The New York state Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed the Adult Survivors Act for the second year in a row. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Brad Hoylman, told Capital Tonight that he hopes Senate passage will put more of an “impetus” on the state Assembly to pass the legislation.
Despite receiving unanimous support in the state Senate, the bill has not advanced out of the Assembly. Hoylman argues the bill’s relative youth is working against the bill but expects “great things in the Assembly” before the scheduled end of the legislative session. The scheduled end of session is June 2, which leaves just 18 session days on the calendar.
The Adult Survivors Act would create a one-year lookback window for survivors of sexual assault to file a civil lawsuit against an individual or institution. The Child Victims Act, which applies to cases where the person was under 18 years old, had its one-year look back window extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoylman said he believes the Legislature would consider an extension of the lookback window if there is a need like an overload of cases or another pandemic.