VICTIMS PRESS AHEAD

Push to meet GOP big

ALBANY — A coalition of child abuse survivors and advocates is pushing for a meeting with the head of the state Senate to discuss passing a bill designed to make it easier for victims to bring cases as adults.

The coalition, New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, requested the meeting after Senate GOP Leader John Flanagan recently told the Daily News that he would be “more than willing to sit down to have real adult conversations that inure to the benefit of everyone.”

The Senate GOP has blocked the Child Victims Act from coming to the floor for a vote. The Assembly earlier this year passed the bill for the first time since 2008.

In the letter to Flanagan (R-Suffolk County), New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators said “we have been, and continue to be, ready to meet with you to convince you of the merits of the legislation and encourage you to stop blocking the bill.”

“Senator, as the #metoo movement sweeps the nation, calling out those who failed to protect the vulnerable, you do not want to be on the wrong side of history,” the coalition’s founders, Marci Hamilton, Stephen Jimenez and Kathryn Robb wrote.

The three said they have “made an untold number of requests to you and your office over the years to hold such conversations, but have never been accommodated.”

They told Flanagan (photo) in the letter that they would meet as early as next week in his Long Island or Albany offices.

A Flanagan spokesman had no immediate comment on the meeting request, though he said top aides to the Senate leader have met with victims in the past.