NEW YORK
Village Voice
by LAUREN EVANS
JUNE 21, 2017
The Child Victims Act will not be voted on this legislative session, despite a monumental push from survivors and lawmakers, and even a program bill from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan confirmed to reporters yesterday that the bill was done for the year. “It’s under discussion, but the senate is not going to be taking that bill up,” he said.
Advocates of the CVA had high hopes that this would be the year the bill — a version of which has existed since 2006 — would finally get passed, particularly after one Republican, State Senator James Tedisco, signaled his support for it. Earlier this month, the legislation passed the state assembly for the first time since 2008, and last week Cuomo introduced his own version that matched the assembly’s.
The act, though, has powerful detractors. The Catholic Church has worked diligently to keep the bill from passing, fearing a deluge of costly lawsuits. The Boy Scouts of America shelled out $12,500 per month since February to the lobbying firm of a former state senator in an effort to have it killed.
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