A new bill that immediately took effect when Governor Kim Reynolds signed it into law was allowing more flexibility for those who were victims of child sex abuse crimes.

House District 47 Representative Phil Thompson says he voted in favor of the legislation that removed the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse crimes. The old law was that the victim had 15 years after their 18th birthday to report the crime, and the new law has no time limit. Thompson says he was proud to support the new law and believes this change was long overdue.

“It really was. And we heard so many testimonies from victims and people who may be at the time they found a way to cope, or found a way to get around it. Then found out later that abuser turned around and found another victim. There were so many people that were timing out of this process, that were getting away with these crimes because the clock ran out on them. We also took the initial step to make sure that this bill was effective upon enactment just because we knew how important it was.”

Thompson says the original bill didn’t get out of a committee, but the final version was attached as an amendment to another bill that the House approved the measure 84-2, along with the Senate approving it before it was signed into law by Reynolds on May 12th.