$ock abusers, not N.Y. – gov
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo threw cold water on a Republican state senator’s proposal to create a $300 million fund earmarked for child sex abuse survivors.
Cuomo raised several concerns, including whether the $300 million is enough.
“You would cap the recovery of people and I don’t believe there should be a cap,” he said. “I believe it should be whatever the damages are.”
Cuomo said he supports a more expansive Child Victims Act bill that he and legislative Democrats have pushed, which targets the abusers themselves and their institutions.
The Daily News reported Thursday that the centerpiece of the legislation introduced by Sen. Catharine Young (R-Chautauqua County) is the creation of a $300 million Child Victim Reconciliation and Compensation Fund that would be run out of the state controller’s office.
Rather than have individual abusers or institutions like the Catholic Church, yeshivas, schools, the Boy Scouts of America, and the insurance companies pay the settlements, victims who no longer can bring lawsuits under current law would be eligible to seek restitution from the fund, which would hire hearing officers and investigators to probe and rule on claims. Under the bill, the state would get the $300 million from the more than $700 million in asset forfeiture funds controlled by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s office.
Vance’s office ripped the bill, which has 19 sponsors.
Vance spokesman Danny Frost said if the senators are intent on using asset forfeiture money, they should dip into the $2 billion the DA’s financial crime probes contributed to New York since 2010. “If these senators want to bail out child predators and their enablers, perhaps they could use some of that money instead,” he said.
Sen. Brad Hoylman, the Manhattan Democratic sponsor of a more expansive version of the Child Victims Act that has passed the Assembly but been blocked by the Senate GOP, also blasted Young’s bill.
While many survivors oppose the bill, some support it, including Gary Greenberg, who was sexually abused as a child and who helped craft the legislation. “This is a sincere effort by Sen. Young to help past and future victims,” he said. “The bill is a work in progress.”