LANSING (WKZO AM/FM) — Hearings begin immediately on Senator Margaret O’Brien’s initial ten-bill package to address the gaps in the law exploited by Larry Nassar, introduced late Monday afternoon at a news conference in Lansing.
Kalamazoo native Rachael Denhollander, now a Tennessee attorney who was the first to go public with the accusations against Nassar, called the bills a “blueprint for our country” to prevent similar situations from happening.
She is calling on lawmakers to get the bills to the Governor’s desk before summer break. After that not alot of lawmaking takes place in an election year.
O’Brien says this is just the first wave of bills. More may follow after the investigations are complete and more gaps in the law are revealed. She anticipates however that they will be tougher to pass.
The bi-partisan bills open the timeline for victims to report abuse or file charges to 30-years, allows childhood sexual abuse victims to remain anonymous, eliminates governmental immunity in sex abuse cases and requires coaches and trainers to report about sex abuse to the proper authorities if they learn that someone on their team is being victimized.
