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Senate adopts measure to send childhood-abuse constitutional amendment to voters after emotional testimony
Summary
The Colorado Senate voted April 23 to send a constitutional amendment to the ballot that would allow lawmakers to enact laws permitting civil claims for survivors of childhood sexual abuse irrespective of when the abuse occurred.
The Colorado Senate on April 23 adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 2, a measure sending to voters a proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution that would allow the General Assembly to pass laws enabling survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring civil claims regardless of when the abuse occurred.
Senator Danielson, one of the measure’s floor sponsors, told colleagues that the measure responds to a 2021 law intended to give survivors access to civil claims but later blocked by the Colorado Supreme Court on constitutional grounds. “We come to you now with SCR 25 dash 0 0 2, the Child ****** Abuse Accountability Amendment,” Danielson said on the floor, asking senators to approve placing the issue on the ballot.
Survivors and advocates provided lengthy, often harrowing testimonies in committee and the chamber. The floor record includes multiple written and oral accounts read into the record, including testimony from a man identified as Randy Katie who described discovery of records and alleged institutional cover-up, and a woman, identified as Jill Brogdon, who said she was trafficked and said school officials failed to protect her. Several Native American tribal governments also asked lawmakers to back the measure, citing documented historic abuse tied to federal boarding schools.
Sponsor Michaelson Janae spoke from personal experience and said traveling to concentration camps and bearing witness had shaped her view on the issue of remembrance; she and other sponsors stressed the amendment’s bipartisan public support. Michaelson Janae recounted being on the March of the Living and joined the bill as part of a broader caucus effort supporting survivors.
Senator Danielson described two pathways to place the constitutional amendment before voters: a two-thirds legislative referral or a citizen signature drive. She said the vote before senators would permit the legislature to refer the change to the ballot, a step she characterized as necessary because the courts had invalidated prior statutory fixes.
The measure passed on the floor; the transcript records a voice vote and the motion’s adoption by the Senate. The measure will be placed on the ballot for consideration by Colorado voters.
