Arizona senator holds out on the budget to force a vote on child rape claims. Good for him

By Laurie Roberts
Arizona Republic
May 13, 2019

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2019/05/13/arizona-senator-paul-boyer-budget-force-vote-sexual-assault/1170363001/

Rep. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix. Photo by John Samora

It doesn’t seem as if Sen. Paul Boyer is asking for much.

He wants to give victims who were sexually assaulted as children more time to hold their rapists accountable. More time to do what they can to ensure that other children, today’s children, are protected.

Only in Arizona would such a thing be controversial.

Controversial enough, in fact, that Senate President Karen Fann refuses to put the bill up for a vote.

Now, Boyer has issued a threat: he won’t vote for any state budget until his bill is passed. Last week, Sen. Heather Carter, R-Phoenix, joined his protest, leaving the Senate unable to pass a budget unless Senate leaders are willing to make a deal with Democrats.

The pair also want a sizable chunk of new money for schools, school counselors and affordable housing. But it's his bill for child-rape victims that Boyer says is non-negotiable.

“In my seven years here, I’ve never made the threat before this,” the Glendale Republican told me on Friday. “I can’t think of anything more important than this.”

Boyer, who teaches 11th grade literature at Great Hearts North Phoenix Preparatory Academy, said the inspiration for his bill came from Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor sentenced to at least 40 years in prison after several hundred girls accused him of molestation.

The first of Nassar's accusers was 31 years old when she came forward with her story about what had happened to her at age 15. In Arizona, she would have had no right to file a civil lawsuit, not even if the abuse had risen to the level of rape.

When it comes to childhood victims of sexual assault, Arizona is one of the most generous states – for child rapists, that is.

Oh, a child rapist can be criminally prosecuted at any time but there aren’t all that many kids who preserve DNA evidence or know to file a police report or even realize that they’ve been victimized if they’ve been carefully enough groomed by their predator.

It’s often not until a decade or two – or three – later that they come to grips with what has happened, working through the emotional and psychological turmoil to understand that it wasn’t their fault.

By then, however, it’s too late.

In Arizona, a child who has been sexually assaulted has until age 20 to file a lawsuit against his (or her) rapist. That’s the same amount of time you’re afforded to sue if you slip on a banana peel and a good bit less time than you’d get if you had a contract dispute.

No other state offers such a brief statute of limitations for civil suits against suspected child rapists, according to legislative researchers. Eight states, including Utah, have no statute of limitations at all.

Boyer has proposed giving victims seven years to bring a lawsuit, and the clock wouldn’t start ticking the person discloses the assault to a licensed medical or mental health professional.

His bill also includes a two-year window to file claims for those whose statute of limitations already has run out, but he’s given up on that, given the opposition.

He is, however, standing firm on the need for another provision – allowing a victim to sue anyone who helped hide the abuse, principally organizations that ignored or covered up evidence of child abuse or sexual assault and allowed predators continued access to children.

Insurance companies aren’t happy about that. Boyer figures that’s why Fann won’t bring the bill to the Senate floor.

Fann, R-Prescott, didn’t return a phone call on Friday. She previously has said Boyer’s bill could victimize business owners who could be sued decades after the fact for acts that may or may not been committed by employees who are no longer around.

Boyer points out that there are penalties for bringing frivolous lawsuits and that in some cases, those employees or volunteers still are abusing kids.

It’s those lawsuits, or the threat of them, that are pressuring organizations like the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church to do more to protect children. It's why many states are moving to adjust their statute-of-limitations laws to allow victims of long-ago sexual abuse to sue for damage.

Or not if they happen to be in Arizona, where key legislators – Fann, Senate Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth and House Appropriations Chairwoman Regina Cobb – have been unwilling to put Boyer’s bill up for a vote.

Boyer says that’s because if they did, it would pass overwhelmingly.

“I just think kids need to be protected,” he told me. “If we’re not protecting kids, I don’t know what we are doing down there.”