GOP senator backs victims act

ALBANY — A GOP state senator broke ranks from his colleagues Monday — saying he’d vote for a bill to help child sex abuse survivors.

“If it comes to the floor, I’ll support any of the the versions that are out there,” Sen. James Tedisco (R-Schenectady, photo inset) told the Daily News. He urged state leaders to strike a deal before Wednesday’s scheduled end of the legislative session.

Child sex abuse, he said, “can cause psychological, mental and physical problems for a lifetime.”

Tedisco is the first Senate Republican to say he’d vote for the Child Victims Act, which overwhelmingly passed the Assembly with strong GOP support two weeks ago.

“I always said if a vote came to the Senate floor, we’d get Republican votes,” said Gary Greenberg, an upstate investor and child sex abuse survivor who’s an activist on the issue. “The Senate should take the bill up.”

Also Monday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman made a last-ditch plea to pass the Child Victims Act in a letter to legislative leaders. Schneiderman noted the Assembly recently passed the bill. “After years of emotional debate, this important progress should be the impetus for a final legislative agreement,” he wrote. “We need to seize the unprecedented momentum this issue has gained in the halls of the capitol this year to finally enact real, meaningful reform that will deliver justice to child sex abuse victims across New York.”

Passage in the Senate this year is still considered a long shot. The GOP privately discussed the issue Monday, but still has major concerns about creating a oneyear window to revive old claims, a source said.