Florida no longer has a statute of limitations on sex crimes committed on victims between the ages of 12 and 16.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law HB 525, ending the three-year statute of limitations that Palm Beach County lawyer Michael Dolce – raped repeatedly by his Maryland neighbor when he was seven years old – has spent six years trying to undo. Studies show that it is often 15 years before victims go public with their accusations.

Powerful Miami lobbyist Ron Book and his daughter Lauren Book-Lim joined Dolce’s crusade this year, taking on the Catholic Church that effectively quashed the effort in the past. Book-Lim was sexually abused and molested by the Book’s nanny over a period of years.

The House and Senate unanimously approved the measure before sending it to Crist, who signed it into law today without comment along with nearly three dozen other bills. The law, which goes into effect immediately, will apply only to new cases.

Greenacres Democrat Dave Aronberg sponsored the bill in the Senate.

The House and Senate unanimously did away with the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against children between the ages of 12 and 15 today, sending the bill to Gov. Charlie Crist for signature.

Palm Beach Gardens attorney Michael Dolce, who was repeatedly raped by his Maryland neighbor at the age of seven, has tried for six years to get the measure passed but the Catholic Church has thwarted his efforts.

Senate bill sponsor Dave Aronberg introduced Dolce, who watched from the public gallery and received a thank-you from Sen. Mike Fasano, who was acting as president of the chamber.

“Michael, on behalf of the Florida Senate, thank you for your good work, my friend, thank you,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said.

Florida’s current laws gave children between the ages of 12 and 16 three years to file criminal charges although studies show that it is often 15 years before victims go public with their accusations.

“Overwhelming. Very, very grateful that we finally said to these monsters time will never protect them. The law will protect our kids first,” said Dolce, who launched a citizen’s initiative called “Protect Our Kids First” to amend the constitution to remove the statute of limitations because the legislature failed to change the law.

Also looking on were influential lobbyist Ron Book and his daugher, Lauren Book-Lim, whose nanny sexually molested her from the age of 11.

“This is a huge deal. It’s just incredible. We’re so excited,” Book-Lim said.

Up to 70 percent of child molesters walk free because of the time restriction that keeps their victims from pressing charges, said Aronberg.

“This bill is a long time coming. Because there is no statute of limitations for the pain of victims. There is no statute of limitations for the shame and humiliation,” said Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

The Senate approved the bill with 34-0 vote; the House passed it earlier today by a 114-0 vote.

Crist has indicated that he would sign the bill into law.

Federal prosecutors in Florida are trying to keep a serial child molester behind bars in California for crimes George Joseph England allegedly committed in Palm Beach County.

England, now 65, is accused of buying then-five-year-old Jackie Zudis from her mother in Vietnam in the early 1970s. He claimed her as his adopted daughter and kept her as a sex slave for more than a decade, authorities say.

England sexually assaulted three of her young friends, skipped out of sentencing in California and lived for years in Florida — including Palm Beach County — using the fake name of a dead baby.

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Michael Dolce’s impassioned but barely audible appeal to lawmakers today reaped a preliminary success for the 40-year-old West Palm Beach lawyer.

Dolce’s tried but failed for years to get the legislature to do away with the statute of limitations in cases where a child under the age of 16 was sexually molested. The former legislative aide has a personal interest in seeing the law passed, one that he shared with a spellbound Senate Criminal Justice Committee this afternoon struggling to hear the soft-spoken Dolce’s testimony.

Dolce, an attorney, prayed silently before telling the committee that he was repeatedly raped as a 7-year-old child by a neighbor in his home state of Maryland. When he was finally able to talk about the vicious crime, the statute of limitations had passed and he was unable to press charges against his molestor.

Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Greenacres Democrat, is sponsoring a bill again (SB 870) this year that would do away with Florida’s current law giving victims of certain sex offenses, including “non-forcible rape” of children age 12 and older, until they are 21 to press charges. Lawsuits must be filed before the victim reaches age 26.

But up to 70 percent of child sexual-abuse cases aren’t reported until after the deadline, Dolce told The Palm Beach Post last year.

Dolce told the committee he still suffers after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical and psychological treatment while his molestor walks free.

“Today, he I am 40 years old. The pain does not go away,” he said.

The committee unanimously approved the measure which has two more stops before a full vote in the Senate. Its House companion has one committee vote left after three committees previously unanimously passed it.

Lawmakers have the power to repeal the statute of limitations by legislative grace, Dolce testified.

“I urge you to do it. I have faced Satan. He does not deserve legislative grace,” Dolce said.

Dolce launched a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to lift the statute of limitations on sex crimes in the event that the legislature again fails to act. He failed to gather the 700,000 signatures by February necessary to get the measure on this year’s ballot but is shooting for 2012.