PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com
For years, the Catholic Church has waged stiff opposition to attempts to reform child sex crime laws.
In the face of widespread clergy sex abuse, entities of the Catholic Church – such as its legislative arm here, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference – have lobbied vigorously to defeat efforts to reform the statute of limitations.
Now, with the state Senate poised to hear arguments on the latest reform proposal, a more secular sector has stepped up the pushback against changes to the law: that of business.
A cadre of six of the biggest business associations in Pennsylvania have for weeks lobbied members of the Senate in opposition to reform of statute of limitations – specifically, any retroactive changes to the civil law. Their main argument is the idea that retroactive changes to the law would be detrimental to businesses.
“If the General Assembly passes a law that clearly takes a claim away that is vested in law, that’s going to present harm,” said Sam Denisco, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. “It sets a bad precedent.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.