NEW YORK
New York Daily News
BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, June 9, 2017
ALBANY — The head of a breakaway group of state Senate Democrats is amending his proposal to help child sex abuse victims in a way that has won over some skeptical advocates.
Sen. Jeffrey Klein’s bill contained a provision to create a commission to examine, evaluate and make binding recommendations on time-barred civil claims within a one-year window to determine if they could move forward.
Klein said the idea of the commission is to screen cases that are barred from proceeding to trial under current law to make sure they’re not frivolous and allowing legitimate ones to proceed.
But after a number of survivors complained a commission would merely set up another hurdle that victims have to get through that victims of other crimes do not, Klein agreed to make changes.
According to his spokeswoman, in addition to having a former prosecutor and a defense attorney, the five-member commission would now also be required to include a medical trauma expert and another plaintiff lawyer with experience litigating sexual abuse claims. The panel would also have to use a “good faith standard” when deciding whether a case can proceed.
Klein initially proposed having the court system develop new standards for the commission.
With the changes, Klein said that “I stand by the legislation as the best way to move forward to get a very important issue resolved.”
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