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	Senate Panel Backs Sex Abuse Bill TheDenverChannel.com March 28, 2006 http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/8309671/detail.html Denver — People who were sexually abused as far back as 1982 would have unlimited time to sue their alleged molesters and the institutions they worked for under a bill backed by a Senate committee on Monday. Currently victims have until age 24 -- six years after they turn 18 -- to sue an alleged molester and the institution they worked for. The measure (House Bill 1090) backed by the committee would lift those limits for future cases and for anyone who's already been abused but hasn't reached that statute of limitations yet. Co-sponsor Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, said that means that someone born before 1982 would be barred from suing by the current time limit. It's one of three bills being considered by state lawmakers that have to do with sexual abuse. One would remove the statute of limitations for filing criminal charges against sex abusers from now on. Another would open up a two-year window to allow people with old cases already barred by the statute of limitations to sue private institutions. The church opposes both bills which allow lawsuits. Former Sen. Polly Baca said it's not fair to make an institution pay for the mistakes of past leaders. "Those who are responsible for paying the bills today are different than the ones who caused the problem 20 or 30 years ago," said Baca, a former member of the Denver archdiocese's pastoral council. But Joe Mahoney said the Catholic Church is still not following its new rules on dealing with abusers. Mahoney said he was 17 when a priest took him to a cabin in the foothills, gave him marijuana, then raped him when he passed out. He said he reported the abuse in the fall of 2004 to the Diocese of Colorado Springs and was told not to report it to law enforcement. A church advisory panel questioned him but the diocese didn't include his allegation in a report it is required to submit each year. Mahoney would not name the priest but said he believes he is still working in ministry. Martin Nussbaum, a lawyer representing Colorado's three Catholic dioceses who also represented the diocese, said Mahoney's claims couldn't be proven and didn't have to be included on the annual report. He said Mahoney told church officials that he had no memory of being abused and had no physical evidence that he had been abused. Nussbaum said Mahoney told them he came forward years after the abuse because of other problems he had been having in his life. Nussbaum denied that Mahoney was told not to report the case to law enforcement. Other sex abuse victims and advocates are concerned that attention on the church's opposition to the two bills has overshadowed their need to find justice. Before the hearing, about 40 rallied on the steps of the Capitol. Terri Schreiber, 44, said she was abused for 18 months beginning at age 16 but kept silent for 25 years out of fear and shame. She said the abuse nearly destroyed her self-esteem but drove her to become a workaholic. Even though she had successful career in the corporate and academic worlds and earn three degrees, she said, she sometimes left work to cry in her car. She said she supports House Bill 1090 because "it's consistent with the slow pace of the healing process" of victims. "Why am I here today? To break my silence," she said. Under the measure given initial approval Monday, public and private institutions could be sued if they knew about an employee's abuse of children but did nothing to remove them. That change was made in the House after the Roman Catholic Church objected that private institutions were being singled out. But under the bill, private institutions would still have to pay out more money if they lost a lawsuit. The maximum a public institution, such as a school, would have to pay is $150,000 in a lawsuit brought by one person or $600,000 for a group. That's the same limits that apply to the handful of areas where people are able to sue state government. A private institution could have to pay out between $366,000 and $732,000. Nussbaum said the differences in damages awards were unfair. Bill backers said the state government could have to pay out even more money if someone filed a federal civil rights action against it.
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