Zirkin Returns to Old Committee to Testify Against [Delegate CT] Wilson’s Child Sex Abuse Bill #SB134 -“Biggest mistake of my life,” Wilson told Maryland Matters this week, likening the experience to “negotiating with the devil.”

Former Senate Judicial Proceedings chairman Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) returned to his former committee this week to testify against a high-profile bill that’s a follow-up to a measure he once championed.

The woman who replaced Zirkin in the Senate last year, Sen. Shelly L. Hettleman (D-Baltimore County), has joined Del. CT Wilson (D-Charles) in his fight to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sex abuse survivors to launch civil suits. The bill was up in the Judicial Proceedings Committee, where Hettleman serves, on Tuesday...

...This legislation is something that Wilson has fought for for years — at times with Zirkin’s help.

In 2017, Wilson successfully sponsored legislation to extend the ability of childhood sexual abuse survivors to pursue civil lawsuits against their offenders from seven years after their 18th birthday to 20 years. 

Additionally, if a perpetrator was convicted in a criminal suit at any time, their victims were allotted a three-year lookback period to sue.

To achieve this, Wilson said that he, former Senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr.’s Office and former House Judiciary Committee chair Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George’s) entered into negotiations with the Catholic church to amend the bill. 

“Biggest mistake of my life,” Wilson told Maryland Matters this week, likening the experience to “negotiating with the devil.”..

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/02/05/zirkin-returns-to-old-committee-to-testify-against-wilsons-child-sex-abuse-bill/?fbclid=IwAR2R66Jm34HptVbvw_Md0HAj_hcy3rt2gmnBQwZM3nUkV0x2sk0CsvX1z-w