Kid Vic Act hopes up on Dem win

ALBANY — Child sex abuse survivors are celebrating last week’s Democratic takeover of the state Senate, saying it bodes well for quick passage of the Child Victims Act.

The measure that would make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice as adults has been bottled up for years by the Republican Senate majority.

But now that the Democrats flipped eight seats and will enter the new legislative session with a strong majority, survivors and advocates believe 2019 will be the year the Child Victims Act finally becomes law.

Steve Jimenez, who with attorneys Kathryn Robb and Marci Hamilton started New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, said after more than a decade of fighting for the bill, survivors, their families and advocates “can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Our day of justice has been a long time coming — and for many of us, it’s a day that can’t come soon enough,” Jimenez said. “Good riddance to Senate control by John Flanagan, who as Senate majority leader, along with his Republican cronies, put predators before children.”

Gary Greenberg, a survivor and upstate investor who created a political action committee that pushed for pro-Child Victims Act Democrats, credited the efforts of “dozens of coalitions and advocacy groups, in partnership with hundreds of community organizers and tens of thousands of grass-roots activists.”

“(Voters) said that we will no longer allow our politicians to protect sexual abusers from facing justice, that we will not endanger kids any further by continuing to protect organizations which shelter these abusers, and that we will no longer deny kids the justice and peace that they deserve,” Greenberg said.