It took a special session, but Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) got what he wanted.
The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives stated that no piece of legislation would come before the body until it dealt with providing a window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
Friday, the House dealt with it … and now legislation heads to the State Senate for concurrence.
Survivors would be able to sue over otherwise outdated claims of child sexual abuse under two pieces of legislation.
The House voted 161-40 to send the Senate a constitutional amendment that could appear before voters for final approval as soon as November. A second bill was passed 134-67 to make the change as regular legislation that would take effect immediately if passed by the Senate and signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The key phrase in the last paragraph is “if passed by the Senate.”
The 50-member chamber voted for the constitutional amendment back on January 11 in a bundle with two other Republican priorities: expanded voter ID requirements and a lower threshold to invalidate state regulations pushed through by a governor’s administration. The three constitutional amendments passed the Senate on a nearly party-line vote. The GOP holds a 28-22 majority in the PA Senate.
Rozzi and Rep. Jim Gregory (R-Blair) accomplished a long-sought-after goal after both have talked publicly about being abused as children.
“I want to tell you that I am sorry and that I pray that you will have what you need to heal,” Gregory said in remarks aimed at survivors before the constitutional amendment vote. “It should not have taken this long.”
A spokesman for Shapiro called the House’s passage of statute of limitations reform on childhood sexual abuse an “important step toward accountability” and said the Senate has acted to support victims before and “it is the governor’s hope that they will do so again now”
Rep. Tim Bonner (R-Mercer), a former prosecutor who handled child molestation cases, said making the legislation retroactive was the right thing to do. He predicted it will be upheld by the courts against legal challenges.
“Child molesters are like vampires: They just keep coming back to their victims time and time again,” Bonner said. “So many children, so much evil, so many nightmares.”
Rep. Napoleon Nelson (D-Montgomery) said if the courts throw out the legislation, “then we’ll bring it back.”
“It is always the right time to do the right thing,” Nelson said.
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5 Responses
The true Catholic church does not condone abuse. The church was infiltrated purposefully by communists and other evil entities to discredit the True faith.
Also, while you are in the process of eliminating child abuse please prosecute public schools and some private schools and colleges for the rampid child abuse there.
Now the MAGA GOP can move on to items in their anti-democracy agenda.
Get a clue: The MAGA GOP lead on the issue of helping these victims by passing it last session when they controlled the House. Wolf dropped the ball and his Department of State didn’t get it on the ballot. Nice try though.
So you are guaranteeing that Kim Ward, Joe Pittman and Doug “Christian Nationalist” Mastriano are going to allow a vote on this? That most of their caucus will vote for? I call BS. Those three stand shoulder to shoulder with Pedos and rapists. Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Ultra-right Bible thumpers – they ALL have a Pedo problem, as Dougie well knows.