Paris Hilton said she was shopping in Saks Fifth Avenue in New York last week when she heard The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act — a piece of legislation she’s tirelessly lobbied for over the past three years — had passed the U.S. Senate with unanimous support.
The celebrity hotel heiress told ABC News that she was with her sister, “doing a little girls, sister holiday shopping,” when she got a FaceTime call with the update that the bill, which would place greater federal safeguards on institutional youth treatment programs, had hit its first major legislative milestone.
Hilton for years has been an outspoken, public advocate for reform in congregate care facilities and residential treatment programs for “troubled” minors. She’s brazenly described her own traumatizing experience at Provo Canyon School in Utah when she was a teenager.
“We were all just bawling, in tears, just so proud and so happy, and the whole survivor community is just — everybody is just so so grateful and so happy, and they feel so validated that they’re being listened to,” the entrepreneur, DJ, model and actress told ABC News about her reaction to the bill’s Senate passage on Wednesday.
In this April 27, 2023, file photo, Paris Hilton speaks to reporters as she heads for Capitol Hill to lobby Congress to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
Aaron Schwartz/SOPA Images via Sipa USA via AP, FILE
Now, with only a week left in the 118th Congress, Hilton is urging House leaders to prioritize the measure and bring it to the floor for a vote “immediately.”
“We’re all just hoping and praying that they’ll do the right thing,” said Hilton, who is headed back to Washington D.C. to meet with House members on Monday.
“I just really hope that they, you know, don’t let politics stand in the way of saving children’s lives. This is so urgent, because the House of Representatives has to pass this bill in the next week before the end of this year’s session, or else the bill will die. We would have to do it all over again.”
In this April 27, 2023, file photo, Paris Hilton shakes hands with Sen. Jeff Merkley at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
ABC News did not receive a response from Speaker Mike Johnson on whether he’d consider bringing the legislation to the floor for a vote during the final week of the session. The legislation– which would ordinarily need to pass through the House Energy and Commerce committee before it could get called by leaders to the floor– is able to be fast-tracked by bypassing that step, according to a source familiar with committee business.
“When the U.S. Senate came together in a rare show of unity to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act unanimously on Wednesday December 11th, it was one of the best moments of my life. It was proof that when we listen to survivors and put politics aside, we can create real, meaningful change. But this journey isn’t over. I can’t celebrate until this bill becomes law, and now it’s up to the U.S House of Representatives to finish what the Senate started,” Hilton wrote in an open letter shared to her Instagram page on Monday.
“To Leader Scalise, Speaker Johnson, and every member of the House: I urge you to think about the children who can’t speak for themselves. They’re relying on us—on you—to stand up for their safety and dignity. Passing this bill would be a testament to what we can achieve when we lead with empathy and courage.”
Hilton has traveled to Washington every six to 10 months starting in October 2021, according to her spokesperson, each time asking Congress to reform youth residential treatment facilities.
She’s met individually with members like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who thanked Hilton after the bill’s passage last week for her work on the issue, and Republicans like Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Some of her biggest advocates have been the cosponsors of the bill: Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, along with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Hilton said.
“A lack of oversight and transparency in residential youth programs has allowed for the abuse of children in facilities across the country for far too long,” Cornyn said in a statement after the bill passed.
“I’m proud that the Senate unanimously passed this legislation to ensure the vulnerable children in these facilities are protected, and I want to thank the countless advocates who have bravely shared their stories to help end institutional child abuse.”
Hilton also testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in June, emotionally recounting her experience being at Provo Canyon School as a teen.
In this May 10, 2022, file photo, Paris Hilton poses outside the White House in Washington, D.C.
Shutterstock, FILE
“These programs promised healing, growth, and support, but instead did not allow me to speak, move freely, or even look out a window for two years,” she testified in 2023. “I was force-fed medications and sexually abused by the staff. I was violently restrained and dragged down hallways, stripped naked, and thrown into solitary confinement.”
In September 2022, The Provo school in Utah said in a statement to ABC it had changed ownership shortly after Hilton’s stint there and could not comment on the situation but did not “condone or promote any form of abuse.” ABC has reached out for further comment.
Hilton has gone to the White House to advocate for child welfare, meeting with policy staff in May 2022. Should the bill pass through the House this week, it would land on President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law before the end of his term. Hilton and her team expressed confidence in the president’s willingness to sign the measure.
“We have had some prior conversations with the White House about the bill, and we don’t have a reason to believe that they wouldn’t sign it into law,” Hilton’s spokesperson said.
The socialite’s push for congregate-care reform started in 2021, when she came to Washington in support of a similar measure, the Federal Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which was a different bill that was introduced in October 2021 and led by Khanna, Merkley, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Before her visit in 2021, Hilton had opened up about her 11-month experience at Provo Canyon school in her 2020 documentary “This is Paris,” and in a Washington Post op-ed.
Hilton told ABC News that the lobbying process for her has been painful but also cathartic.
“It’s been a lot of work…it’s not easy to speak about so many things are so painful and traumatic, but I know that it’s so important just to be able to be a voice for those who don’t, and I’m so grateful to be able to use my platform and my voice just to ensure that no more children are traumatized in the name of treatment,” Hilton said.
“And it’s been also just a very healing experience to see what an impact it’s made…it’s been just incredibly healing and cathartic.”
Hilton is in New York with her friend and “The Simple Life” co-star Nicole Richie to promote a reboot of their iconic show, but said her work on issues related to the troubled teen industry was her most significant venture.
“I am so proud of a lot of things in my life, but the work — my advocacy work that I’m doing to protect children — is the thing that I’m most proud of, and this is what I want my legacy to be,” Hilton said.
If the bill doesn’t pass this session, Hilton said she would continue to fight for the issue.
“I won’t stop fighting until change is made. This is my lifelong mission and I really believe it’s my true purpose in life. I will not stop fighting for these children and being a voice for them.”