Rep. Brian Seitz, a Republican from Branson, speaks during a House debate in March 2025. (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).
AND Bill to more than quadruple the time victims of childhood sexual abuse have to sue their abusers stalled in the Missouri Senate this week after Democrats accused insurance lobbyists of using the law to impose shorter limits on personal injury lawsuits.
His the fourth year State Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson sponsored legislation to expand the ability of survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims. This is the second year with this proposal total with legislation that would shorten the statute of limitations for personal injury claims – part of lawmakers’ efforts to stave off opposition from the insurance lobby.
Seitz, who has assigned because of his legislation’s previous failures in the face of opposition from the insurance industry, he told The Independent that “slightly reducing” the statute of limitations for personal injury claims is worth “a victory for victims of child sexual abuse.”
Critics say reducing the time to file a personal injury claim would deprive Missourians of the ability to hold organizations or companies liable for financial, physical or psychological harm. They claim insurance lobbyists are using this as leverage to kill child sexual abuse legislation with broad bipartisan support.
A bill introduced this year would shorten the statute of limitations for most personal injury claims from five to two years, but Seitz said he was negotiating to raise that limit to three years. It would shorten the window for uninsured motorist claims from 10 to three years. And while the House passed a version of the bill in March that would extend the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse from 10 to 20 years after the victim turns 21, the Senate amended the bill to allow victims until age 65 to file claims.
Democratic state senator Karla May of St. Louis told The Independent that the personal injury claims part of the bill “needs to die” and that insurance companies are “holding these children hostage” with this measure.
“Why should we compromise?” she said.
Missourians need a remedy for victims of child sexual abuse, not a law for personal injury claims, she said.
“If we try to reduce that period from five to three [years]that only benefits insurance companies and corporations,” May said.
During a Senate hearing on the bill earlier this month, insurance lobbyists argued that the personal injury portion of the bill would assist attract companies to Missouri.
Hampton Williams, director of government affairs for the Missouri Insurance Coalition, told The Independent in an email that lawmakers “responded to concerns expressed about the continued impacts that unlimited liability windows have had on small businesses, child care providers, non-public partners, and the availability of affordable liability insurance that good actors depend on to operate.”
The bill also received support from State Farm, the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Missouri RV Campgrounds Association.
Republican state Sen. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, who is handling the bill in the Senate, told The Independent that, first and foremost, he “supports completing the reform of the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.”
Regarding the provisions regarding personal injury claims, Hudson said: “I’m not saying I’m against this policy. I’m not saying I support it.”
The childhood sexual abuse portion of the legislation has repeatedly won broad support among lawmakers. The bill passed the House 95-12 in March, with 38 Democrats and one Republican present. However, the inclusion of provisions for personal injury claims has raised concerns.
Republican state representative Bryant Wolfin of Ste. Genevieve asked why these provisions were added.
“It looks like we were able to include this in your bill, which was fantastic to potentially try to get something that might be a little more controversial,” Wolfin said.
Sara Schuett, executive director of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, told The Independent that “it’s the insurance companies that are holding back good language.”
The House committee amended the original bill to specify that the extended statute of limitations would apply to claims against non-perpetrators — including those who aided in harassment or hindered prosecution — only if they were found to be “criminally responsible.” Survivors can now bring civil claims against non-perpetrators within five years.
Seitz said his bill was inspired by reports of sexual abuse of children who attended Kanakuk Kamps near Branson. Pete Newman, a former director of a Christian sports camp, pleaded guilty in 2010 seven counts of sexual abuse and is serving two life sentences plus 30 years in prison.
Evan Hoffpauir he told Missouri lawmakers in 2023, the first year Seitz filed his legislation, in which he believed for more than a decade that Newman acted alone when he sexually abused him. Until then national investigations discovered evidence that camp management knew about Newman’s nude activities with campers and failed to act, Hoffpauir was too elderly to sue the camp.
Schuett said the bill’s language protects people who knew children were victims of assault because it is “almost impossible” to meet the standard of evidence necessary to hold a third party criminally liable.
“Many of them knew or should have known that something like this was happening and they should not be protected just because it takes the victim more time to muster the courage to confront them and hold them accountable,” Schuett said.
Seitz said he remains hopeful the legislation will be passed.
But the legislation could face a surge in the Senate, where Democrats have vowed to oppose anything but a “clean” bill stripped of the language of personal injury claims. Republicans took their time defending the legislation while Democrats filibustered it.
Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat, said support for a solution to childhood sexual abuse is bipartisan.
“If they presented a clean bill tomorrow, we would pass it right away,” Beck said.
Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold expressed concern during the Senate debate that the proposed 44-year statute of limitations would leave innocent people owing damages.
“I have no record of what happened in the 1960s and 1970s.” Coleman said. “As a person, I couldn’t prove that something didn’t happen in my home or on our farm. You have a sympathetic victim who was clearly hurt, and you have someone trying to defend themselves from that, and justice requires that we stand up for not only the victim, but also the accused.”
Democratic state Sen. Stephen Webber of Columbia introduced an amendment during Senate debate that would remove personal injury changes from the bill.
Hudson, however, said he could not support the amendment because it could jeopardize the bill if it passes the Senate and returns to the House for final approval.
“I have some concerns because it removes certain parts that have already been agreed to in the House,” Hudson said. “…I will be wary of anything that could potentially cause a problem on the House side because I want this to become law.”
This story was originally produced by Independent Missouriwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
