DE bill could remove statute of limitations on child sexual abuse claims

Salisbury, Md. – House Bill 75  would remove the statute of limitations of a former civil suit for survivors of sexual abuse as minors, allowing them to prosecute their abusers in the Superior Court at any time.

Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D – District 14) is a co-sponsor of the bill and a staunch supporter of the legislation.

“That’s really important because a lot of times, it takes survivors of sexual abuse a long time to process their trauma,” she said. “Some take over 20 years to be able to come to terms, and some people never fully recover from what was done to them. And so this bill is a step towards justice for those survivors.”

For Snyder-Hall, the legislation’s cause hit close to home.

“My first job out of college was working with girls who were sexually had been sexually abused,” Snyder-Hall said. “And so this is an issue that’s near and dear to my heart. Many of my friends and some of my closest friends are survivors of child sexual abuse. So I’m very proud to have voted with my colleagues who unanimously passed HB 75 through the House last year.”

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Gerald Hocker (R – District 20) also said that, for him, the bill is about justice.

“That’s one of the worst things a minor can probably go through,” he said. “And why should someone convicted several years later not pay the price?”

He said the bill was a way to make sure perpetrators of sexual assault against minors do not “get away with that kind of crime” just because the statute of limitations runs out.

“The last thing you ever want, you know, is a criminal or someone convicted of that kind of crime thinking that when the statute of limitations runs out, that they are home free,” he said.

Sponsored by democrats and republicans, both Hocker and Snyder-Hall are optimistic that the legislation will pass this session.

“I think that the relatively quick passage of HB 75, with strong bipartisan support in both chambers, really speaks to how much we want to stand with survivors of child sexual abuse,” Snyder-Hall said.

HB 75 has been passed out of committee and is ready for consideration on the Senate floor.