Ted Cruz leads bipartisan bill that would void and prohibit confidentiality clauses in child sex abuse cases

Source: Texas Tribune

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced on Tuesday a new bill that he says will address the misuse of non-disclosure agreements in civil cases that cover up child sexual abuse and trafficking.

The legislation introduced as the Terminating Restrictive Enforcement of Youth Settlements, or TREY’S Law, is a bipartisan agreement led by Cruz and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, along with other Republican senators, including Katie Britt from Alabama and Eric Schmitt from Missouri.

The bill makes any NDA provision unenforceable if it prohibits or restricts someone from disclosing the sexual abuse of a minor or facts related to that abuse. This protection applies regardless of when the NDA was signed, whether before a dispute arose or as part of a civil settlement agreement.

The bill is named in honor of Trey Carlock of Dallas, who died by suicide at 28 after a civil litigation process against Kanakuk Ministries in Branson, Missouri, brought back painful memories of sexual abuse. Carlock allegedly told a therapist, “They will always control me, and I’ll never be free,” before he died.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ted-cruz-leads-bipartisan-bill-161500173.html