House amends Child Victims Act language, lowers future caps and clarifies application window

The House of Delegates on March 18 adopted committee amendments to legislation revising damages caps and filing treatment under the Child Victims Act, clarifying which claims will be subject to higher or lower statutory caps and setting a June 1, 2025, threshold for reduced awards.

The amendment adopted during the special order clarified that claims filed before June 1, 2025 remain subject to the higher caps established earlier, while claims filed after that date would be eligible for lower maximum awards. Committee leaders said the change was intended to define the universe of claims so settlements and resources can move forward.

Committee Chair (speaker identified in the record as "Committee chair") explained the numbers on the floor: under the earlier Child Victims Act structure, private-entity claims had a $1.5 million cap and public-entity claims an $890,000 cap. The amendment, the chair said, preserves the distinction but lowers the caps going forward: approximately $700,000 for private entities and $400,000 for public entities for claims filed after June 1, 2025.

A Delegate objected to preserving a difference between private and public institutions, arguing victims of abuse by state institutions should not receive lower compensation than those abused in private settings. "It appears as though victims of child abuse who were victimized in the private sector are going to be compensated at a greater rate than children who were victimized in the public sector," the Delegate said on the floor.

Supporters told colleagues the amendment simply continued the framework set by earlier enactment and that the committee sought to balance legal continuity with fiscal and administrative constraints. The sponsor and floor leaders emphasized that the amendment was intended to encourage claimants to file now so cases can be resolved more quickly rather than remain pending.

The amendment (identified in the record by the committee and amendment number shown at the desk) was moved and adopted on the floor. Subsequent procedural steps left the bill in the House calendar for further processing; the record shows the measure was ordered printed for third reading after adoption of the committee report and amendments.

The debate included multiple questions about scope, whether multiple acts against one person would count as a single claim for cap purposes, and how the caps would apply to previously filed lawsuits vs. newly filed claims. Committee leaders said negotiations between the Attorney General's office and plaintiff attorneys had treated each person as eligible for one cap going forward. They also said the bill's proponents had asked the courts and rules committees to coordinate case management to avoid widely divergent outcomes across jurisdictions.

Ending: The House adopted the amendments that clarify the timing and amounts for caps on claims under the Child Victims Act; the measure remains subject to further processing per the House calendar. Specific vote tallies for the amendment were recorded as "amendment adopted" in the House journal but a single final roll-call tally for the bill as amended was not recorded in the floor excerpts included in the transcript.