Cleveland Kidnapping Update: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight may get state govt. payments

(CBS/AP) COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio state repesentative John Barnes Jr. wants to provide yearly relief payments and free rides to college to the three women who were abducted and held captive in Cleveland for nearly a decade, allegedly by Ariel Castro. 

PICTURES: Ohio women missing for nearly a decade found alive

Barnes planned to introduce the Survivors of Abduction Act. If passed by the full state legislature, it would provide Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight with a minimum of $25,000 per year and tuition, fees and living expenses at a public college. The money would come from tax dollars.

The bill would also provide anyone held in "involuntary servitude" for at least eight years with government medical assistance. The three women would receive medical aid for life. 

Castro was charged with rape and kidnapping in May after Berry, DeJesus and Knight escaped from his home.  The women were in their teens and early 20s when they were abducted.

According to Barnes, a Democrat, lawmakers from both parties have expressed support for the bill, which would contain the women's names.

A spokesman for Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder said he hadn't yet seen the legislation.

"Society is not going to be kind to them regardless of whether or not they were in this situation or not. It's going to view, `Well, what have you done? What do you have to offer?'" Barnes said. "So, I thought: Let's look at how we could restore what they would have received had they in fact had an opportunity to have their freedom."

A legal-crisis management representative for the three woman said that they preferred not to comment on the bill.

"Anything the community does to support these women is greatly appreciated," said Jim Wooley, the women's lawyer.

Barnes said, "We want to be mindful that as the news goes away, and as the lime(light) of the moment begins to dim, that a lot of that support is going to go away," he said. "So that, by far, is not enough to be sustainable to them," adding that he doesn't want the legislation to discourage acts of philanthropy toward the three women. 

Complete coverage of the Cleveland kidnappings on Crimesider