NEW YORK
WHEC
New Yorkers who were molested as children joined lawmakers and advocates in a two-day rally for lifting the state’s statute of limitations on suing abusers, saying the law closing the window at age 23 guarantees many more young victims.
Their effort has faced years of opposition from the Catholic Church and other institutions.
Lawmakers said prospects are improving with a recent change in legislative leadership in Albany. They also cited Massachusetts’ passage two years ago of a similar measure and the recent Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” about priests sexually abusing boys in Boston.
The film was being shown Wednesday near the Capitol.
“I think we have some movement on the bill,” Assemblywoman Margaret Markey said Wednesday. The Queens Democrat has repeatedly introduced legislation that hasn’t advanced, but which currently has 61 co-sponsors in the 150-seat Assembly.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, has said the bill will be discussed in the majority Democratic Conference this year, a spokesman said Wednesday. The legislative session ends in June.
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