A Colorado House committee on Thursday unanimously approved a bill prompted by claims against Bill Cosby that would double a 10-year statute of limitations for seeking charges in sexual assault cases.
Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred and two Colorado women who claim Cosby assaulted them decades ago testified that the bill would empower traumatized victims by giving them more time to come forward.
“The shame and the silence of being a victim of sexual assault has to end,” said Beth Ferrier of Denver. She alleges that Cosby assaulted her in 1986.
Heidi Thomas of Castle Rock said it took 30 years for her to come forward after she was assaulted by Cosby in 1984 in Reno, Nev.
“I would have been sent off the planet” and lost her job if she come forward at the time, Thomas said.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 11-0 to send the bill extending the statute to 20 years to the full House.
