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No More Failures of Nerve with the Child Victims Act

Hudson Valley 360
May 3, 2018

https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/article/no-more-failures-nerve-child-victims-act

For Gary Greenberg and other backers of the Child Victims Act, passage in the state Assembly on Tuesday must have felt frustratingly like deja vu.

Here were the legislation’s supporters for the second straight year, watching the proposed bill survive the Assembly and then hoping the state Senate would finally get the message and seal the deal.

If the state Senate takes up the legislation before the end of session and it is signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Child Victims Act would eliminate the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases of sexual crimes against children, allowing the adult survivors to sue for compensation from their attackers and the institutions that covered up the abuses.

Greenberg, an attorney who lives in New Baltimore, is the survivor of brutal sexual assaults he suffered at the age of 7. He has led the fight for passage of the bill for several years. He is also a survivor of the state Legislature’s failures of nerve. Each year, Greenberg watched as the Child Victims Act came tantalizingly close to full passage, only to see it fall short in the state Senate.

He hopes the outcome will be different this year.

“I think since the Assembly passed the bill with the majority of Republican Assembly members, that sends a message to the Senate that they need to come to some kind of agreement,” Greenberg said Wednesday.

The state Assembly’s work on the Child Victims Act has not been in vain, despite the Senate’s recent rejections. The Assembly has shown enough conviction in getting the bill passed to change the minds of senators. Indeed, one senator appears convinced. State Sen. George Amedore Jr., R-46, who represents all of Greene County, met recently with Greenberg to discuss the bill.

“I anticipate the Senate will act before the conclusion of session so victims can get the justice they deserve,” Amedore said Wednesday.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Don’t let another year go by without passing the Child Victims Act.

 

 

 

 

 




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