[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2397 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2397

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to authorize the 
 Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to States that 
  extend or eliminate unexpired statutes of limitations applicable to 
                   laws involving child sexual abuse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 10, 2015

Mr. Reid (for himself, Mr. Franken, Mr. Tester, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Booker, 
Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. Schumer) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to authorize the 
 Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to States that 
  extend or eliminate unexpired statutes of limitations applicable to 
                   laws involving child sexual abuse.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 
U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

      ``TITLE III--GRANTS FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

``SEC. 301. FINDINGS.

    ``Congress finds that--
            ``(1) child sexual abuse is a pernicious crime perpetrated 
        through threats of violence, intimidation, manipulation, and 
        abuse of power;
            ``(2) due to the subversive nature of this crime, the 
        average age of disclosure of incestuous child sexual abuse does 
        not occur until a victim is over 25 years old;
            ``(3) because many State statutes of limitations applicable 
        to laws involving child sexual abuse fail to give victims 
        adequate time to come forward and report their abuse, numerous 
        victims are unable to seek fair and just remediation against 
        their abusers; and
            ``(4) due to the especially heinous nature of child sexual 
        abuse, it is imperative that perpetrators of this crime are 
        punished, prevented from reoffending, and victims have the 
        opportunity to see their abusers brought to justice.

``SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this title--
            ``(1) the term `eligible State' means a State or Indian 
        tribe that, not later than September 30 of the preceding fiscal 
        year does not have any statute of limitations applicable to 
        laws involving child sexual abuse; and
            ``(2) the term `Indian tribe' means a tribe identified in 
        the list published by the Secretary of the Interior in the 
        Federal Register pursuant to section 104 of the Federally 
        Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 479a-1).

``SEC. 303. GRANT PROGRAM.

    ``The Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney General, is 
authorized to make grants to eligible States for the purpose of 
assisting eligible States in developing, establishing, and operating 
programs designed to improve--
            ``(1) the assessment and investigation of suspected child 
        sexual abuse cases, in a manner that limits additional trauma 
        to the child and the family of the child;
            ``(2) the investigation and prosecution of cases of child 
        sexual abuse; and
            ``(3) the assessment and investigation of cases involving 
        children with disabilities or serious health-related problems 
        who are suspected victims of child sexual abuse.

``SEC. 304. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this title 
$40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2025.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to any violation of a law involving child sexual abuse committed 
before the date of the enactment of this Act if the statute of 
limitations applicable to that law had not run as of the date of 
enactment of this Act.
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