"Blue Wave" Couldn't Come Soon Enough

WNYT TV
November 7, 2018

https://wnyt.com/politics/blue-wave-child-victims-act/5137233/

A "blue wave" has come to the state Capitol. Democratic victories could clear the way for more liberal priorities like election reform and universal health care.

Another issue that's been stalled in the Senate for years -- giving molestation victims more time to sue their abusers.

To say that child sex abuse survivors are pleased with the outcome of Tuesday's election is a gross understatement. Quite frankly, they are euphoric.

Abuse victims and their advocates have been crusading for more than a decade to extend the statute of limitations to report child sex abuse. Currently in New York state, they only have until they're 23 years old. However, for many reasons some are unable to meet the deadline.

So what has become a recurring nightmare for the victims is they keep coming to the Capitol year after year. The Assembly keeps passing the Child Victim's Act, but the Senate refuses to vote on it.

The New York State Senate turned blue Tuesday night. That's good news for child abuse victims. It's not such a great development if you happen to be a Republican state senator.

"We're finally, after 13 years, going to be working with legislators who are not complicit, will not continue to be complicit and will help us get justice, get this done," said Mary Ellen O'Loughlin, a child sex abuse survivor. "It's time to get it done."

"Unfortunately, upstate New York is going to get to understand what the world is going to be like when there is only one voice, one political affiliation, from one region of the state – and it's not going to be a good thing to find out what the world is going to be like," said Republican state Sen. Jim Tedisco of Glenville.

Tedisco says he has always supported the Child Victim's Act. He thinks it might have passed anyway this year, even if there hadn't been a transfer of power.