In more than 7 and a half hours of emotionally draining testimony from victims of sexual abuse, the Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee voted 5-1 to allow sexual abuse victims to pursue justice in the courtroom. The bill will now go to the full Colorado Senate for review.

The bill would open a two-year window to let victims of sexual abuse sue, even if the statute of limitations on the crime had expired. It also would allow victims to sue private institutions for the actions of a person who is dead or incapacitated and would let some claimants recover money in excess of the costs of medical treatment and counseling. Current law allows victims to file a claim against the perpetrator’s employer up to six years after the offense.
As darkness fell outdoors, more than 20 alleged victims or their family members testified – sometimes in graphic detail – about the sexual abuse the victims said they endured as children. Many of them held pictures of themselves as children. Some described suicide, alcohol and drug abuse and bouts of depression.
Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald, a Catholic and sponsor of Senate Bill 143, said that the bill is “about crime, not canon law” and that she was saddened by the outpouring of testimony about her church.