ALBANY — Lawmakers and victims of childhood sexual assault gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday to urge Republican lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow victims to sue for decades-old abuse.

The Child Victims Act, if passed, would extend criminal and civil statutes of limitations. It would give victims of previous sexual assaults a one-year window in the civil statute of limitations in which victims, regardless of age, could seek damages for sex abuse instances in the past.

The proposal has been backed by the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who included the measure in his executive budget proposal, but has languished for years in the Republican-controlled Senate.

At the press conference, state Senate Democrats blamed Republicans for blocking the bill, saying any measures to weaken the legislation wouldn't be acceptable.

“Time after time, year after year, the Senate Republicans have blocked the important bill. I think all of us here and most people, frankly, have a really hard time trying to figure out why anybody would oppose this legislation. The bill is going to provide justice for people who are very badly hurt,” said Sen. Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Westchester.

With the state budget due by the start of the fiscal year on April 1, the legislation's proponents are hoping that it is yoked into the state's fiscal plan. Any action to remove the measure or to “water down this bill would be a disservice to New York and New Yorkers,” Stewart-Cousins said.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Smithtown, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Under current state law, the five-year limitations period to file a claim for a felony sex crime begins when the victim turns 18. Under the legislation, the five-year limitations period would begin when the victim turns 23. For civil action involving a sex crime against a child, the current law begins the statute at the age of 18. Under the bill, the statute of limitations would be tolled and a lawsuit by a victim would be permitted up until the victim is 50 years old.

Stephen Jimenez, who was molested as a child in Catholic school and co-founded New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, a coalition of groups and advocates, said advocates have met with Flanagan's staff to discuss the legislation.

Flanagan's office asked advocates about the one-year window that would allow victims to retroactively file lawsuits against their abusers, Jimenez said. Keeping the window is a “nonnegotiable” issue, he added.

Advocates have been emboldened by the #MeToo movement spurred by sexual harassment and assault allegations levied against movie producer Harvey Weinstein in October and numerous other powerful public figures in Hollywood, government and the media since then, by women and men.

“I personally believe that one of the reasons it's taken us so long to address this is because there's a taboo,” Jimenez said. “Where we are right now, thanks in part to the Me Too movement and to the work of many of my colleagues here, is that this is now a subject that the country is very much aware of and the country is saying 'no more.'”