Supporters of the Child Victims Act, are hopeful that 2018 will be the year for the controversial measure to pass, in part because Gov. Andrew Cuomo included it in his budget plan for the fiscal year that starts April 1.
“The impacts of sexual abuse are severe and long-lasting, and public policy should reflect a primary interest in promoting healing and facilitating justice,” said Deb Rosen, a child-abuse survivor and executive director of Bivona Child Advocacy Center in Rochester.
According to advocates, every year around 40,000 children are sexually abused in New York. Under the current law, after age 23, survivors no longer have the option to press charges against their abuser.
The Child Victims Act would change the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse crimes to age 28 in criminal cases and age 50 in civil cases.
"From my experience," said William Lorenz, Jr., Associate Attorney for HoganWillig Law Firm in Amherst, "a lot of people who suffer abuse as children will often repress those memories. And only having until age 23 to come to terms with what you experienced as a child is not enough time."
If passed, the act would also create a one-year window for survivors who had previously been restricted from coming forward because of their age to sue their accusers.
"The 'look back' is critical to people who no longer have the right to pursue legal action as a result of the abuse that they suffered as children," Lorenz explains. "And passing that look back window will set an example to these victims/survivors that New York State has not forgotten about you, and that you will have this opportunity now to bring your cases to court. Those victims/survivors still have the burden of proof to prove their case. But right now, they don't even have the opportunity to present their proof."
The Child Victims Act was first introduced 12 years ago, and last year it passed the Assembly by a vote of 139-7.
But opposition, particularly from the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts of America, have held up the measure in the Senate.
Opponents have charged that the law, especially the "look back" would create an overwhelming number of cases, creating a backlog in the courts system.
"This extraordinary provision would force institutions to defend alleged conduct decades ago about which they have no knowledge, and in which they had no role, potentially involving employees long retired, dead or infirm, based on information long lost, if it ever existed," the state's Catholic Conference said in budget testimony last month.
Lorenz tells 2 On Your Side "look back" legislation has been passed in approximately 8 different states, "None of the diocese there have gone bankrupt from having this one-year window."
Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan met with Governor Cuomo this week. It's not clear if the meeting will affect the Governor's decision on whether to include the Child Victims Act provisions in the state budget plan.
The deadline to submit his budget proposal is March 31.
"If it doesn't go through with Governor Cuomo's support," admits Lorenz, "I fear that is going to push the Child Victims Act passage back several more years. Governor Cuomo just voiced his support last year in 2017. So, to have the Governor's support, to have all this momentum with what has come out in the media, especially in recent weeks in Buffalo...and then to have the bill not pass now...it's going to be very disheartening."
Natasha Vaughn with Gannett Co., Inc. contributed to this report.