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Child Victims Act passed in state legislature

New York is poised to relax the statute of limitations for child molestation to give victims more time to file lawsuits or seek criminal charges.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is poised to relax the statute of limitations for child molestation to give victims more time to file lawsuits or seek criminal charges.

The legislation, known as the Child Victims Act, passed the Democrat-controlled Senate and Assembly on Monday. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo intends to sign the bill into law.

The act would extend the statute of limitations going forward and create a one-year window for civil suits now barred by the statute of limitations.

Abuse survivors have long pushed for the bill, which was blocked for years by Senate Republicans. Democrats vowed to pass the measure quickly after they won a Senate majority last fall.

The Catholic Church dropped its long opposition to the act after it was revised to treat public and private schools the same.

The following are a few lines from a statement released by the Buffalo Catholic Diocese in response to the state legislature passing the Child Victims Act:

"We pray that the passage of the Child Victims Act brings some measure of healing to all survivors by offering them a path of recourse and reconciliation. The legislation now recognizes that child sexual abuse is an evil not just limited to one institution, but a tragic societal ill that must be addressed in every place where it exists."

MORE: Full Statement from Buffalo Catholic Diocese on Child Victims Act

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