Pa. Senate reopens child sex abuse debate; deadlines to bring cases against abusers extended in new bill

By Charles Thompson
PennLive
January 31, 2017

http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/01/pa_senate_renews_child_sex_abu.html

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, got first say on child sexual abuse reforms in the state legislature Monday. But state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, is still pressing for wider paths to justice that Scarnati sees as unonstitutional.

The state Senate reopened debate Monday on the thorny issue of ensuring wider paths to justice for victims of child sexual abuse.

Judiciary Committee members voted without opposition to move a bill to the Senate floor that would give future abuse victims longer windows to bring lawsuits or criminal prosecution against their tormentors.

But it does not include any changes for those adults for whom statute of limitations have already run, a demand insisted on by many advocates for abuse victims that was included in House-passed versions of the bill last year.

Action on any reforms stalled on that issue in 2016.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County and prime sponsor of Senate Bill 261, said he wanted to move quickly to bring the issue back up now because he believes there are good changes in his bill that should be enacted, separate of the retroactivity issue.

"I think it's an important issue that got left kind of at the altar at the end of last session," Scarnati said. "But this bill does a lot of good for victims going forward."

It would, for example, lift all time bars on criminal prosecutions for future acts of child sexual abuse, as well as civil lawsuits brought against the abusers or anyone who knew of the abuse and failed to act on it.

At present, those criminal counts must be brought by ago 50, and civil suit must be filed by the time a child victim hits age 30.

Child victims would also have until age 50 to bring a civil negligence claims against a school district or church entity that they believe contributed to the abuse through negligence.

Scarnati said he hopes the bill gets a vote on the Senate floor as early as Wednesday. But he also acknowledged that at this early stage in the new legislative session, there have been no talks with House leaders on the issue.

What quick Senate action will do, however, is give members in the two chambers a full two years to try to resolve differences that could not be bridged in the last few months of the 2015-16 legislative term.

The time may be needed.

Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County and the floor leader for child sex abuse reforms in the House, reiterated Monday he will not accept any bill that does not open a fresh window for past abuse victims to bring civil suits.

Noting the changes proposed by Scarnati only apply to sexual abuses committed after the new law's enactment, Rozzi said that, while well-intended, "they really won't help anybody for another thirty years. We need to do so much more."

Rozzi said he will be refiling his own bill, with a two-year window for older abuse victims to bring lawsuits, later this week.

Scarnati, and to this point a majority of his colleagues in the Senate, has argued that because statute of limitations apply equally to plaintiffs, prosecutors and victims, such retroactive changes violate a person's rights to defend themselves in court.

"For me it's about constitutionality," Scarnati said about the retroactivity issue after Monday's vote. "It's not that I don't stand with victims. I just stand with the constitution. I detest what these victims suffered or allegedly suffered." 

The pitched battle over a retroactive window pits lobbyists for church organizations, schools and those that insure them against victim advocates and some prosecutors who argued the issue should at least be tested in courts.