Last month, for the second year in a row, the Adult Survivors Act passed the New York state Senate unanimously. Yet, the legislation has been left languishing in the state Assembly where it has not yet passed. Now, advocates like Elias Farah of the Sexual Harassment Working Group are calling on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

The Adult Survivors Act follows the model laid out in the Child Victims Act which passed both houses in 2019. The bill would establish a one-year look-back window in which adult survivors of sexual assault could pursue a civil lawsuit against the perpetrator or an institution. Farah told Capital Tonight that the legislation is “nothing new” but argues the legislation is “critical” to “protect victims and to protect survivors.”

The Assembly version of the bill, which is being carried by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Democrat from Manhattan, is still in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The clock is ticking to get the bill done in 2022. The legislative session is scheduled to end on June 2, leaving just 11 days to get the bill over the finish line.