JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
Baptist News Global [Jacksonville FL]
May 8, 2025
By Mallory Challis
On April 29, “Trey’s Law” passed the Missouri Senate as an amendment to HB-737. The child protection bill, sponsored by Sen. Jamie Burger and authored by Rep. Melissa Schmidt, now awaits Gov. Mike Kehoe’s signature.
Sponsored by Sen. Brad Hudson as SB-590, “Trey’s Law” prohibits the misuse of nondisclosure agreements against child sexual abuse and trafficking victims in civil settlement agreements.
Missouri
The bill passed in the Missouri Senate Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee back in April. Versions of “Trey’s Law” also were championed in the Missouri House by Rep. Brian Seitz and House Judiciary Chair Cameron Parker.
“These are legal mechanisms that were created to protect trade secrets, not trauma secrets,” Seitz said in a recent address on the House floor when his version of “Trey’s Law” was perfected.
Several victims of Kanakuk Kamps, a summer camp ministry based in Seitz’s district and currently under multiple litigations related to serial child sexual abuse that occurred there, also testified in support of Trey’s Law throughout its journey through the Missouri and Texas legislatures. Legislators and advocates in various states have referred to this legislation as “Trey’s Law” in honor of Trey Carlock, who died by suicide in 2019 after enduring child sexual abuse by former Kanakuk staff member Pete Newman.
Elizabeth Carlock Phillips is Trey’s older sister and is certified in crime victim advocacy. Since his death, she has testified numerous times that her late brother was silenced to his grave by a restrictive NDA following a retraumatizing civil litigation process with Kanakuk and its insurers.
A public petition launched in March 2021 protesting Kanakuk’s use of NDAs to silence child sexual abuse victims has garnered more than 27,000 verified signatures to date. Survivors of IHOP Kansas City and its longtime leader, Mike Bickle, also testified in favor of a Senate version of the bill.
“It’s no exaggeration for me to claim this is a matter of life and death,” Phillips testified. “When I say that my brother was silenced to his grave, I mean he was literally scared to death. He hesitated to tell his story even in confidential, therapeutic settings, for fear that Kanakuk would come after him again like they did an earlier John Doe.”
Phillips was joined in front of the Missouri House Judiciary Committee by Cindy Clemishire in early March where both women testified in favor of the bill. Clemishire is a survivor and whistleblower on child sexual abuse committed by Gateway Church founder Robert Morris who was indicted on five felony counts of child sexual abuse earlier this year.
Clemishire testified that she turned down an NDA in her 40s that would have kept her alleged abuse by Morris a secret. Phillips described NDAs as “abuse on top of abuse.” Following the House Judiciary Committee hearing, the bill passed committee immediately and unanimously. It received a unanimous House floor vote April 9.
Progress in Texas, Trey’s home-state
“Trey’s Law” also continues to advance through the Texas Legislature as HB-748.
On Thursday morning, the pair testified once again, along with three others, in front of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee, where Trey’s Law was heard again as SB-835, filed by Rep. Jeff Leach and Sen. Angela Paxton. The bill seeks to end the misuse of NDAs against child sexual abuse, assault and trafficking victims in civil settlement agreements as a matter of public safety and concern.
“This hearing brings renewed hope to survivors of child sexual abuse and other crimes who have also endured the weaponization of NDAs in civil settlement agreements,” Phillips said beforehand. “While this is called ‘Trey’s Law,’ I could insert many names whom this law honors and helps. In our collective testimonies, we hope to represent the voices of countless brave survivors of childhood crimes who have been unable to speak freely due to the hush money lawfully allowed in Texas’ civil courts, which only protects bad actors and conceals important information from the public.”
In previous interviews with BNG, she and other advocates have said the number of known deaths by suicide among Kanakuk survivors has reached 17.
Introducing the bill to the committee, Sen. Paxton began, “Child sex abuse is literally one of the most heinous crimes we in this body have dealt with.”
Explaining the misuse of NDAs in child sex abuse cases, she said NDAs are a mechanism by which abusers are protected while victims are silenced. “Telling the story is central, essential to the healing of child sexual abuse. And that decision should be the decision of the survivor, not of the abuser.”
Phillips’ testimony recounted Trey’s story, explaining how his restrictive NDA caused her family to know more about his experiences of abuse in his death than they did in his life. Still, not all truth gets revealed, she said. “A lot of truth dies with people because of NDAs.”
“I’m trying to be a voice for Trey and countless other victims of sexual abuse,” she said, referring to the long list of survivors who cannot tell their stories. “If they could testify without restrictions, there would be a line out the door.”
She later appealed to public safety, saying this secrecy not only impacts the mental health of survivors but allows abusers to go on without accountability. “When you muzzle victims,” she said, “it conceals important information from the public.”
She also revealed a part of her own story during her testimony, which she never had shared before, urging the committee to see the value of allowing survivors the autonomy to choose when and where they’d like to tell their stories: “I am myself a survivor of a sexual assault.”
Clemishire echoed her sentiments, retelling her story of abuse for the committee members and explaining how her refusal to sign an NDA is what allowed her finally seek justice against Morris, albeit decades later.
“There was no way I was going to sign something saying I was not going to speak about my own life,” she said. But referring to Morris’ recent indictment, she proclaimed, “This is what happens when survivors are not silenced. NDAs are presented as legal formalities … but they are tools that continue the abuse. … The only way to stop the abuse is to tell the truth.”
Clemishire concluded her testimony by once again emphasizing her support for this bill, urging committee members to question who benefits and who suffers if it is not passed. “Anyone who doesn’t support this bill, or waters it down, or prevents it from being passed, we should ask: Who are they trying to protect, and why?”
Others testify
Along with Phillips and Clemishire, Joe Alarcon also testified in favor of the bill.
“I’m here for my son, Ashton,” he began. Ashton is a survivor of Kanakuk abuse at the hands of serial sex abuser Pete Newman, the same person who abused Trey. At Trey’s request, the Alarcon family refused to sign an NDA during the original settlement process, leading to years of legal intimidation against the family by Kanakuk in retribution for that choice.
“Those of us who do have voice, I feel like we do have a responsibility and an opportunity to speak for those who don’t,” Alarcon said.
“Abuse doesn’t stop with the victim,” Alarcon continued. “It ripples through the entire family.” He then explained the bond between Ashton and his brother, Preston, who died three years ago, unable to handle anxiety he experienced related to his brother’s abuse and their family’s collective experience of intimidation and trauma thereafter.
Alarcon questioned the committee, “Should victims have to fight not only their trauma but institutions and lawyers bent on silencing them?”
He then urged, “I stand for the victims of the future. Children who, as of today, have not been abused. That is a sobering reality. Just saying that breaks my heart. Some of them will become addicts, some will not make it. You have the power to protect their voice.”
“I speak to you not only as a grieving father, but as someone who has stood up to the institution,” Alarcon said. “Healing is possible when victims are given their voice.”
Two sexual abuse survivors also testified in support of the bill.
Susie Spencer, who endured abuse at the hands of her father as a child, briefly told her story of being silenced, then met with a statute of limitations when she finally found the courage to tell her story. That statute of limitations prevented her from seeking legal justice.
Likewise, “NDAs align with the perpetrators. People like my dad, who tell kids they need to be quiet.”
Survivor Joseph Clevland also testified, discussing abuse against himself and other men who were adults at the time of their abuse. After years of staying silent, he said, “We ended up finding over 40 victims.”
Then, “we then all watched in horror as NDAs were used by members of the institution to cover themselves.”
Paxton explained in her introduction of the bill that while the Senate version specifically relates to child sexual abuse, the House version includes victims of any age. She proposed the committee consider expanding the age restriction for the Senate version of the bill.
Now, the bill is up for a vote on the Senate floor, and if passed, will be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk for approval.