How They Voted

Morning Call
June 30, 2016

http://www.mcall.com/opinion/white/blog/mc-how-they-voted-20160630-column.html

Democratic state Sen. Lisa Boscola voted to gut the statute of limitations bill of the component most important to victims and advocates.

The Senate nate is expected to vote later today on House Bill 1947, stripped of a key provision Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill no longer contains any kind of retroactive access to civil courts for child sex abuse victims blocked by the current statute of limitations, removed by senators who claimed it would be unconstitutional despite conflicting testimony from experts. Many of us saw this as a capitulation to powerful lobbyists from the Catholic Church and the insurance industry, which is why I wanted to use today's post to report which senators went along with this.

In its present form, the bill removes statutes of limitations for criminal prosecution in child sex abuse cases and extends the statute from 30 to 50 for civil suits. It strengthens the provision allowing suits against public entities such as public school by requiring plaintiffs to prove negligence, as opposed to gross negligence. And it removes the statute of limitations for child sex abuse suits against individuals.

As a practical matter, that last change means that 20-plus years from now, when the first of the victims now under 30 reaches 51 and becomes blocked by the new age limit, they still will have access to court action -- as long as they sue individuals, not the institutions that may have protected the offenders.

Clearly, the language is designed to defend the Catholic Church and its insurers. It couldn't be more revealing about the committee's priorities.

This willingness to eliminate statutes in all cases where the church has no financial exposure -- criminal or suits against individuals -- puts the lie to the claims that this reluctance to change statutes of limitations is about concern that old cases are too difficult to prove and unfair to defendants. Legislators and lobbyists seem to be fine with killing the statutes, as long as it doesn't cost the church or the insurance industry money.

Anyway, the main focus for most victims and advocates has been opening some kind of window that provides court access to victims blocked by present or past statutes, which at one time set a limit of 18 years old. The provision that extended their access until age 50, as opposed to opening a two-year window for all victims, was a compromise to win House approval, which turned out to be overwhelming.

So the Judiciary Committee decision to drop that part of the bill was devastating, and I thought you should know who went along with it.

Voting against the amendment were Republican John Rafferty -- candidate for state attorney general -- and Democrats Art Haywood, Larry Farnese and John Sabatina Jr.

Voting in favor of removing retroactivity were Democrats Lisa Boscola and Daylin Leach, and Republicans Joseph Scarnati, Richard Alloway, John Eichelberger, John Gordner, Guy Reschenthaler, Randy Vulakovich and Gene Yaw.

Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf recused himself because of allegations of a conflict of interest, but not before arranging a lopsided hearing dominated by Catholic-related witnesses who said it's unconstitutional.

Boscola is the only Lehigh Valley legislator on the committee, which makes her vote particularly disappointing for me.

UPDATE: The Senate voted unanimously this afternoon to accept the amended version of HB 1947, which now goes back to the House.

Part of me would love to see an attempt to reinstate a two-year window, but I think the best course at this point is to concur with the bill, which significantly advances the cause even without retroactivity. Then pursue the two-year window in the next session, maybe with the momentum provided by another grand jury report and with a new group in the attorney general's office that really supports furthering the cause of justice in this way.