Charlie Brown Finally Kicks the Football - NY Senate Passes Child Victims Act

N.Y. Senate votes to give victims of child sex abuse more years to sue, ending years-long battle. Alleged sex abuse victims would be able to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other groups for damages.

I hate all politicians! I hate Democrats even more than I hate Republicans; their passage of the murderous abortion bill last week is unconscionable. But I do hate Republicans. You can be certain that if the Republicans had retained the majority in the NY Senate, this legislation would have been pulled again, as it was in 2017, and 2018. But with a Democratic majority Charlie Brown finally got to kick the football (2nd story on link). 

Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, center, during a news conference about passing legislation authorizing the Child Victims Act at the state Capitol in Albany, New York, on Jan. 28, 2019. Hans Pennink / AP

By Corky Siemaszko

The long and bitter battle for legislation that would allow New York sex abuse victims to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other organizations for monetary damages ended with victory Monday when the state Senate passed the Child Victims Act.

The vote was 63 to nothing, a spokeswoman for one of the bill's sponsors, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, said.

The new law does away with the statutes of limitations that have prevented some alleged abuse victims from going to court to seek damages. And it includes a one-year “look-back window” that will allow others who weren’t able to sue in the past to file fresh claims.

“Passage of the Child Victims Act is an exhilarating and empowering moment for those of us who have been waging this battle in Albany for a dozen years,” Stephen Jimenez, a sex abuse survivor and advocate for other victims, said after the vote.

The Democratic-controlled Assembly was also expected to pass the measure later Monday and Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to sign the bill, which was sponsored by Hoylman and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, both Manhattan Democrats.

“Today, in passing the Child Victims Act, we are finally telling the survivors: The State of New York and the full force of its law is behind you, and you will not be turned away,” Hoylman said in a statement.

“This is a historic day for New York as lawmakers choose children over predators,” Rosenthal added.

Image:Survivor Stephen Jimenez speaks about being abused as a child while meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other survivors and Child Victims Act advocates during a news conference at the state Capitol on Jan. 28, 2019, in Albany, New York.Hans Pennink / AP

Under the new legislation, child sexual abuse survivors will be permitted to sue their abuser or institutions until age 55, up from the current age of 23. Also, those abused at a public institution will no longer be required to file a notice of claim as a condition to filing a lawsuit.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who as archbishop of New York leads more than 2 million Catholics, had bitterly opposed the legislation arguing that it could bankrupt the church. But after the vote, the New York State bishops issued a statement saying, "We pray that the passage of the Child Victims Act brings some measure of healing to all survivors by offering them a path of recourse and reconciliation."

"The legislation now recognizes that child sexual abuse is an evil not just limited to one institution, but a tragic societal ill that must be addressed in every place where it exists," it adds.

The Child Victims Act championed by Hoylman and Rosenthal passed in the New York state Assembly by wide margins in 2017 and 2018. But it was blocked each time in the state Senate by the Republican majority.

After the Democrats regained the Senate majority last year and took power, Dolan waved the white flag ahead of Monday’s vote and called for a measure that avoids “breaking” the church.

“The emphasis must be on helping them heal, not breaking government, educational, health, welfare or religious organizations,” Dolan wrote in an op-ed this month in The New York Daily News.

Mitchell Garabedian, whose work on behalf of Boston clerical sex abuse victims were dramatized in the Oscar-winning movie "Spotlight," said this legislation was long overdue.

"With the passage of the Child Victims Act by the New York Legislature there is now hope for justice, respect and validation for thousands of sexual abuse victims sexually abused in New York," he said. "It is time for the sexual abuse laws in countless states in the country and in the world to catch up to the times and follow the lead of the New York Legislature."

The sentiment is right, but the statement is absurd. NY is years, if not decades behind many states with this legislation; not exactly a leader.

Statute of limitations laws vary from state to state, according to Child USA, a think tank dedicated to preventing child abuse.

It helps explain why just two of the 301 Pennsylvania priests named last year in Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s bombshell report on sex abuse of children by priests in six dioceses were charged with crimes.

Indeed, there is a dire necessity for Pennsylvania and other states to legislate fair and reasonable Statutes of Limitations for child victims, many of whom don't even realize they have been abused until they are in their 30s, 40s, or 50s. And for many of them it can take years, and even decades before they can deal with the knowledge of being abused at any real level.

New York Senate Does It Again - Unbelievable!

The N.Y. Senate lifted their sleaziness to a new level by refusing to vote on the Child Victim's Act for fear that it would pass. Republican senators are obviously in the pockets of  the Catholic Church and insurance companies who are afraid of having to atone for the church's sins against children. The Catholic Church should observe what the Anglican Church is doing - responding as though they are actually Christians.

Lucy pulled the ball away again, but Charlie will be back next year for another attempt to kick it.

But why, New York, do you keep electing these sleazeballs to the senate? Have you no pride?

Churchill: Two moments illustrate one sorry disconnect

Chris Churchill 

Albany - Much of what's wrong with New York government can be summed up by two moments from the waning hours of the legislative session.

The first came at a little before 5 p.m. Tuesday, when Sen. Majority Leader John Flanagan revealed that there would not be a vote on the Child Victims Act.

The second arrived 28 hours later, when Flanagan introduced an 11th-hour bill to name the Tappan Zee Bridge after the governor's father. It passed the Senate unanimously.

What a juxtaposition. Really, you couldn't ask for a better illustration of how Albany power brokers put the wants of the political class over the needs of ordinary people — especially the weak and the powerless. It was out-flipping-rageous.

The Child Victims Act is about protecting children from sexual abuse. It would do away with a disgraceful statute of limitations — one of the most restrictive in the nation — that bars child sexual-abuse victims from proceeding with cases once they turn 23.

It would allow survivors to bring civil cases until they turn 50 and felony criminal cases until they're 28. It also includes a one-year window to revive old cases.

Victims have been lobbying for the bill for more than a decade. They've made endless trips to Albany to cajole lawmakers. They have worked tirelessly for their cause.

Even if you oppose the Child Victims Act, which easily passed the Assembly, there's no justification for denying it a Senate vote. Advocates deserved that much for their hard work. They deserved to see which lawmakers were on their side.

Flanagan denied them that. The Republican from Long Island couldn't even be bothered to offer an explanation. The arrogance is staggering.

Governor Andrew Cuomo stands with Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, left, before his presentation of the State of the State message at the Convention Center at the Empire Plaza Wednesday Jan. 13, 2016 in Albany, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) 

A message of necessity!

But Flanagan did find it within his heart to do a favor for the governor by offering up a bill to rename the Tappan Zee for Mario Cuomo — a putrid piece of puffery that strokes political egos but does nothing for ordinary New Yorkers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo even made the bill a "message of necessity," allowing it to zoom through without debate.

Think about that. Attaching the Cuomo name to an unfinished bridge is so important that it can't wait for normal protocols or input from the public. But a bill that would protect children and punish sexual predators?

Yawn. We'll get to it next year. Or the next. Maybe.

To his credit, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie saw no reason to rush the bridge bill to a vote, so it didn't pass. I suspect the governor is mightily miffed and will exact his revenge when the opportunity arises.

The existing Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, as it is officially called, already bears the name of a former governor. Wilson was a Republican from Yonkers who followed Nelson Rockefeller in the early 1970s.

The current governor's attempt to strip the bridge of a predecessor's name to rename it for his father is, to put it gently, tacky — especially since he knows the $4 billion structure will simply be called the "Cuomo Bridge," allowing the son to bask in the associated glory.

An irony is that Mario Cuomo was famously skeptical of having things named for him, once joking that "maybe a stickball court in Queens" would be appropriate. The guy barely wanted his official portrait to hang in the Executive Chamber.

Mario Cuomo also is not especially associated with Rockland or Westchester counties, which are connected by the span, or even the Hudson River.

If the new Tappan Zee must lose its existing name — and I see no reason why it should — there are plenty of worthy New Yorkers. Pete Seeger, dedicated to Hudson River cleanup, is a compelling choice. Or Walt Whitman? Lou Gehrig?

I'm just spit-balling here. The possibilities are many.

But Flanagan and Cuomo, Republican and Democrat working together to blindside the public, tried to ram their chosen name through in the dead of night. That's New York state government, in a nutshell.

The effort didn't go unnoticed by supporters of the Child Victims Act, who were already furious at Flanagan.

"That put salt in our wounds," said Gary Greenberg, a former Albany County legislator who was sexually abused as a child at the old Cohoes Hospital.

Greenberg believes the Child Victims Act had enough Senate votes to pass. It also had Cuomo's support, although Greenberg said the governor did not flex his political biceps to get the bill voted on by the Senate.

Charlie Brown's Trying to Kick the Football, Again, & NY Senate Has the Ball

My immediate reaction to this story is to visualize Charlie Brown trying to kick the football as Luce rips it away last minute and Charlie falls flat on his back, again.

Will the NY Senate pull a Lucy again? I would be surprised if they don't!

I have such incredible disrespect for NY's Republican Senators.

Lawmaker gives emotional account of being

molested by her pastor when she was 10,

before Assembly passes child victim bill

The Assembly on Wednesday gave long-awaited passage to a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse survivors to seek justice. (LAVENDERTIME/GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO)

BY KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

ALBANY - The Assembly on Wednesday gave long-awaited passage to a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse survivors to seek justice — but not before a lawmaker emotionally recounted how as a 10-year-old she was molested by her pastor.

Assemblywoman Rodneyese Bichotte (D-Brooklyn) during the two-hour debate talked about being bedridden and home-schooled after a horrific car accident.

She said her religious mother arranged a large prayer group that eventually dwindled down to one — her pastor — as she recovered. That’s when things turned “sinful,” she said.

The pastor began to touch and kiss her in different parts of her house, including the living room and near the garage.

It was 34 years ago, but Bichotte said “that is an experience that I will never forget.”

She said she could not tell her parents and felt alone.

“Not only was I embarrassed but I was afraid to be blamed, so I kept it to myself,” Bichotte said. “As I spoke to some of my peers who were my age, I realized I wasn’t alone. They, too, were being molested and they, too, were silent. Whether it was a father, an uncle, a friend, or a clergy person, we were all in this together.”

It was the first time Bichotte spoke of her experience on the floor of the Assembly.

She said she voted for passage of the Child Victims Act on Wednesday even though she wished it went further. She’d like to do away with the criminal statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

The bill that passed by an overwhelming 129-7 margin allows victims to bring civil lawsuits until their 50th birthday and criminal cases until their 28th birthday. It opens a one-year window to revive old cases and treats private and public institutions the same when it comes to sex abuse cases.

It’s the fifth time the Assembly passed a version of the Child Victims Act, but the first since 2008.

It now goes to the Senate, where it faces an uphill battle.

“The lopsided vote is very heartening,” said Assembly bill sponsor Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan). “If the Republicans in the Assembly can vote for it, so can the Republicans in the Senate.”

Senate bill sponsor Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) said he hopes the Assembly passage creates momentum for the Senate to act before the scheduled June 21 end of the legislative session.

But Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein is introducing his own version that instead of having a one-year window to revive old cases would create a commission to determine whether such cases have merit to move forward.

Many advocates rejoiced that the Assembly acted and want the Senate Republicans, who have blocked the issue for years, to follow suit or at least come to the negotiating table.

Assemblywoman Rodneyese Bichotte (D-Brooklyn) revealed that she was molested by her pastor during her recovery from a horrific car accident. (KEVIN HAGEN FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

“Time is running out - I call on the New York State Senate and Gov. Cuomo to join in efforts to enact the CVA before the end of session," said survivor Bridie Farrell.

Some others, like survivor Gary Greenberg, are pushing for passage of Klein’s bill, saying it’s the only one that has a chance of passing the Senate.

“The Republicans have made it clear they won’t vote a (one-year window to revive old cases),” he said.

Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif said “there are a number of Child Victim Act bills and we’re reviewing the issue.”

During the emotional two-hour Assembly debate, some Republicans took exception with extending the civil and criminal statute of limitations on sex abuse cases, saying it makes it harder for the accused predators to defend themselves and leaves institutions on the hook for potential big-buck settlements.

They argued over time memories fade, evidence is lost or destroyed, and witnesses die, become unavailable, or become less reliable.

Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) repeatedly kept dismissing the concerns by arguing that “we are talking about heinous acts committed against children.”

At one point, Assemblyman Raymond Walter (R-Erie County) shot back that “I understand we are talking about children. You don’t have to keep repeating it.”

While he expressed concerns about the bill, Walter ended up voting for it.

Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz (D-Queens), who is an observant Jew, said “I grew up in a time and a community that has grappled long and hard with this issue.”

He said he has friends and family who have been impacted by child sex abuse and knows people who had knives and scissors held to their throats “because they dared to challenge a child molester.”

But Simanowitz was torn over the bill over questions about why it didn’t do away entirely with the criminal statute of limitation. He also doesn’t like that it opens a one-year window to allow some who are currently are time-barred to bring civil cases, but not criminal ones. Court rulings have found the latter would be unconstitutional.

Child sex abuse victim Ana Wagner called passage of the bill “a tremendous day for survivors of childhood sex abuse.”

Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the state Catholic Conference headed by Timothy Cardinal Dolan said only that the organizations continues to oppose legislation that allows for old cases to be revived.

Please pray for this bill to go through the Senate. Getting something, anything through this mean-spirited, heartless bunch of good-for-nothings will be an accomplishment. 

Cowardly NY Legislature Fails to Pass Child Sex Abuse Bill

New York Legislature passed laws on boozy brunches, cremated cats and hunting for her — but squat for sex abuse victims

Gov. Cuomo worked with legislative leaders to pass a number of laws — but nothing for child sex abuse victims. (JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

BY KENNETH LOVETT
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

ALBANY — While state leaders turn their backs on child sex abuse victims again this year, they found time to shower love on female hunters, brunch-goers and pet lovers.

The state Legislature ended its session on Friday with no deal on a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse survivors to seek justice — something victims and advocates have pushed for a decade.

But lawmakers this year did manage to pass an array of apparently more pressing legislation.

Among them is a bill to allow the use of fluorescent pink, instead of just orange, hunting attire in order to attract more women and young people into the woods.


Sens. John DeFrancisco (l.) and John Flanagan (r.) were accused of “hypocritical deal-making” for not passing a bill to help child sex abuse victims. (ERIC JENKS/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Kathryn Robb, a child sex abuse survivor and advocate, was flabbergasted.

“It’s more important to fashionably dress female hunters than it is to protect children from sexual abuse and give victims of sexual abuse justice?” Robb said. “Wow. That is something much greater than outrageous.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders, who couldn’t come to terms on a bill for sex abuse victims, did agree on legislation that would allow restaurants to begin serving alcohol on Sundays at 10 a.m., instead of the current noon requirement.

Always good to have a shot or two before church!


Daily News on May 10, 2016      Front page of the New York Daily News May 31, 2016
(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

The Daily News has pushed for the Child Victims Act to be passed.

The New York Times, on the other-hand, didn't even mention the failure to deal with child sex abuse legislation when they covered the wrap-up today. Pretty sad! They need to be educated.

The Legislature also passed a bill that would let the cremated remains of dogs and cats be buried with their owners.

Another bill that passed both houses would allow college students under 21 enrolled in programs involving the agriculture, hospitality and beverage industries to partake in tastings at off-campus wineries, distilleries and breweries as long as they are supervised by an instructor.

Gary Greenberg, an upstate investor who was sexually abused as a child, called it “depressing” and a “slap at all the victims” that the Legislature had no trouble passing more frivolous bills while leaving abuse survivors hanging.

“The reason the Legislature passes meaningless bills is to build up their voting records to cover the fact they do nothing on the real issues,” Greenberg said. “The feelings victims have is that by not passing the Child Victims (Act), they are being revictimized by the Legislature.”

In a bitter irony, even as some lawmakers were against the Child Victims Act because they oppose opening a window to revive old sex abuse cases, the state Senate Thursday gave final passage to a bill that leaves open a separate window that allows Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange to bring lawsuits even though the statute of limitations for such cases expired in 1985.

In explaining his support for the bill, Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) pointed out the hypocrisy of the situation.


Kathryn Robb, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by her brother, pushed legislators to pass the Child Victims Act. (JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

“Just as Vietnam veterans were exposed to Agent Orange through no fault of their own, we have kids who are exposed to predators at no fault of their own,” said Hoylman, the Senate sponsor of the Child Victims Act. “I hope this chamber takes up the Child Victims Act before it’s too late.”

Robb said while she supports the Vietnam vet bill, “what is astonishing is the flat-out hypocrisy, duplicity and convenient inconsistency around (statute of limitations) reform by the Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Deputy Majority Leader (John) DeFrancisco. Nothing short of pure hypocritical deal-making.”

Not to mention cowardly, unfeeling and inconsiderate. 

An Assembly version of the Child Victims Act cleared a key committee Wednesday night, but it was unclear as of Thursday evening whether it would be taken up by the full house before the session ends. The Senate was not prepared to pass it.

New Yorkers, please make these cowards pay in November and elect people who care about children and child sex survivors more than the organizations that abused them.