DENVER (CO)
CBS News [Colorado]
April 18, 2025
By Shaun Boyd
Survivors of child sexual assault are once again asking Colorado lawmakers to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot.
If passed by voters, it would allow for civil suits in cases that happened decades earlier.
Right now, survivors of child sexual abuse have six years after they turn 18 to bring a civil suit. But most don’t come forward for decades. By then, the statute of limitations has run out and their left with trauma that often requires a lifetime of treatment.
State Sen. Jessie Danielson and state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet are bringing a bill, for the third time in four years, to give them a chance to recover damages.
“Once you hear these stories, I don’t know how anybody doesn’t take action,” Danielson said.
She and Michaelson Jenet first took action in 2021. They passed a law that allowed survivors of child sexual assault to sue their abusers and institutions — like churches and schools — that covered up abuse no matter how long ago it happened.
The Colorado Supreme Court struck it down, saying the constitution prohibits retrospective lawsuits. So, last year, Danielson and Michaelson Jenet asked the legislature to refer a ballot measure changing the constitution. It needed two-thirds of the senate to pass, which meant at least one Republican along with every Democrat. Republicans wanted a carve out for institutions. Danielson and Michaelson Jenet refused, and the measure failed.
“Once again I return alongside victims and advocates of sexual assault asking for justice,” Danielson said at a committee hearing this week, where she and Michaelson Jenet re-introduced the bill, giving the GOP a second chance.
Danielson says it’s not only about holding predators accountable for past abuse but preventing future abuse.
“It’s about removing people who still have access to children,” Danielson said.
But Jessica Fuller, an attorney for the Colorado Catholic Conference, argues the bill is not about making kids safer, “It does not put more perpetrators in jail.”
She says it will bankrupt nonprofits that will have no choice but to settle cases based on decades old claims, “Witnesses have passed away and cannot be found. If they can be located, they do not have clear memories of the relevant facts and events after such a long passage of time. Those accused of perpetrating the actual harm are often times no longer alive to answer for these claims. Key documents are lost or destroyed after decades.”
Survivors like Angie Witt, who was abused as a child by her pastor, says let the courts decide.
“I don’t believe legislators should decide whether or not I have a case. That’s the job of the judicial system. Please do not silence the voters of Colorado as I was silenced,” she said.
The Catholic Church says the amendment could not only cost nonprofits but the government. This month, Los Angeles County agreed to a $4 billion settlement involving thousands of claims of sexual abuse — at detention and foster care facilities — dating back more than 60 years.
The bill passed its first committee, but Danielson says Republicans have once again vowed to vote against Monday when it’s debated on the floor.
Danielson says she won’t give up. If the legislature won’t refer the measure to voters, she says she and supporters will gather signatures to put it on the ballot.
“I will absolutely be carrying on this fight. We are going to the ballot. We are going to change the constitution one way or another,” Danielson said.