BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News
January 24, 2019
By Tom Precious|
State lawmakers on Monday are poised to OK measures raising the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases, as the Catholic Church is signaling it will drop its long-held opposition if public schools are specifically included with religious and private schools in one major provision of the legislation.
The bill’s Senate sponsor said Thursday afternoon that such a demand is being met in the final bill.
Democrats, now in control of both legislative houses, have vowed since before the November elections that they would push through a series of bills that were blocked when the Republicans were in the Senate majority until this month. They’ve already done so on measures involving abortion, election laws and immigration.
The Child Victims Act, which has been opposed over the years by the Catholic Church and some other organizations, is set to be passed Monday by the Senate and Assembly. It will raise the statute of limitations that victims of child sex abuse can try to bring civil or criminal cases against their abusers and open a one-year “look-back” period – also called a “revival window” – for victims of any age to bring lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse that may have occurred decades ago.
“This is legislation that has been languishing for years under previous Republican majority leadership, and under the current Democratic leadership we recognize how important it is we are finally bringing justice to victims of child sexual abuse,” said Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Buffalo Democrat.
The New York State Catholic Conference, which has raised concerns about the one year look-back period, among other provisions, on Thursday declined comment until it could see the actual legislation that will be coming to the Senate and Assembly floors on Monday. The group represents the church’s bishops based in New York State.
The Catholic Church has maintained that previous efforts would carve out for the look-back period just private schools, and not the 700 public school districts in New York. The bill goes beyond just schools, whether private or not, to include other settings, including churches, Boy Scouts or other institutions.
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