With less than three weeks left, it was standing room only in the House Judiciary Committee room on Wednesday to hear a bill aimed at limiting the state's financial liability in Child Victims Act suits.
HB1378 would have extra steps to go through even if it gets a favorable committee report and makes it through a House floor vote, because it failed to make it to the Senate ahead of Crossover Day.
This was because there were "significant amendments" made to the bill.
The amended version caps claims filed against the state by September 30 of this year to $890,000 per claimant rather than per instance of abuse. If filed after October 1st, it will be capped by the Maryland Tort Claim Act. That award amount is capped at $400,000, according to the People's Law Library of Maryland.
The amended bill also includes a mandated dispute resolution process, the purpose of which was to make sure abusers whose acts require payment from the state are recorded publicly.
We're still awaiting the exact text of the amendments to the bill and it still has a lot to get through before becoming law.
"I've always said it was never about the money. It was about the truth and the justice," Del. C.T. Wilson told the committee.
Wilson, the sponsor of this bill, discussed his ten-year fight to get the Child Victims Act passed in the first place and how deeply personal this issue is to him as a victim himself.
There were several points where his passion erupted at fellow delegates asking somewhat touchy questions.
Del. Jon Cardin asked if this bill creates inequity based on the demographics of the people more likely to have been abused by state employees than private organizations.
"I'm just putting out here that you may be creating an unequal system that's more unequal," said Cardin.
"To be very clear," Wilson responded, "Taxpayers pay for every instance of abuse. In schools, through arrests, through incarceration, through treatment."
At one point, in an exchange where Delegate Robin Grammer was asking Wilson questions, things got particularly tense.
"What I do want to do is what I always do, what we don't frequently do in this committee, is talk about the victim," Grammer started.
"Holy [expletive]," Wilson responded.
"These people have lived through some-"
"Who're you talking to??"
Grammer tries to start talking again and is interrupted.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Do you really think that I don't know?" Wilson shouted, "Do you think there's any amount of money that's going to make it better?? Because you can lie to yourself, but it's not."
Wilson later apologized for his outbursts.
Witnesses who testified against the bill argued mainly that the forced arbitration and the cap.
The forced arbitration, several opponents argued, could require victims to have to recount the abuse they endured multiple times.
Several others called the cap on the damages award "insulting."
The bill still needs to be voted on by the committee before going to the House floor.
The Maryland Catholic Conference provided the following statement on the bill.
In 2023, Delegate C.T. Wilson said the Child Victims Act would allow “victims of child sex abuse to have their voices heard in court.” That won’t happen under HB 1378 for anyone abused in a State institution.
That’s because the Child Victims Act uncovered a terrible truth: The largest employer of abusers in the State of Maryland appears to be the State of Maryland itself. Several thousand claims of abuse by State employees have been filed over the past 18 months, far exceeding those against any other organization in Maryland. Delegate C.T. Wilson has indicated that the vast number of allegations – and subsequent liability for the State – led him to seek restrictions on State victims in HB 1378.
The reports of child sexual abuse within Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services and other institutions, and the harm to young men and women of color who represent the majority ofyouth placed under the State’s care, are heartbreaking.
Instead of seeking accountability, the legislation seeks to increase disparity between victims, force arbitration and institute a closed-door State taskforce.
As a Church that has faced its own painful reckoning, we urge state leaders to be accountable and transparent:
- Seek opportunities for an independent assessment to gain further insight into the history of abuse in State settings, including the factors that contributed to it and how past cases have been addressed.
- To implement reforms, such as stringent safeguarding policies, with the intent of ensuring abuse by state employees, never happens again.
- To provide survivor-centered support for those who suffered abuse by State representatives.
Victims deserve parity. HB 1378 greatly exacerbates an existing difference in treatment for victims abused in State institutions and those abused in private institutions, by reducing the State’s own damage cap to $400,000 while keeping the cap at $1.5 million for private organizations.
As we shared in submitted testimony, there is no principled basis for treating victims of child sexual abuse in state institutions differently from those who suffered abuse in private institutions.
In 2023, legislators committed to an equitable approach for all institutions. The overtly unequal treatment in HB 1378 is not only poor policy for victim-survivors, but also unfairly targets nonprofit and religious organizations that have long served children in this state and have implemented strong safeguards for youth protection.