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	Child Sex Abuse Bill Released from Judiciary Committee By Beth Miller The News Journal June 14, 2006 http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/NEWS/60614025 Dover -- The House Judiciary Committee voted 7-0 today to release a substitute bill that would extend the civil statute of limitations in cases of child sexual abuse by an adult. Delaware law now gives victims two years after the abuse to file suit. The substitute for House Bill 450 would give victims 25 years after they turn 18 to file suit. It also would specifically include public institutions among those that could be sued. The substitute bill removes the original bill's provision for a two-year window that would have revived the claims of victims whose claims previously had been barred by the statute of limitations. It also removes the original bill's provision that gave victims six years beyond the date they remembered or recognized that the abuse caused personal injury. Rep. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, agreed to the compromise, hoping to move the bill through the Legislature before the end of the session on June 30. "The current statute is bad," said Lavelle, co-sponsor of the bill with Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton. "It needs to be changed." The substitute bill will go next to the whole House of Representatives. If the House passes the bill, it goes to the Senate for similar consideration. See complete coverage in Thursday's News Journal and www.delawareonline.com. Contact Beth Miller at 324-2784 or bmiller@delawareonline.com.
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