1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

Existing law requires that specified actions for recovery of damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual assault, as defined, be commenced within 22 years of the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority or within 5 years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual assault, whichever period expires later. Existing law imposes various procedural requirements for such claims. This bill would require specified actions for recovery of damages suffered as a result of sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, as defined, be commenced (1) within 22 years of the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority if the plaintiff was under the age of 18 when at the time of conduct, (2) within 10 years if the plaintiff was 18 years of age or older at the time of conduct, (3) or within 5 years of the date the plaintiff discovers that psychological injury or illness occurring after the conduct was caused by sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, as specified. The bill would define “sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts” to include efforts to direct a patient toward a particular sexual orientation or a particular gender identity, as specified. The bill would apply to actions for damages commencing after January 1, 2027, against licensed mental health providers, as defined, and against persons and entities that employed, supervised, or otherwise exercised authority over a licensed mental health provider. The bill would make specified types of evidence, including certain expert testimony, admissible to establish causation and harm for these actions. The bill would revive certain actions that have not been litigated to finality and that would otherwise be barred as of January 1, 2027, because the applicable statute of limitations or any other time limit had expired. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. Existing law prohibits a mental health provider, as defined, from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts, as defined, with a patient under 18 years of age. Existing law provides that any sexual orientation change efforts attempted on a patient under 18 years of age by a mental health provider shall be considered unprofessional conduct and shall subject the provider to discipline by the provider’s licensing entity. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would provide individuals who have been harmed by sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts by licensed mental health providers to have adequate time to seek civil remedies. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares: (a) The American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and every other mainstream mental health and medical organization in the United States have determined that efforts to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity are harmful and ineffective. (b) In 2009, the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed research and concluded that sexual orientation change efforts are unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm, including depression, suicidality, and anxiety. In 2021, the American Psychological Association adopted a resolution concluding that gender identity change efforts are harmful and ineffective and calling for their elimination. (c) The American Psychiatric Association has stated that it “opposes any psychiatric treatment such as reparative or conversion therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change their sexual homosexual orientation.” (d) The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that “therapy directed at specifically changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.” (e) The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association recognize that gender identity is not a disorder and that efforts to change an individual’s gender identity are harmful. (f) The scientific and clinical consensus establishes that sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts pose serious risks of harm to patients, including depression, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, shame, social withdrawal, suicidality, substance abuse, stress, self-blame, decreased self-esteem, feelings of anger and betrayal, loss of religious faith, alienation from family, problems in sexual and emotional intimacy, sexual dysfunction, high-risk sexual behaviors, feelings of being dehumanized, and a sense of having wasted time and resources. (g) The psychological harms caused by sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts often do not manifest until years or decades after the conduct occurred. Survivors frequently do not recognize their experience as conversion therapy, initially fail to recognize such treatment as harmful, fail to connect their psychological injuries to the treatment until much later in life, or are deterred from coming forward by shame instilled by the treatment itself. (h) The dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, including the trust placed in mental health providers, the age and vulnerability of patients, the authority exercised by providers, and the shame and internalized stigma resulting from such treatment, create barriers to timely disclosure and recognition of harm similar to those recognized by this state in the context of childhood sexual assault. (i) The existing statute of limitations for professional negligence does not adequately account for the delayed recognition of psychological injury that is characteristic of harm caused by sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts. (j) The psychological harms described in this section result from efforts to direct a patient toward a predetermined outcome regarding the patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity, regardless of the nature of that predetermined outcome. (k) In cases involving latent injuries where there is scientific consensus regarding harmfulness, California courts have recognized that plaintiffs may establish causation by demonstrating that exposure to the harmful conduct was, in reasonable medical probability, a substantial factor contributing to the risk of developing the injury or illness, without requiring proof of the precise mechanism by which the harm occurred. This causation framework is appropriate for claims arising from sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts, given the scientific consensus regarding the harmfulness of such efforts and the latent nature of the resulting psychological injuries. (l) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide individuals who have suffered harm as a result of sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts by licensed mental health providers with adequate time to seek civil remedies for the harms they have suffered. SEC. 2. Section 340.12 is added to the Code of Civil Procedure, to read: 340.12. (a) For purposes of this section: (1) “Licensed mental health provider” means any of the following individuals who hold or held a valid license, certificate, or registration to practice in California at the time the conduct at issue occurred: (A) A physicia