Nancy Peverini, the Legislative Director of Consumer Advocates of California, has confirmed that USA Swimming has retained the lobbying firm of Nielsen Merksamer to oppose the passage of California state bill 131.
This bill would eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages that haven’t been decided to finality as of January 1, 2014. For example, if abuse occurred in 1995, and the statute of limitations on the abuse case expired in 2005, under this law the victim could bring a damages case at any point.
According to our legal correspondent Ceci Christy, the basis for the new law is that the majority of victims don’t come forward until much later in life for a variety of reasons: trauma, humiliation, etc. The drafters of the bill question why victims should be punished monetarily for the consequences of the abuse by not allowing them the option of pursuing damages if they choose to after coming forward later in life.
USA Swimming released a statement in response to the news on the matter Friday evening that read:
“When USA Swimming created its Safe Sport program, our 100% commitment was to prevent abuse and keep athletes safe. We remain committed to that charge and abhor any abuse that happens to anyone. We have many components of this program, including background screens, educational programs, an updated Code of Conduct and Safe Sport leadership conference.
“With that said, we have concerns with California SB 131 and USA Swimming, on behalf of our current and future members, has engaged Nielsen Merksamer to work with us on opposing this bill in its current form. For example, this bill does not hold the abusers accountable and excludes governmental agencies even when they are the employer.”
The bill, drafted by State Senator Jim Beall, passed the California senate on May 29th, 2013. The California State Assembly will vote on the bill later this summer.
Supporters of the bill, including the National Center for Victims of Crime, say that the bill will “protect children and hold abusers and those who harbor them accountable.”
USA Swimming and the Catholic Bishops of California have both opposed this legislation. The Catholic Bishops of California said in a statement (which can be read in full here) that “If enacted, this bill offers no further protections to children nor does it increase criminal penalties for abusers. What it does do is expose the Church and other not-for-profit organization to unlimited liability.”
Other criticisms of the bill includes that it specifically protects public schools and other government-funded organizations from liability, but not non-profits.
The specific names assigned to lobby on USA Swimming’s behalf are Jim Gross and Gene Urbin.
USA Swimming constantly claims that they have no control over the clubs, therefore, the clubs can do whatever they want to whomever they want and USA Swimming can’t intervene. USA Swimming also claims that they can’t rule on California law, therefore, clubs can violate California law and not be held accountable. SO why the hell does USA Swimming care about passage of a California bill? Guess they only get involved when they might lose money – it’s all about the money!
The first thing I would do as a Lobbyist firm is to advise my clients not to align themselves with the Catholic Church when it comes to matters of suing over abuse. Kills the credibility.
The only reason USA Swimming is opposing SB 131 is because of the over 30 years for child molestation that took place in California by coaches affiliated with USA Swimming. This argument that it does not cover all victims or do enough is hypocritical. If you really care that much about the protection of children, then support the passage of SB 131 and use your members money to sponsor legislation that even further protects children. I ask that you stop opposing legislation that brings healing and justice to adult survivors of child sex abuse. Please visit and like:
https://www.facebook.com/CAVictimsAct
Unfortunately, almost no one at convention ever speaks up against the leadership. And, if you do, you hear about it. They don’t take very kindly to opposition – or any kind of rocking the boat. It’s simply way too much of Thank you sir, may I have another. They know better than us peons.
Is USA Swimming the dozens of directors and Colorado Springs staff? Or is USA Swimming the thousands of members?
USA Swimming proposal for the next 10 years is raise the registration fee by $2.00 each year.
Really already pay our executive director an outrageous salary, along with his upper management staff. I really don’t blame them for their salaries, I hold the USA Swimming accountable for these outrageous salaries.
Now USA Swimming BOD has hired a lobby group to represent the membership on this matter….did I miss something, was our membership survey on the usage of these dollars for this purpose.
I strongly recommend that our LSC delegates attending the convention to vote against any increase in fees. It is obvious that our leadership at the BOD level is not in touch with general membership.
Let’s get… Read more »
A crime is a crime is a crime. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to come forward (though in my eyes if it really was that important you would come forward sooner than later), it was still an act of abuse. It doesn’t matter who, what, where, WHEN, why, or how, just that it happened. Abusers cannot be protected.
Easier said than done!
Like the Catholic Church, USA Swimming now stands in defense of child abusers, and opposed to their victims. Shame on them.
Absolutely inappropriate action by USA Swimming. Shocking that they are spending member’s fees on an attempt to limit their fiscal responsibility for possible atrocities potentially committed by their own staff. These abuses have happened in swimming and the organization needs to spend resources to punish those responsible rather than limit their exposure. Disgusting move.