Sponsors (21)
The bill strengthens survivors' ability to speak and seek accountability for child sexual abuse by invalidating secrecy clauses and clarifying protections for minors, at the cost of increased federal-state legal conflict, reopened past settlements, reduced confidentiality options for some parties, and greater litigation and liability risk for employers and courts.
Children and minors: nondisclosure clauses cannot be enforced to silence victims of child sexual abuse, making it easier for survivors to speak up, report abuse, and pursue civil remedies.
Survivors and investigators: restricting enforcement of secrecy provisions preserves and facilitates reporting to law enforcement and federal investigations/prosecutions, improving accountability for abusers and trafficking networks.
Children: clearer statutory definitions of what counts as sexual abuse against a minor give minors stronger, more predictable legal protection and help target nondisclosure clauses that would silence victims.
State courts, officials, and private parties: the Act creates legal uncertainty and likely increased litigation as federal limits on enforcing NDAs intersect with state contract law and constitutional federalism questions.
Individuals and organizations with past settlements: retroactive or broad invalidation of nondisclosure clauses could reopen long-closed agreements, triggering disputes, unexpected disclosures, and privacy loss.
Survivors who preferred confidentiality: people who wanted strict, enforceable privacy may lose the ability to keep abuse-related details private, reducing options for those who do not wish to publicize their experiences.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Makes unenforceable any nondisclosure clause that prevents disclosure of sexual abuse of a person under 18, applies retroactively, and preempts conflicting state law.
Prohibits enforcement of nondisclosure (confidentiality/NDAs) provisions that prevent victims, alleged victims, or others from disclosing sexual abuse of a person under 18. The ban applies to agreements entered into before, on, or after enactment, preempts conflicting state law, and preserves the ability to keep other settlement information confidential so long as it does not block disclosure of abuse. The law defines key terms (minor, nondisclosure clause, sexual abuse against a minor), grounds its authority in the Commerce Clause and the 14th Amendment, and limits enforcement only to the extent a clause blocks disclosure of abuse or supporting disclosures; it also affirms states may enact consistent or stronger protections for victims.
Official title: Prohibit the enforcement of certain contractual clauses that restrict disclosure of sexual abuse of minors, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 3, 2026 by Rafael Edward Cruz · Last progress May 20, 2026