An emotional bill signing in the governor’s office Friday was the culminating event after a year-long struggle to extend Colorado’s statute of limitations on rape and sexual assault cases.
The bill, which was inspired by the Bill Cosby rape allegations, doubled the statute of limitations to 20 years.
Two Colorado women who alleged that Cosby assaulted them in the 1980s spearheaded the bill along with State Rep. Rhonda Fields, a Democrat from Aurora, Sen. John Cooke, a Republican from Greeley and the former Weld County sheriff, and Sen. Mike Johnston, a Democrat from northeast Denver.
“What we know is the path for survivors of sexual assault is uphill already,” Johnston said in a news conference after the signing. “Justice is already elusive for victims of sexual assault. It makes no sense for Colorado to close the doors on those people who have the courage to try to seek it and say ‘you can’t have your day in court.’ ”
The bill, which is not retroactive, won’t allow Beth Ferrier, 57, of Denver, or Heidi Thomas, 56, of Castle Rock, to file cases against Cosby, but their hope is that it will inspire more victims to come forward, even after 10 or 15 years.
“For me this is from this day forward, making sure that those one in four women come forward, and those one in 17 men come forward,” Ferrier said. “Do not keep this a secret, and don’t stay silent, and don’t become depressed, and don’t do all the things that come with being a victim of sexual assault.”
Ferrier and Thomas were aspiring models with the Denver talent agency JF Images in the mid-1980s, when they said they were drugged and assaulted by the actor. Neither came forward at the time for fear of negatively impacting their careers, they said. They also were dealing with their own denial about the assaults.
In the crowded hall outside the governor’s office, upwards of 50 people waited for different bill numbers to be called so that they could watch as Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill on his last day of signing.
HB 1260, which passed unanimously in the Senate and with an overwhelming majority in the House, was originally slated to be signed on May 11 but was postponed. On Wednesday, those involved with the bill were notified that the governor would sign it Friday, which left little time for them to move around their schedules.
Thomas, who was unable to make the signing because of her autistic nephew’s graduation in Washington, was disappointed with what she called “poor communication” but was excited nonetheless.
“We are very proud of this bill, and we are very excited that it was able to pass in one year. I’m very proud of our legislators for seeing what really needed to be done,” Thomas said. “Hopefully, they see that this is one step of the process, but for right now we are gonna celebrate.”
