N.Y. political leaders urged to take up child sex-abuse law reform

By Kenneth Lovett, Stephen Rex Brown
New York Daily News
May 09, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-political-leaders-urged-sex-abuse-law-reform-article-1.2630928

Bill co-sponsor State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey holds up a copy of the front page of the New York Daily News calling on legislators to pass the Child Victims Act.			Front page of the New York Daily News for May 5, 2016: State Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco refused to hear sex-abuse victims plead for passage of the Child Victims Act because he had an important pizza party to attend. A PIE IN THEIR FACE

Cuomo’s office has not publicly said whether the governor would sign the bill.

Senator John DeFrancisco anwers questions at the Capitol in Albany, NY on Monday, May 11th, 2015.

Bridie Farrell (right), a noted speed skater and a survivor of sexual abuse, and State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (left).

The state's political leaders don’t have time to discuss reform a law shielding sex abuse offenders — so now the public’s voice must be heard.

Advocates asked average New Yorkers to urge lawmakers to support a bill that would extend the statute of limitations on civil claims involving child sex-abuse victims.

“Gov. Cuomo and leaders in the Assembly and state Senate need to hear from you right now. Tell them they should support the Child Victims Act,” Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) said Monday.

Letters, emails and phone calls would “reinforce the good work” of dozens of supporters who lobbied legislators last week regarding the bill, Markey added.

The urgent call for public support came the same day state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Cuomo huddled behind closed doors for a discussion of what could be accomplished before the end of the legislative session next month.

Sources told the Daily News that reform of the law was not on the meeting’s agenda, which included discussion of the state’s heroin crisis, housing, budgetary issues and mayoral control of city schools.

But supporters of a change to the statute of limitations said the time to act is now.

“The status quo of New York law for childhood sex abuse, both in terms of how it is written and how courts interpret it, is nothing short of a disgrace,” said attorney Kevin Mulhearn, who has represented clients who say they were abused as students at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep high school and Yeshiva University.

“It’s up to the public to let their legislators know they demand necessary reform on this issue.”

Markey, the sponsor of the Assembly bill, has said she’s confident Heastie will allow it to come to a vote in her chamber.

“We’re going to discuss it with the members,” Heastie spokesman Michael Whyland said.

Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi has said the governor “believes that those who are guilty of sexual abuse should be held accountable and due process must be maintained.”

But Cuomo’s office has not publicly said whether the governor would sign the bill.

Markey’s bill would not only make it easier for victims to sue going forward, but would also grant a one-year window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit.

Currently, victims of childhood sexual abuse cannot bring civil or criminal charges against their abusers after they’ve turned 23.

That age limit is among the smallest windows in the nation for traumatized victims to come forward.

The principal obstacle to reform remains in the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Last week, Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco, the No. 2 man in the Senate, opted to eat pizza with the Syracuse women’s basketball team instead of sitting down with sex abuse survivors.

Influential Senate Democrats, including Klein, have endorsed reform. It remains unclear whether he would back Markey’s bill, saying it doesn’t go far enough.

Opponents of the bill say that extending the statute of limitations could cause financial ruin for religious groups and nonprofits like the Boy Scouts.

But not all religious leaders are opposed to an overhaul of the statute.

Markey shared a letter by 131 Jewish leaders and rabbis supporting the bill.

“After decades of denial, coverups and darkness across New York State, light is finally being shone on the scourge of child sexual abuse. The lasting and far-reaching damage caused by abusers is intolerable,” they wrote.

“It is incumbent upon all the citizens of New York State to work to reduce it.”

Speed skater Bridie Farrell said her ongoing advocacy for the bill has given her a front-row seat to democracy in action.

“If people are calling, that means they know their representative might vote on the side of the predators,” she said.