Article Title
Rhode Island lawmakers pass bill giving sexual abuse victims 35 years to bring lawsuits
Link to Article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/rhode-island/2019/06/26/rhode-island-lawmakers-pass-bill-giving-sexual-abuse-victims-years-bring-lawsuits/KVFDNvZBoJ5dsRfa95seiP/story.html
Source: Boston Globe
Author(s): Amanda Milkovits
Date: June 26, 2019
Synopsis of / Excerpts from Article
According to the article:
The Rhode Island General Assembly overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday to give victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to sue perpetrators and hold institutions and public entities accountable.
The legislation heads to the desk of Governor Gina Raimondo, who is expected to sign it into law.
It extends the statute of limitations to 35 years after victims reach adulthood.
Victims will have 35 years to bring lawsuits against individual perpetrators, regardless of whether the case had been “time-barred” under previous laws. The bill also keeps state law allowing victims to file suits within seven years of “discovering” they’d been abused.
The bill caps a years-long battle brought by survivors of sexual abuse, and in the waning days of this session, appeared that the effort was going to fail when the House and Senate brought forward conflicting bills.
Then Wednesday afternoon, Senator Donna Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket, suddenly announced a compromise with the “best parts” of her bill and the bill sponsored by Narragansett Representative Carol Hagan McEntee.
The legislators didn’t waste time. Within two hours, the compromise legislation flew through the Senate Judiciary Committee, unanimously passed the Senate to applause, and then sailed through the House, 70 to 1. (Representative Brian C. Newberry, R-North Smithfield, was the only nay.)
The governor said Wednesday evening that she intended to sign it into law.