House May Act Soon to Reform Child Sex Abuse Laws, but Some Victims Are Angry over Change in Strategy
By Ivey DeJesus and Jan Murphy
After years of failed efforts to reform Pennsylvania’s child sex crime laws, a pair of House lawmakers this week served up the latest attempt at addressing remedies for thousands of adults who were sexually abused as children – and are looking for quick action on it. Historically, victims of abuse have been among the most strident supporters of such efforts. This time, however, the proposals are engendering mixed reactions among victims, including outrage. On Wednesday afternoon, state House Representatives Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) and Jim Gregory, (R-Blair) introduced House bills 962 and 963 respectively. Leaders ushered the bills swiftly into the House Judiciary Committee without seeking co-sponsors or holding a press conference. Rozzi’s bill, House Bill 962, would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations on child sex crimes going forward; victims now must pursue criminal complaints by age 50. The bill would also raise the age limit for filing a civil claim arising out of child sexual abuse to 55, from the current age of 30. However, Rozzi’s bill does not include what he and victims have long demanded: a retroactive window for victims to file civil suits even if they are beyond the statute of limitations. Gregory’s House Bill 963 calls for a constitutional amendment to the remedies clause, which would pave the way for a retroactive window for victims who have timed out of the court system. The measure is designed to address concerns that such retroactive windows are unconstitutional, an argument that has been the main sticking point of detractors in efforts to reform child sex abuse laws. Both bills are scheduled for consideration by the judiciary committee on April 8, which could tee them up for a possible vote by the full House as soon as April 10. “I’ve been working closely with House leadership and the prime sponsors to make sure that we expeditiously address the issue for the victims in Pennsylvania, looking at the best way to address the grand jury report,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin County. “This is the way we fashioned to move forward obviously to get the best product and move it in a speedy fashion.” Victims and advocates on Thursday were stunned about the seemingly dramatic change in strategy. Over the years, Rozzi, a victims of clergy sex abuse, has vigorously argued and pushed in favor of a retroactive window. This time, he lets Gregory’s bill deal with the retroactive provisions through a constitutional amendment. But amending the constitution is a much longer and more arduous process. It requires identical bills to pass the House and Senate in two consecutive sessions before going to voters for ratification. So even if there is support for amending the constitution to allow for a retroactive window for victims, it will take at least three years. Rozzi’s decision to drop the retroactive window from his bill has raised eyebrows. “I want to support all past goals that get us to the end game but my concern is that when you split them apart there is a lot of risk there,” said Jennifer Storm, the Pennsylvania Victims Advocate. “When you untangle the issues there is a lot of risk.” She said victims were reaching out to her office to voice concern and outrage. Waiting for justice Rozzi called the pair of proposals a “win-win” option. “I‘m thinking in the best interest of victims what would be constitutional and what would be upheld,” Rozzi said. “What would give public and private victims and survivors the best path forward? We can’t keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. It’s not going to happen. A two-year window is not going to happen anytime soon. Why not get this moving? We can do a constitutional amendment to actually move forward and get the House and Senate onboard standing with victims.” Most lawmakers in the General Assembly have supported proposals for changing the statute of limitations for future cases. Storm said her office is concerned that splitting off the retroactivity piece jeopardizes the chance of that ever coming to fruition. “We’ve followed the lead over the years holding back for the window, waiting for the window of justice, waiting for the real deal,” Storm said. “This is putting us in an interesting position.” Rozzi’s bill would also remove sovereign immunity in civil claims, meaning that if an institution has known about child sex crimes, they would be held responsible. Last year, some lawmakers fought for provisions that would shield institutions - including the Catholic church - from liability in decades-old child sex abuse cases. Pennsylvania last year became ground zero in the global conversation on clergy sex abuse with the release last summer of the findings of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury. The grand jury found widespread historic sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests and the cover-up by church officials, and called for a change in the laws that determine the accessibility of the courts for victims. The scathing report found that more than 1,000 children were sexually abused in Catholic dioceses across the state over a period of seven decades. The grand jury recommended the elimination of criminal statutes for child sex abuse and the creation of a two-year retroactive window to file civil suits. Like Rozzi, Gregory, a freshman legislator, was also abused as a child by an adult. Rozzi: Bills reflect reality The proposed bills are the result of considerable behind-the-scene negotiations with leadership and an understanding of the political landscape, Rozzi said. “I don’t consider this a dramatic turn,” he said. “I consider it an understanding of where the leaders are on this issue. For the previous 15 years between myself and [former Rep. Mike] McGeehan we have tried to pass the standard two-year window in the House and Senate and it has not been able to get across the finish line.” The House approved measures to reform child sex abuse laws last year, but the legislation stalled in the Senate over the retroactive provision. A spokesman for Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, called the pair of bills “interesting" and an improvement from earlier legislation, but said the senator is not ready to endorse them. “I’m not at the point where I can say it’s acceptable,” said Drew Crompton, Scarnati’s chief of staff. “We’re to the point where we can acknowledge it’s better than the prior product.” He said the Senate would likely take a "wait and see” approach to the process. “I don't have any sense of what the environment is in the Senate yet,” Crompton said. “I don't want to be too dismissive of the product because we do think it's a substantial improvement from prior drafts or prior pieces of legislation. On the other hand, we just think this process has a lot of incremental steps and we don't want to step out and endorse a product when we don't know a lot of the other moving parts." To move forward, the proposed pieces of legislation would require the support of the General Assembly, Gov. Tom Wolf, and ostensibly Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office conducted the 18-month-long investigation into six Catholic dioceses. On Thursday, Joe Grace, Shapiro’s spokesman, said the attorney general stood with the survivors of sexual abuse in urging the Legislature to pass the four reforms recommended by the grand jury. “Those reforms have strong support in the Legislature and would strengthen mandatory reporting laws, clarify the law on confidentiality agreements to ensure victims know they can speak with law enforcement, eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for sexual abuse, and open a window in the civil statute of limitations so victims can finally have their voices heard in court," Grace said. Victim: ‘Remain diligent’ Shaun Dougherty, who was abused by his priest as a child, signaled a willingness to remain open-minded about the reform efforts. “The window legislation has passed our state House overwhelmingly twice, and has gone nowhere in the Senate,” he said. “Speaking as a victim, I look forward to exploring all resources that are available to move the window legislation forward in order to protect future generations of Pennsylvania children. We must remember that this is a long process and we, the victims, should remain diligent.” Michael McDonnell, another victim of clergy sex abuse, said a two-year window was the only remedy that would allow victims to hold accountable perpetrators and those who covered up the abuse. He added that he recognized that the process by which to reach that goal was complex and at times difficult to navigate. “It’s a lot to absorb and process,” said McDonnell whose abuse case came out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. “To say that this is uneasy and anxiety triggering is an understatement. However, I trust in the process and I have no reason to believe that those who have brought us this far have forgotten survivors. As it has been all along with this, more will be revealed.” Rozzi, who made the account of his abuse by his priest public 10 years ago, said he has long been waiting for this opportunity. “I think this truly is win-win,” he said. “The other option is doing nothing. And doing nothing is just not an option anymore. We must start this process to give victims a path forward.” Some say lawmakers ought to be talking about reform involving all sex abuse crimes. Storm said eliminating the criminal statute of limitations shouldn’t apply solely to child sex crimes. She said it’s time to abolish the statute of limitations in sex crimes involving adults. “We strongly appreciate the degree of sexual violence that happens on college campuses and that those victims only have two years to file civil suit is unacceptable and it flies in the face of all the data and science we know about,” she said. Newly elected Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery County, is circulating a co-sponsorship memo that would lift the statute of limitations for adults who were sexually abused at any age, further broadening the debate over reforming Pennsylvania’s sex crime laws.
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