California’s Adult Victims Act:
A Breakthrough for Justice

California Assembly Bill 250, known as the Adult Victims Act, is a landmark victory for survivors of sexual assault. The law extends the statute of limitations for adult survivors and reopens the courthouse doors to those whose cases were previously time-barred by outdated legal limits.

Signed on October 13, 2025, this law creates a two-year window — from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2027 — for survivors to file civil lawsuits and demand accountability from their abusers and the institutions that protected them.

The passage of AB 250 is shaking the very foundations of schools, churches, and institutions that fought bitterly to stop it. These organizations—many of which have already paid billions in settlements—have spent decades hiding behind legal loopholes while their clergy, administrators, and teachers preyed on the vulnerable.

For years, institutional cover-ups of sexual crimes have shielded predators and silenced victims. Under both federal and state definitions, these coordinated acts of concealment constitute sex trafficking—systematic exploitation enabled and perpetuated by powerful organizations that valued reputation and revenue over human lives, and particularly the lives of children. 

California law makes it illegal for churches and institutions to hide behind forced arbitration agreements that silence survivors. This directly confronts predatory organizations such as the Church of Scientology, which for years has used secret arbitration in bad faith to suppress exposure of its internal abuses—including the trafficking, coercion, and cover-ups that define its pattern of criminal behavior.

Scientology leader David Miscavige and Scientology’s cadre of lawyers who profit from assisting in the cover ups of sex crimes are, in our opinion, sex traffickers by definition and therefore criminals.  The culture of Scientology criminality and cover up is rooted in the policies of L. Ron Hubbard who was an utter abomination to humanity. 

AB 250 represents a seismic shift in power: from the institutions that enabled predators to the survivors who refused to be silenced. The message is clear—no more hiding, no more immunity, no more protection for those who exploit faith or authority to commit crimes.

Aaron Smith-Levin’s video on CA AB 250 on his channel Growing Up in Scientology.

Attorneys Anne Andrews and Kimberley DeGonia of the law firm of Andrews+Thornton on Mormon Stories Podcast with Dr. John Dehlin on the subject of sexual abuse and sexual trafficking by the Mormon Church. In our view, the parallels to Scientology form a legal analog as identical allegations and crimes are involved: