June 25, 2025

**Correction**

Our email earlier this week misstated the Legislative Briefing month.

Legislative Briefing Tomorrow, Thursday, June 26th

Interested citizens are welcome to attend this Legislative Briefing hosted by Senator Joan Lovely's office at the MA Sate House, Room 428 this Thursday, June 26th 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

Legislators, child advocates, and family members of survivors will discuss the various child sexual abuse prevention bills and how crucial passage is this session.

  • Senator Joan Lovely, will speak about her efforts since 2015 to advocate for a set of legislative proposals that would address the issue of sexual misconduct/abuse in our schools and youth-serving organizations. She will share her own experience of childhood sexual abuse, its impact, and why it must be prevented. 
  • Representative Leigh Davis will speak about the need to close the age-of-consent loophole and increase penalties for persons in positions of authority who sexually abuse children.
  • Timothy Shugrue, Berkshire District Attorney will speak to recent cases in his district that demonstrate how closing the age of consent loophole would strengthen protections for child victims.
  • Maria Mossaides, Director of the Office of the Child Advocate will outline its ongoing partnership with Children’s Trust on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and the Advisory Council.
  • Kathryn Robb, Esq. National Director of the Children’s Justice Campaign at Enough Abuse will talk about the different types of statute of limitations revival legislation, and Massachusetts' outdated charitable immunity law.
  • Jetta Bernier, Executive Director, Enough Abuse will detail where Massachusetts currently stands among the 50 states in enacting laws to prevent sexual abuse and provide an overview of crucial prevention bills awaiting action.
  • Former Police Chief, Steve Wojnar will speak to the importance of passing comprehensive child sexual abuse prevention legislation this session.
  • Laura Siracusa and Lori Ledger, family members of survivors of child sexual abuse, will discuss its impact on them and their loved ones, and the importance of changing these laws.
two women sit at a table with microphones

Photo by James Bartlett, MA State House

Senator Joan Lovely (left) and Enough Abuse E.D., Jetta Bernier (right) testify at the Joint Committee on the Judiciary Hearing June 17th.

Thank you to all of the survivors and advocates who came out to the Massachusetts State House or testified virtually on Tuesday, June 17th in support of the child sexual abuse "Prevention Package!" Check out recent press coverage:

'The law should protect young people': Legislators hear arguments for closing loophole that allows teachers to have sex with 16-year-old students, The Berkshire Eagle

Lawmakers urged to pass child sexual abuse prevention bills, The Eagle Tribune

If you were not able to make it, there is still time to submit written testimony in support. There is no specific deadline or length limit for written testimony, however, now that the hearing date has passed, it is better to submit it sooner rather than later.

When submitting testimony, it is best to write in the email subject line "JUDICIARY [or EDUCATION] COMIMTTEE TESTIMONY in support of [bill number]. Then attach your testimony as a Word document or PDF. The Committees also ask that you include your name, organization (if applicable) and contact information. You can share a personal story about how child sexual abuse has affected the lives of you and your loved ones, or factual evidence you may have about why these bills are essential to protect our children.

To download a template written testimony that you can customize, click the links below:

Template Judiciary Committee Testimony

Template Education Committee Testimony

To submit written testimony regarding Senate Judiciary Committee bills, email [email protected].

To submit written testimony regarding House Judiciary Committee bills, email [email protected]. 

Judiciary Committee Hearing webpage (where you can watch the hearing recording).

Written testimony for the Education Committee bills should be submitted to Fiona Bruce-Baiden at [email protected] and Emily Reynolds at [email protected].

For the Education Committee hearing recording, click here.

 

 "Prevention Package" bills in the Judiciary Committee:

S.1163/H.1634 - An Act relative to sexual assaults by adults in positions of authority or trust, Sen. Joan Lovely and Rep. Leigh Davis 

Criminalizes sexual abuse by adults in positions of authority with minors in their care, and allows for civil lawsuits against them.

H.1733 - An Act relative to the age of consent in certain criminal prosecutions and civil actions for sexual assault and rape of a child and H.1734 -  An Act relative to preventing educator sexual misconduct and abuse of children/youth - Rep. Ken Gordon 

Criminalizes sexual abuse of students under 19 who haven't received a H.S. diploma by school, college, youth serving organization or department employees and allows for lawsuits against them. 

H.1593/S.1174  An Act protecting minors from the creation of computer-generated child sexual abuse visual materials -  Rep. Natalie Blais and Sen. Paul Mark 

To address the exponentially growing problem of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), this bill would enable prosecution of people for developing and sharing sexually explicit images of children that are technologically edited, collaged, morphed or AI-generated, including sexual "deepfakes" of children. 

 S.1166 - An Act relative to enhancing hiring practices to prevent sexual abuse - Sen. Lovely

Requires screening of school employees through enhanced reference checks to prevent hiring abusers

S.1165 -  An Act amending the statute of limitations regarding criminal prosecutions for the crimes of sexual assault and rape of a child - Sen. Lovely

Eliminates the criminal Statute of Limitations (SOL)

S.1169 - An Act enhancing remedies for survivors of childhood sexual abuse - Sen. Lovely

Eliminates the civil SOL and eliminates the $100K cap on negligence damages for institutions in child sexual abuse cases.

H.1832 - An Act relative to preventing the sexual abuse of children and youth, aka, The Comprehensive Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act of 2025 - Rep. Lawn 

Requires CSAP education and policies in schools, school employee screening, criminalizes adults in positions of authority who sexually abuse minors in their care and prohits age of consent as a defense) 

Please see the "Prevention Package" bill summary for more details about the bills being heard (the committees are listed next to the bills). 

 

"Prevention Package" Bills in the Education Committee:

H.516 "An Act establishing employee screening requirements in schools to prevent child sexual abuse" would prevent school from hiring abusers by requiring enhanced reference checks (companion bill to S.1166 in Judiciary).

S.405 "An Act stopping harm inflicted by the exploitation of life and development" would require child sexual abuse prevention education for staff and students in schools and the adoption of a Code of Conduct to prevent child sexual abuse

S.404 "An Act relative to supporting survivors of child sexual abuse" would enhance opportunities for justice in CSA cases involving sports or nonprofit institutions.

To learn more about the "Prevention Package" bills and their history, click here to visit our Citizens to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse webpage.

Passing bills, even those that face little or no opposition, can be daunting. By banding together, we can create a powerful megaphone to ensure that these crucial bills become law and that children can be better protected from sexual abuse and exploitation.

The fight continues...


Jetta Bernier, Executive Director

ENOUGH ABUSE®, formerly Massachusetts Citizens for Children, dba MassKids, is the nation’s oldest citizen-based child advocacy organization, with a 6-decade history of improving the lives of vulnerable children. We prevent the sexual abuse of children in their homes, communities and online through prevention trainings, education and advocacy.

 

Contact ENOUGH ABUSE®

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