By Eyewitness News 
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 11:22PM
HAUPPAUGE, New York (WABC) — Domestic violence cases have risen sharply on Long Island in recent years, and Sen. Chuck Schumer says the system needs to change.
Standing with survivors and advocates in Hauppauge on Wednesday, Schumer announced Virginia’s Law, a bill that would eliminate federal statute of limitations deadlines for civil lawsuits filed by survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse and trafficking.
“Justice should not expire. No survivor on Long Island should ever be told that time mattered more than the truth,” Schumer said. “Abusers should not be able to run out the clock.”
Currently, federal law gives adult survivors 10 years to file civil claims. Survivors abused as minors can file until 10 years after turning 18. Schumer argues those limits allow abusers to avoid accountability and fail to reflect the long path many survivors take before they are ready to come forward.
“It feels like being abused twice, once by the person who hurt you and again by the system that tells you your pain has an expiration date,” said abuse survivor Laura Mullen.
Virginia’s Law is named for Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s earliest accusers and a longtime advocate for strengthening protections for survivors.
“Epstein depended on silence. Epstein depended on fear. He depended on a system that too all too often protect those in power instead of average people, instead of victims,” Schumer said.
The announcement was hosted by The Retreat – a nonprofit that offers support and shelter for victims of domestic and sexual abuse across Long Island – where they say incidents are rising.
Police logged 10,312 domestic violence reports in 2023, up from 7,763 in 2019, according to state data. Reports of women abused by intimate partners rose nearly 42 percent in that period, and local service providers say hotline calls and urgent requests for help continue to grow.
“It gives survivors the opportunity to heal on their own, to decide when they’re ready and when they’re ready, this law sends a clear message to them that the law will be here for them,” said Cate Carbonaro, executive director of The Retreat.
The legislation is just getting started and would need bipartisan support to make it through Congress and onto President Trump’s desk.
But for survivors pushing for this change, they say the time for justice is now.
