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 committed 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.
Cruz said Carlock, who, along with countless others, was groomed and sexually abused as a child by the well-known Kanakuk Kamps director Pete Newman. However, Carlock was required to file civil litigation by the age of 23 due to Texas’ civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases, which became known to the public through a 2009 criminal investigation. He said Kanakuk forced settlements on the victims, which included restrictive NDAs covering up what the camp knew about Newman, along with concealing other important information from the public.
Elizabeth Phillips, Carlock’s sister, said this bill’s passage will tell every survivor currently living under an NDA that their voice is theirs again, that they are free to speak about what happened to them, and that what they have to say matters.
“TREY’S Law doesn’t just protect future victims; it restores the voices of those silenced by existing NDAs,” she said.
Carlock’s case and the following fallout gained national attention as other victims of sexual abuse began to speak out against NDAs, with the movement now gaining steam among the country’s highest-ranking lawmakers.
“No child who has endured sexual abuse should be forced to carry that horror in silence. Non-disclosure agreements are too often used to protect abusers, with incalculable and catastrophic consequences for their victims,” Cruz said. “We owe it to Trey to ensure that victims have the right to speak about their experiences and that contracts are not used to silence survivors.”
Gillibrand said she was proud to lead this critical piece of legislation because, for too long, NDAs have been used to silence survivors of child sexual abuse and shield perpetrators from accountability. She said TREY’s Law will void predatory nondisclosure agreements, allowing the victims of sexual abuse as minors to speak out about their experiences today.
“Survivors deserve the right to tell their stories and hold abusers accountable,” she said.
Texas signed its version of TREY’s Law into effect last year. Lawmakers originally focused the legislation on crimes against child sexual abuse victims but broadened it after hearing testimony that this should apply to victims of all ages.
Other states have also passed similar laws, including Missouri, Tennessee, California and Alabama. Versions of this legislation have been filed in Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky and West Virginia.
These measures are supported by the American Association for Justice, the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, the National Children’s Alliance, Zero Abuse Project, the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas, and the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.
“Perpetrators try to silence child sexual abuse survivors. The justice system shouldn’t do the same thing. TREY’S Law will allow survivors’ voices to be heard and hold abusers accountable,” said Stefan Turkheimer, RAINN vice president of Public Policy.
