Colorado lawmakers hope to bring a constitutional amendment to the ballot next year to eliminate the statute of limitations for civil claims in childhood sexual abuse cases. 

Sponsors argued that the proposal would remedy a loophole that has precluded victims of child sex abuse from pursuing cases against the alleged perpetrators. Critics said it would open the floodgates to litigation, potentially bankrupting nonprofit organizations.  

Senate Concurrent Resolution 002 is “a long time in the making, and also a short time coming,” said Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, who is sponsoring the measure. alongside Sen. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, and House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge.

In 2021, Danielson and Michaelson Jenet, along with former Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, and Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, sponsored a bill allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims against their abusers and the organization managing the program where the abuse occurred, if applicable.

The bill became law, but the Colorado Supreme Court overturned it in 2023, ruling it violated the state constitution’s prohibition on retrospective legislation. According to Danielson, the courts told sponsors they would need to change the constitution in order for the policy to stand.

In that case, the defendants and other outside organizations that submitted briefs to the court, including the Archdiocese of Denver, argued there were compelling reasons to prevent a flood of lawsuits based on decades-old claims of abuse. Witnesses may be gone, evidence can be difficult to find and the sponsors of current youth-oriented programs would effectively be paying for the sins of their predecessors, the groups said.

The Colorado Catholic Conference also opposed the 2021 legislation, saying that the “retroactive legislation” has the “potential to bankrupt or drain significant resources from today’s youth-serving institutions and social welfare institutions.”

Last session, Danielson, Fields, Duran and then-Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, introduced SCR 001, which sought to amend the constitution. The measure bill failed in the Senate. 

Sponsors said they will reintroduce the resolution every session until it passes.

“Once again, I return alongside victims of sexual assault asking for justice,” Danielson told the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday. “Today is another day that reflects years of struggle and heartbreak, a day that exists because this legislature has yet to fully address the call of survivors who have shared their pain with us time and time again.”

Michaelson Jenet called the amendment a “very narrow exception” in the state constitution that, she said, will have a major impact.

Supporters of the proposal often pointed to a report from the nonprofit thinktank ChildUSA, which said that the average childhood sexual abuse survivor doesn’t come forward until they are 52 years old. Survivors often block out the trauma and don’t remember it until decades later or are afraid to speak out, which is why they should be able to pursue a civil claim regardless of when the abuse occurred, Danielson argued.

‘Please do not silence the voters of Colorado as I was silenced’

Everything from whispers and yelling to driving on I-70 can trigger flashbacks for Angie Witt, an educator who was allegedly sexually abused by the pastor of her Pueblo church throughout the 1980s. It wasn’t until 2018, when Witt was in her 40s, that she remembered what had happened to her. 

“Memories flooded forth, and the delayed manifestation of my childhood came unpredictably,” she said. 

Witt reported the abuse to the police department, but because the statute of limitations had expired, there was nothing they could do, she said. The church conducted an internal investigation and ultimately fired the pastor, but he still received a full pension, she said. He even invited Witt’s parents to his retirement party.

When Witt asked the church to help cover the expenses of her therapy and treatment, she said they offered her $5,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.

“They wanted to strip me of my power and silence my voice,” she said. “I chose not to accept their offer.”

When the 2021 bill passed, Witt said she was overjoyed. However, her hopes were dashed just 18 months later when the Supreme Court ruled the measure was unconstitutional, she said. 

“I felt retraumatized; my power and voice once again taken,” she said. 

When the resolution died in the Senate by just one vote in 2024, Witt said the message was clear: “Each no vote communicated that survivors did not matter in their eyes, and that it was more important to protect my abuser and those who covered up abuse rather than allow the judicial system the opportunity to hear my case and decide if the evidence I provided was enough.”

Witt closed her testimony with a plea to the committee: “Please do not silence the voters of Colorado as I was silenced.”

‘It is just simply not possible to get to truth after such a long time’

While the sexual abuse of children is “deeply painful and intolerable in our society,” eliminating the statute of limitations for civil claims on the matter will not put more predators in jail, said Jessica Fuller with the Colorado Catholic Conference. 

If passed, the amendment would pose “significant challenges to all parties” litigating potentially decades-old claims, she argued. Victims, defendants, and witnesses may be hard to locate or even dead all these years later, and key documents may no longer exist.

“It is just simply not possible to get to truth after such a long time and effectuate justice under these circumstances,” Fuller said.

Fuller also said she believes the amendment could bankrupt nonprofits, which she called a “key part of the social network of support for Coloradans.”

A report by the financial organization SeaChange found that nonprofits in New York are facing more than 800 lawsuits following the passage of a bill extending the statute of limitations for criminal and civil childhood sexual abuse claims. According to New York State Sen. Jeremy Cooney, four of the state’s eight Catholic Diocese have filed for bankruptcy as a result of the law.

“One way or the other, we should expect reductions or eliminations of support services of the nonprofits and what they currently provide to your constituents,” said Fuller. 

The amendment could also pose a “significant fiscal burden” on the state, according to Fuller, as state entities could be implicated. She noted a recent case in which Los Angeles County agreed to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 sexual abuse claims against county probation departments and a DCFS facility, some dating back to the 1950s

“There will be substantial financial consequence for the state, its school districts, and its counties, and it will impact other services for our communities today,” Fuller said. 

The resolution passed on a 3-2 party-line vote, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans opposed. It will next be heard on the Senate floor. If the resolution makes it to the 2026 ballot, it will need two-thirds approval to be added to the constitution.