By Robert Lang, WBAL NewsRadio 1090
On Tuesday, Governor Larry Hogan signed House Bill 642 into law.
When it takes effect on October 1, it will allow the victims of child sex abuse to be able to file a lawsuit against their abuser up until they turn 38 years old.
Current law sets the limit at age 25.
The bill is very personal to its sponsor, Charles County Delegate C.T. Wilson.
Will grew up in foster care.
From the time he was 19 until the time he turned 15, Wilson was raped and beaten repeatedly by his adoptive father.
The adoptive father died in 1999.
Wilson went public with his abuse story back in March of 2015 at a Senate committee hearing on his bill.
The bill struggled to get out of the House Judiciary Committee, and had opponents including the Catholic Church, but this year was different.
The bill passed unanimously in both House and Senate Committees, then both the full House and Senate, and the governor signed it.
Wilson told WBAL News Radio 1090 that the lawsuit will make sure child abuse victims’ voices are heard in the court system.
Listen to an interview with Charles Co. Delegate C.T. Wilson
“It was not my goal to put my personal business out there, but we’re elected for a reason, and you can’t come out here and stand back when the going gets tough,” Wilson said.
In the interview for Sunday’s Maryland’s News This Week, Wilson says he does not let being a child abuse survivor define him, but he felt telling his story would help other victims, and convince lawmakers to pass his bill.
Wilson says lawsuits do help vicvtims heal, because he says that the system is acknowleding what happened to the child victim.
He says the higher age limits for te lawsuits are necessary, because a victim isn’t often able to confront what happened to them until they get into their 30’s
Wilson says he will share his story for anyone who asks, but he does not let his childhood define him.
Delegate Wilson says now that this bill is passed he wants legislation to help homeless veterans and other foster children.
