage of Tyler’s Law at a Tuesday, Feb. 18, news conference in Los Angeles.
The law, Assembly Bill 2193, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, will go into effect in 2026 and apply to University of California, California State University and private colleges that receive state dollars.
Hilliard, a 20-year-old business major, died Sept. 16, 2018, while pledging to a UCR fraternity.
His family worked on the bill with then-Assemblymember Chris Holden, D-Pasadena.
“We feel very grateful that we were a part of it and that this can possibly prevent someone else’s child from dying due to hazing,” Hilliard’s mother Myeasha Kimble said.
In Hilliard’s memory, Tyler’s Law seeks to help end hazing and requires safeguards and protections for students, his parents said in a statement.
Hilliard and others pledging the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity faced “illegal hazing rituals,” including eating a hot sauce-soaked onion in one sitting, according to a lawsuit his parents filed against the fraternity in 2019.
The lawsuit alleged that the fraternity violated state law against hazing and was negligent. It also alleges physical and psychological torture, sleep deprivation, and a final task — a hike on Mount Rubidoux — during which Hillard collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
After the suit’s filing, a fraternity spokesperson said he could not comment. The fraternity’s website states that it “strictly prohibits hazing in any form whether physical or mental as a term or condition of membership in the organization. Hazing is illegal and a crime in most jurisdictions.”
According to the analysis of the bill on the California legislature’s website, starting in 2026, the law will expand liability beyond individual fraternity members.
If a school receives state financial support or enrolls students who get state financial aid, it can be sued for failing to stop hazing, the law states.
The new law also will require public universities and private colleges to report hazing cases every year, including whether they were connected to student organizations.
The law also mandates that the California Department of Education create a model anti-hazing policy and provide educational materials by mid-2025, the bill states.
The idea for the law was suggested by Holden, who had been trying to get it passed for several years, the family’s attorney Toni Jaramilla said.
Hillard’s parents played a role in getting the bill passed by testifying in Sacramento last year, Jaramilla said.
“The timing was perfect,” Jaramilla said, “because my clients heard about the bill, and Assemblymember Holden reached out, asking them to testify. The bill was precisely on point with what they were advocating for.”
Born in Los Angeles in 1998, Hilliard moved with his family to the Diamond Bar area as a child.
After graduating high school in 2016, Hilliard attended UCR and lived off campus.
“He loved dancing, hanging out with friends and riding bikes,” his mother said.
“Our son Tyler had the spirit of giving, loving and an overall sense of pride,” Kimble and Hilliard said in a statement.
They added that he wanted to be an entrepreneur and help other business majors who looked like him reach their goals.
The family’s lawsuit against Alpha Phi Alpha was settled in July, but it’s not clear from Riverside County Court documents what the financial settlement was. The suit did not specify the amount of money sought.
The Hilliard family and attorney V. James DeSimone, who handled that case, declined to discuss the case.
“The case was resolved at the satisfaction of both parties,” Jaramilla said.