PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com
JUNE 22, 2016
by Angela Couloumbis and Maria Panaritis, STAFF WRITERS
HARRISBURG – A Senate committee is expected this week to strip out the most contentious aspect of a bill that would expand the ability of child sex-abuse victims to sue for decades-old attacks, according to two legislative sources familiar with the move.
The Republicans who control the Senate Judiciary Committee plan to remove the provision that would have applied the law retroactively, said the sources, who said they were not authorized to publicly discuss the plan. Hailed by victims’ advocates, such language could have opened the door to a wave of new lawsuits for attacks that occurred as far back as the 1970s.
The bill easily passed the GOP-led House this spring – and is supported by Gov. Wolf – but became the source of intense lobbying in the Senate, its last stop before becoming law.
Opponents, most notably the Catholic Church, have argued that it would unfairly cripple if not bankrupt churches and their members who deserve no blame for decades-old abuse. Four lawyers, including Solicitor General Bruce L. Castor Jr., told senators last week that such a provision would also violate the state constitution.
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