First the Catholic Church, Now the Business Community Opposes Reform to Child Sex Crime Laws
By Ivey DeJesus
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." The chamber, along with five other business organizations, has been lobbying at the Capitol for weeks since the April passage in the House of House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations. The organizations include: The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania The Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Business Council The Pennsylvania National Federation of Independent Businesses The Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association. While the Catholic Conference has for years opposed reform, arguing that to do so would open up the church to catastrophic lawsuits, the business sector generally claims that the proposed reform legislation represents the "antithesis of promoting stability and predictability" in the state's business and legal environment. "Our companies look at our laws and the protections that are in Pennsylvania law," Denisco said. "Our companies operate in Pennsylvania under the current scheme. This would be a detriment ... you are taking away a vested right. That is a slippery path to go down." House Bill 1947 would extend and, in some cases, eliminate, the time limits in which victims of child sex abuse could bring predators to justice. The proposed legislation's main provisions include: The elimination of criminal statutes on future sex crimes against children; A 20-year extension to the current civil time limit (to age 50 for victims under 50) The waiving of sovereign immunity for state and local public institutions in cases of gross negligence. A retroactive component that would allows past victims of child sex abuse to file civil claims up to the age of 50. (Under current law, victims of child sexual abuse are barred from seeking civil action after they reach the age of 30.) Victims can bring criminal charges against offenders until they reach 50 years of age — but only if the victim turned 18 years old after Aug. 27, 2002. The law allows victims older than that to report until their 30th birthday. Efforts to reform the law gained wide momentum this spring in the wake of a grand jury report that found widespread clergy sex abuse of children in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. Investigators also found widespread cover-up of the crimes by church officials and leaders. None of the priests named in the investigation fell under active statute of limitations. In a letter sent to House members in March, the six business organizations jointly wrote that: "Retroactively extending the statute of limitations is a dangerous precedent for any business that manufactures, sells, stores or transports any kind of product, as well as for any institution that is an insurer or creditor of any such business." David N. Taylor, president of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association, said that, in terms of lawsuits and the cost of litigation, the Pennsylvania legal system was one of the "most hostile" landscapes in the nation. Moreover, he said, the cost of the U.S. legal system, which accounts for 2 percent of the gross national product, is, when compared to international business competitors, a burden on the business sector. "It winds up being a hidden tax, a hidden cost on business that we all end up paying for in higher costs and slower economic growth," Taylor said. A central point to the arguments posed by the business sector, Taylor said, is whether the current law is adequate to meet the legal challenges brought on by child sex abuse cases, including cases out of youth organizations, public schools and the Catholic Church. "The underlying crime, the subject to the change, is horrifying. Everyone is horrified and justice needs to be done," he said. "At the same time, we ought not allow emotions to overrule good judgment and we need to consider the long-term implications of the legislative changes we make." Taylor added that it was incumbent on advocates for reform to show that the current remedies offered by the law were inadequate. "The question needs to be answered," he said. "Do existing remedies meet the needs? It's a discussion we haven't had and need to have. Hopefully in the state Senate we will be able to have a discussion in a calm manner with the long view in sight." Scott Bishop is Senior Vice President, Legislative Advocacy for The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania's (HAP). He noted in a statement sent out Wednesday night that Pennsylvania's hospital community supports Senate Bill 1156, "legislation currently under consideration to fix an inadvertent loophole that may exempt health care providers who have direct contact with children in a hospital setting from the Child Protective Services Law (CPSL). Hospitals want this issue resolved, and they are working with the General Assembly to ensure that such health care providers meet all the background check requirements of the CPSL." At the same time, he said he felt that retroactive changes to the state's civil statutes of limitations would significantly threaten the stability and predictability of its business and legal environment. "It is a precedent that must be avoided, and hospitals believe that any changes must be prospective only," he said. Advocates for reform argue that children of have been sexually abused suffer years, often decades, of trauma and emotional disorders. Most victims have timed out of the legal system by the time they have found the resolve to come public with their abuse. Marci Hamilton, an attorney and statute of limitations expert, points out that while 37 states have eliminated criminal statute of limitations (at least for the top counts), there has not been a flood of claims. Advocates argue that while the church has its financial interests in mind, and the business community products and services, their side of the argument have the lives that have been destroyed by abuse. "House Bill 1947 is a compromise version of legislative efforts for more than 10 years to provide real justice for all victims of child sex abuse," said Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, one of the Legislature's leading advocates for reform. "We're talking about children in this bill...not products and services. Children represent a unique class of victim and our statutes of limitations would only be changed procedurally not substantively."
The business sector argues that the proposed reform legislation will not pass constitutional muster. "Statute of limitations is a property right protected by the Constitution," said Denisco, of the PA Chamber of Business and Industry. "To shorten it retroactively violates the Constitution. We are concerned it sets up a bad precedent and sets a bad landspace for our businesses. It is big picture....We are looking at predictability and certainty in operating in the Commonwealth and this flies in the face of that." Rozzi said he questioned why the business sector was weighing in on this issue. "I wonder if their members are aware of the position they have taken," he said. Samuel R. Marshall, president and CEO, of the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, stressed that the business sector is not opposed to reforming the criminal aspects of the law - only the retroactive language. "We think that has significant constitutional defects," he said. "For insurers, it places us in the impossible spot for being liable for claims for which we can't have reserves....where the statute of limitations have already passed." "Certainly we don't oppose any and all efforts to ensure that any child abuse, whether it happens in church, schools, or youth organizations are not happening, that there are best standards to prevent and identity - immediately and forcibly - it it's occurring. The better focus is on ensuring that abuse in any youth organization is being prevented and where it is occurring, that it's identified quickly and forcibly." The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to hold a hearing on HB 1947 in June. Contact: idejesus@pennlive.com
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