Sex Abuse Bill Again Flounders in Nys Legislature

By Tom Demarco
Jewish Voice
June 17, 2015

http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11346:sex-abuse-bill-again-flounders-in-nys-legislature&catid=112:new-york&Itemid=295

The New York State legislative session expires this week and lawmakers are still attempting to resolve key bills for passage

Before taking its annual summer recess, lawmakers in the New York State Senate and Assembly are working to wrap up several important legislative matters, rather than leaving them for resolution when they return.

On Friday, it was reported that despite a record number of sponsors, the initiative to revamp the state’s statute of limitations for minors who were victimized in sexual abuse cases has met resistance in the state house.

Under current statutes, those who were sexually abused as legal minors are given up to five years after they reach the age of 18 to file charges against their alleged abuser.

The bill say advocates would afford alleged victims the opportunity to file civil suits against people or institutions in older cases and would begin 60 days after Governor Andrew Cuomo would sign the bill.

For approximately a decade, attempts have been made to modify the statue currently on the books. Several incarnations of the bill have seen passage at least four times in the Assembly but did not come to a vote in the Senate and this floundered. The legislative session ends on June 17th.

More than 60 sponsors have thrown their support behind the bill in the Assembly, including a significant number of Republicans.

According to a report in the WSJ, the bill’s lead sponsor in the senate, Brad Hoylman (D) said that over the past year, 24 bills related to sexual violence had passed in the chamber including a law that would prohibit registered sex offenders from working with children.

Hoylman, who represents districts in lower Manhattan including Chelsea and the West Village said that, “The Senate often makes the issue of sexual abuse a marquee cause” but when it pertains directly to the modification of the statute of limitations, he said “it is tough going.”

Opponents of the bill say that the one-time, one year window that would begin two months after the bill is signed by the governor and would allow for lawsuits to be filed would also place “an unfair burden on institutions forced to defend themselves against decades-old accusations,” according to the WSJ report.

Dennis Poust, the communications director for the New York State Catholic Conference, (a lobbying group that represents the state’s Roman Catholic bishops) said that “It becomes too costly to litigate every single case” resulting in colossal settlements, regardless of the veracity of individual charges.