A new law that expands the statute of limitations for those who survived sexual abuse as children has been signed by New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The Child Victims Act pushes back the time frame in which victims of abuse can file civil and criminal lawsuits.

Under the previous law, New York victims only had until age 23 to lodge a lawsuit against their abusers. Under the Child Victims Act, victims will now have until age 55 to file a lawsuit.

Prosecutors will also have an expanded time frame to file criminal charges against perpetrators, up from age 23 to 28 of the victim.

According to advocates, the Child Victims Act provides important protections to those who survived sexual abuse as children. One advocate told The New York Times that he was sexually abused in high school, but waited until he was 62-years-old to write a letter to his former school telling them of the abuse.

Under the Child Victims Act, victims will not only be able to file legal action against the perpetrator of the abuse, but also against organizations that protected or shielded abusers from the consequences of their acts.

“You will be able to name your abuser. The institutions that harbored them. And moved them among other institutions so they could harm other children,” stated an assembly woman of New York as that legislative body passed the bill, paving the way for the governor’s signature.

The Child Victims Act will also provide a year long period for those who were victims of sexual abuse as children to initiate claims. This “look back” provision will allow those whose claims may still be barred under the new law to initiate a lawsuit against their alleged abusers.

Victims of childhood sexual abuse often take years and even decades to come to terms with the abuse. Many do not report it, according to advocates, because it is perpetrated by adults who they should have been able to trust.

New York’s Child Victims Act gives survivors of abuse a chance to hold their abusers accountable, as well as the organizations who may have shielded them.

“This is society’s way of saying we are sorry,” said the governor during the signing of the bill into law. “We are sorry for what happened to you. We are sorry that it took so long for us to recognize what happened to you.”

Gov. Cuomo signed the law in the newsroom of the New York Daily News. The publication advocated tirelessly for the passage of the bill, lambasting those who opposed it.

New York’s Child Victims Act comes in light of continued allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church in New York and Pennsylvania.

Victims of child abuse have often had to fight statutes of limitations that killed any legal action against the abusers based on the time that had passed.

The Child Victims Act will give victims of sexual abuse by New York Catholic clergy more time to bring a civil lawsuit against their abuser and the church itself if it shielded clergy from accusations or even put them in a place to abuse other children.

A similar law is making its way through the legislative process in Pennsylvania, though it is reportedly stalled after hit a road block in the state’s senate in October 2018.