Why hasn't the Child Victims Act been signed into law?

By Anya Tucker
NEWS 10
February 06, 2019

https://bit.ly/2E5RUkC

The Child Victims Act passed unanimously in the Senate on January 28th, but the bill is still waiting to be signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

This has some victims of childhood sexual abuse growing nervous.

The Child Victims Act would raise the age from 23 to 28 for victims in criminal cases to come forward. In civil cases, it raises the age to 55. It also provides a one-year lookback in which to file those civil lawsuits.

“The purpose of getting this law was to get the statute of limitations clock going. And the law won’t change until he signs it," says Gary Greenberg.

The childhood sexual abuse survivor says his concern is for victims who may have birthdays coming up in the next couple of days or weeks that would leave them out of the bounds of the new statute. He points to the speed at which Gov. Cuomo signed other bills into law, such as the Reproductive Health Act, on the very same day it was passed.

Gov. Cuomo’s office sent NEWS10 ABC an email saying, in part, “We are working to identify a date for a bill signing with advocates and survivors who have been affected by this issue...[they] need to have an opportunity to attend this historic event.”

Gary said of Cuomo, “He is minimizing victims….He wants to have a celebration of this law. Well, we want to have a signature on this bill.”  

Once the bill makes its way to Cuomo’s desk he will have 10 says in which to sign it into law.

Sources tell NEWS10 that a tentative date of February 19th has been set.