Amanda Forrester / news@whmi.com

Survivors of sexual assault and their families are hoping a package of Bills will be passed by the House of Representatives and be signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer before the end of the year.

A group of sexual assault survivors and their families will be at the Capitol Building in Lansing Wednesday morning to encourage the House to pass the Justice for Survivors package before the end of the year.

The package was drafted by a group of survivors from across the state a couple years ago and has made its way to the legislature.

The Senate passed the package last week, which means the next step is to have the House approve the Bills as well.

John Selleck, a spokesperson for the group Justice for Survivors’ Coalition of Survivors, said the state has been slow to enact laws that make the statute of limitations less restrictive. He said while there has been progress made since the Larry Nassar case, there is still a lot of work to do.

Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of assaulting numerous gymnasts at Michigan State University.

Robert Anderson was a doctor at the University of Michigan who was accused of decades of sexual abuse at the college. He died in 2008, and UM settled with survivors for $490 million in 2022.

The Bills were created in response to Nassar and Anderson.

The Justice for Survivors package has the following reforms:

- Extends the statute of limitations for survivors to 10 years after a claim occurs, up to 7 years after a survivor discovers they were assaulted or before their 52nd birthday.
- Creates a one-year window for all previous claims to be filed regardless of timing.
- Eliminates the statute of limitations if criminal charges are filed.
- Eliminates governmental immunity for entities like schools and universities if the entity had knowledge of prior assaults and failed to protect others against subsequent assaults.
- Institutes a damages cap of $1.5 million per incident, allowing for insurance coverage to minimize the financial impact on current organizations.

Selleck said if the House doesn’t approve the package of Bills during the lame duck session, the group will need to restart the process.

He urged the public to contact their local representative and push for them to pass the Bills.