A committee hearing on a bill to limit the state’s financial liabilities in sex abuse lawsuits ended in an emotional vote Wednesday with one member walking out in anger and another casting a vote in tears.
Lawmakers are scrambling in the final days of the session to pass legislation that could tame potentially crushing payouts to thousands of people who allege they were sexually assaulted as children in state facilities.
“I think this is perhaps a responsible way of dealing with it … it is a reasonable compromise,” said Del. Jon Cardin (D-Baltimore County).
The bill was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee along mostly party lines, and could be before the full House possibly as soon as Thursday. The Senate has yet to take up the bill. Just five days remain in the 2025 session.
Currently, sexual abuse lawsuits filed under the Child Victims Act of 2023 are capped at $890,000 for claims against government agencies and $1.5 million for claims against private institutions. The bill approved in committee Wednesday would lower the maximum payouts for cases filed after May 31 to $400,000 against governments and $700,000 against private institutions.
Additionally, the bill says one payout would cover all abuse incidents involving the same claimant and abuser. The 2023 law leaves open the potential that a court or jury would apply the maximum compensation amount to each instance of abuse.
The changes also cap fees for attorneys at 20% for cases that settle out of court and 25% for cases that result from a court judgment.
The bill wold alter 2023 Child Victims Act, which eliminated restrictions on when a survivor could file a lawsuit, opening the door to claims for abuse that happened decades ago.
At the time that law passed, most of the focus was on institutional abuse allegations connected to the Catholic Church. But the law also lifted restrictions on suing government agencies. Thousands of claims have since been made against Maryland state government.
Those claims raised concerns about the potential for billions in payouts — an amount some, including Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), who sponsored the 2023 law, feared could bankrupt a state already facing a budget crisis.
Del. Robin L. Grammer (R-Baltimore County) said he believed the state shouldn’t be allowed to evade its responsibility to compensate those abused while in state custody, but added he is skeptical of the reported high dollar costs of such cases.
“So the governor’s slogan is leave nobody behind, and I think today, we’re leaving victims behind. We were told the solution to this problem is to pass the legislation,” Grammer said. “Now, when we’re surprised by the liability of the state, we’re told it’s to minimize the liability, and it’s not about the money.”
Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford) called the bill offensive to victims. She later walked out of the committee meeting before casting her vote.
During a floor speech Wednesday evening, Arikan counted herself among those who have been abused. In an exchange with a reporter, she said she had been “molested as a young child,” and said that experience was part of what ultimately caused her to walk out of the Judiciary Committee earlier in the day.
Arikan’s staetment came during floor debate on a bill to create a state reparations commission to study inequities faced by African descendants in Maryland. Arikan had offered an amendment, which ultimately failed, to create a panel to look at appropriate compensation for survivors of sexual abuse while in state custody.
Arikan said that while Wilson — who has said he, too, suffered physical and sexual abuse as a child — has repeatedly said his efforts with the 2023 law were never about financial compensation for survivors, “I think it’s offensive to think that one victim speaks for all victims.”
A number of Democrats who voted for the bill in committee said it was a tough decision, but expressed concerns about the potential costs to the state.
Del. David Moon (D-Montgomery County) said the state “does not have the option of bankruptcy to run from our obligations the way our private counterparts do.” Moon voted to move the bill out of committee “with great regret … and apologies to the victims.”
For some, it was an emotional vote.
“I’m a ‘yes’ because I know we have to do something,” said Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George’s), who began sobbing as she attempted to explain her decision to support the bill. During her explanation, and after, members of the committee attempted to console her.
Despite the lowered caps for private institutions that was included in the bill, it did not garner support from the Maryland Catholic Conference. In a statement, it criticized the bill for being rammed through in the late days of the session “with little time for careful debate or necessary revisions.”
The conference — the public policy arm of the archdioceses of Baltimore, Washington and Wilmington — noted that the state is making the change after thousands of claims were made against the state under the law.
“In fact, the Maryland state government now appears to be the largest employer of child sex abusers in the state,” the Catholic Conference statement said.
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