In one of the toughest legislative sessions in years, when Maryland lawmakers are already wrestling with a $3 billion budget deficit, they’re making moves to address their next challenge: how to afford Child Victims Act settlements.

Maryland's Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that ended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits following a report that exposed widespread wrongdoing within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Maryland's Child Victims Act of 2023 is constitutional, according to a February 3 ruling from the State Supreme Court. The act went into effect last October allowing victims of child sex abuse to sue their alleged perpetrators without any statute of limitations.

A 2023 state law that lifted a 20-year statute of limitations on lawsuits against public and private entities involved in incidents of sexual abuse, essentially allowing victims to file suit at any time,