ALBANY (NY)
Newsday
January 24, 2019
By Yancey Roy
Continuing their rapid pace, state legislators say they will approve next week a far-ranging package of gun-control measures and a bill to allow victims of long-ago child sex abuse to sue their abusers.
The Senate and the Assembly plan to vote Monday on the “Child Victims Act,” which would suspend the normal statute of limitations for bringing sex-abuse claims to permit individuals up to 55 years old to file civil claims and allow a one-year “look back” period for victims older than 55 to file lawsuits.
On Tuesday, lawmakers plan to focus on gun control. The measures include banning so-called bump stocks and restricting gun ownership rights of those deemed a danger to themselves or others (known as the “red flag” bill), state officials said. Other bills that could be part of the package include strengthening “safe storage” laws and prohibiting the arming of schoolteachers.
The flurry of activity follows the Democrats’ takeover of the Senate, which had been controlled by Republicans for all but a few years over the last five decades.
Controlling both legislative houses now, Democrats have hit the ground running in the first month of the 2019 session, approving sweeping bills to change laws on abortion, voting, campaign financing, college tuition aid and teacher evaluations. They’ve also scheduled hearings on sexual harassment in the workplace.
In almost every instance, Democrats are acting on bills that had been adopted by the Assembly but were stalled by the GOP-controlled Senate.
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