HARRISBURG (PA)
Verdict
October 1, 2018
By Marci A. Hamilton
With Pennsylvania’s legislative session days running out, there is reason to fear that the furious forward momentum for statute of limitations reform for child sex abuse victims (and in particular a 2-year window) could be derailed. The ball is now in the senate’s court and it has only seven days left: October 1, 2, 3, 15, 16, 17, and November 14.
The assembly passed a great SOL bill as compared to Pennsylvania’s current SOLs: it eliminates the criminal SOL, extends the civil SOL to age 50, includes the Rozzi Amendment, which has a two-year window, and eliminates sovereign immunity in public school cases (prior to now, a victim in a public school could not sue for child sex abuse at all). That is the bill the senate has on its plate now. Pennsylvania will not displace Delaware as the leading state on SOL reform, but the current bill would be strong progress.
It is natural for the public to be enraged in response to systemic child sex abuse, and there has been reason for Pennsylvanians to be appalled as nine grand jury reports have detailed abuse in every diocese, Penn State, the Solebury School, and public schools. Citizens naturally assume that their outrage will be translated into proper action, but history tells us there is no straight line from public disgust to good policy. At each moment so far in the state, lawmakers have caved to the bishops and insurance lobbyists, which translates into nine grand jury reports over horrific sex abuse and callous coverups and the only change so far is the 2007 extension of the criminal SOL from age 30 to age 50.
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