Maryland Child Victims Act

Legislative efforts to reform Maryland's statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits started in 2015, and saw some success with the passing of a 2017 bill expanding the statute of limitations to until the victim turns 38 years old, but were largely limited by lobbying efforts by the Maryland Catholic Conference—a Catholic Church lobbying organization representing the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archdiocese of Washington, and the Diocese of Wilmington. including $200,000 toward hiring former lawmakers and government officials (most notably Robert Zirkin and former Martin O'Malley spokesperson Rick Abbruzzese) as lobbyists. In February 2019, following the Pennsylvania Attorney General's release of the report into the grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh reportedly hired Elizabeth Embry, the former chief of the attorney general's criminal division, to lead a probe of sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Archbishop William E. Lori confirmed in September 2018 that the archdiocese was under investigation by the state and said that it had given the attorney general more than 50,000 pages of internal documents dating back to 1965. The Office of the Attorney General concluded its investigation on November 17, 2022, and later released a 456-page report identifying 600 victims of sexual abuse and accusing 158 Catholic priests, including 43 that were previously never publicly identified by the Archdiocese, of sexual abuse. In September 2025, the Supreme Court of Maryland heard arguments on the release of the Attorney General's unredacted report on child sexual abuse by the Baltimore Archdiocese. On April 27, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that Maryland could not publicize the names of clergy and staff who were cited in a grand jury probe of sexual assault of children, but never charged with any crimes. ==Impact==

Law firms and attorneys began advertising services to abuse survivors shortly after the bill was signed into law. Lawsuits against the archdiocese as well as Maryland's juvenile justice system and school system were filed days after the Child Victims Act went into effect on October 1, 2023. Legal challenges In November 2023, the Archdiocese of Washington filed a lawsuit challenging the Child Victims Act, arguing that the law violated the statute of repose provision in the 2017 bill. Attorneys representing multiple victims of child sexual abuse from members of the Catholic clergy from the Washington archdiocese defended the law by arguing that the archdiocese's lawyers had misinterpreted prior precedents set by the Maryland Supreme Court on the legislature's ability to modify the statute of limitations. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown also defended the law in court, arguing that the court siding with the archdiocese "would be unprecedented and would go against the consensus of federal law and the reasoned opinions of many other states." Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Robin D. Gill ruled that the Maryland Child Victims Act was constitutional on March 6, 2024. On April 1, 2024, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Jeannie E. Cho ruled that the law was unconstitutional, finding that it violated the Maryland Declaration of Rights; the ruling was appealed to the Maryland Supreme Court, who agreed to hear the case on May 7, 2024, later setting arguments for September 10, 2024. In mid-2025 there was a temporary stay on Child Victims Act cases in Baltimore City Circuit Court. In October 2025, after about a five-month pause, those cases resumed. Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 29, 2023, citing the Child Victims Act and the "great number of lawsuits" that were expected to be filed against the archdiocese after the bill went into effect on October 1. The bankruptcy filing was protested by church abuse victims, as bankruptcy proceedings automatically stopped civil proceedings against the archdiocese until an agreement is reached between church representatives and plaintiffs' attorneys. In December 2023, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michelle M. Harner ruled that child sexual abuse survivors could submit claims against the archdiocese in bankruptcy court. More than 700 claims were filed against the archdiocese ahead of the May 31, 2024 deadline. Archbishop William E. Lori attended bankruptcy hearings on May 20, 2024, to listen to victims testify about the sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy. Maryland state government As of January 2025, about 3,500 lawsuits involving allegations of sexual abuse against state agencies have been filed against state agencies, mainly in the juvenile justice system. State analysts have warned that settling these cases could cost the state hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. C. T. Wilson, the sponsor of the Child Victims Act, told The Baltimore Banner that he would support putting additional guardrails on how much money abuse survivors could collect from the state, saying that the law "wasn't about the money" but rather "giving victims the opportunity to approach their abusers". After the Supreme Court of Maryland ruled that the Child Victims Act was constitutional, Senate President Bill Ferguson and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee chair William C. Smith Jr. said that lawmakers would consider legislation that would close the lookback window for filing child sexual abuse lawsuits after a certain date. In February 2025, Wilson introduced a bill that would reinstate the statute of limitations, but later said that he only agreed to the bill after having read its title and would be rewriting the bill to establish a survivors' fund. The bill was rewritten to lower the amount of money survivors could win in court to $400,000 for public institutions and $700,000 for private institutions—which would only apply to claims filed after June 1, 2025—and clarifies that survivors are subject to the same liability limit even if they were abused multiple times. The Maryland Attorney General's Office wrote to Wilson to advise that the proposed changes would likely face court challenges, but were "not clearly unconstitutional" and could be defended in court. The bill passed the Maryland General Assembly in April 2025, and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore later that month. ==Legislative progress==

423rd session (2007) The 2007 bill was introduced by state senator James Brochin of Baltimore County on February 2, 2008. It was rejected by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee amid lobbying from the Maryland Catholic Conference. 425th session (2008) The 2008 bill was introduced by state delegate Eric M. Bromwell of Baltimore County on February 6, 2008. Bromwell faced pushback from his alma mater, Calvert Hall College High School, whose president wrote school supporters that the bill could cause a "severe, perhaps fatal, decline in enrollment" by allowing for lawsuits against the school by former students who allege that they had been molested by two former priests who had taught at the school and had sexually harassed at least 14 victims, which led opponents, including Bromwell's grandmother, to overwhelm Bromwell's office with calls in opposition of the bill that caused Bromwell to withdraw the bill. During hearings on a similar bill introduced by state delegate Aruna Miller that would extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse lawsuits, Wilson testified to lawmakers about how he had been repeatedly raped and beaten by his adoptive father between ages 9 and 15, but never brought charges against his father and said that he had not realized he was a victim until he was 40 years old. 436th session (2016) The 2016 bill was introduced by state senator Ronald N. Young of Frederick County on December 16, 2015, and by delegate Wilson on February 11, 2016. The bill did not advance out of the Judiciary Committee in either chamber following lobbying from the Maryland Catholic Conference. 437th session (2017) The 2017 bill was introduced by Wilson on February 1, 2017. Following negotiations with the Maryland Catholic Conference and Judiciary Committee chair Joseph F. Vallario Jr., the bill was amended to extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits until the victim turns 38 years old, but would make it more difficult for victims over 25 years old to win damages in civil lawsuits by requiring victims to prove negligence. The amended bill unanimously passed both chambers and was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan on April 4, 2017. The amended bill also included a statute of repose provision that forbade the state from raising the maximum age above 38. The provision was not intended to be a part of the bill and was not noticed until 2019, when state delegate Kathleen Dumais cited it while introducing an amendment to repeal the look back window provision from the Hidden Predator Act of 2019. It is not known who added the statute of repose provision to the bill, but Wilson attributes it to John Stierhoff, a Venable LLP lawyer who worked as a lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference and was involved with negotiations on the amended bill. Dumais' amendment would spark a debate among legislators on whether it would be constitutional to repeal the statute of repose. The bill would have repealed the statute of limitations and created a two-year look-back window for child sexual abuse victims who were unable to sue because of the statute of limitations. The bill passed the Maryland House of Delegates by a vote of 135–3 on March 18, 2019. The bill then moved to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it faced bipartisan opposition from senators, including Michael Hough and Jill P. Carter; the bill died in the Judiciary Committee after receiving a deadlocked 5–5 vote to advance it. Shortly after this, the House Judiciary Committee amended Republican state senator Justin Ready's "Laura and Reid's Law" to extend the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits until the victim turns 58 years old; however, this amendment was removed by conference committee before the bill was signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan. In February 2023, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown wrote in an advice letter that the Maryland General Assembly could amend the state's statute of repose to make exceptions for sexual abuse cases as the legislature had previously done for asbestos cases. 442nd session (2021) notably testified against the 2021 bill. The 2021 bill was introduced by delegate Wilson and state senator Shelly Hettleman of Baltimore County on September 30, 2020. During the hearing on the bill in February 2021, former Senate Judicial Proceedings chair Robert Zirkin (who had resigned before the start of the 2021 legislative session and soon after became a lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference) testified against the bill, saying that Wilson and fellow negotiators made a deal with the Catholic Church to prevent legislators from further adjusting the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases in Maryland, which prompted the bill's opponents in the legislature to criticize Wilson and question his integrity. Wilson withdrew the bill on March 16, 2021, saying that he believed removing his name from the bill would give it a better chance of passing that year. 445th session (2023) The 2023 bill was introduced by Wilson on November 16, 2022, and by state senator William C. Smith Jr. of Montgomery County on February 6, 2023. Although the Maryland Catholic Conference announced that it would support legislation to eliminate the statute of limitation on future cases of child sexual abuse, the lobbying organization said that it would continue to oppose bills providing a two-year "look back window" for survivors to file lawsuits alleging past abuse. The Child Victims Act contained such a provision and thus the organization was opposed to its passage. Advocates were more optimistic at the chances of the Child Victims Act becoming law this time around, as two of its biggest opponents—Robert Cassilly and Michael Hough—were no longer members of the Maryland General Assembly. The bill gained additional momentum from the Attorney General's report on child sexual abuse in the archdiocese, the Attorney General's Office changing its position on the constitutionality of the bill, and the 2021 appointment of Will Smith as the chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Maryland Governor Wes Moore endorsed the Child Victims Act on March 3, 2023. House passage The Child Victims Act was heard in the House Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 2, 2023, and advanced to the House floor in a unanimous vote on March 29. It was heard on the House floor the following day, during which no attempts were made to amend the bill. Although Republican state delegates continued to express concerns about the constitutionality of the bill, the House of Delegates voted 132–2 to pass the Child Victims Act on March 31, 2023, with William Valentine and William J. Wivell being the only delegates to vote against it. Senate passage On January 20, 2023, William C. Smith Jr. announced that the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee review child sexual abuse laws in Maryland. The Judicial Proceedings Committee voted 10–1 to advance the bill to the Senate floor on March 10, with only Republican state senator Chris West voting against it. West led opposition against the bill, which he believed was unconstitutional and would be overturned by the Maryland Supreme Court. On March 17, 2023, the Maryland Senate voted 42–5 to pass the Child Victims Act. The House crossfile version of the bill received a 42–4 vote on April 7, 2023. Voting against the bill were West, Ready, Jack Bailey, Mary Beth Carozza, and Johnny Ray Salling. Signing into law On April 11, 2023, Governor Wes Moore signed the Child Victims Act into law in his first bill signing ceremony as governor. Wilson spoke at the event, where he thanked House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and House Judicial Proceedings Committee chair Luke Clippinger for helping get the bill passed and adding that he "never thought God would let me see this moment." ==Legislative history==