Competing bills broaden and complicate efforts to reform child sex crime laws in Pennsylvania

By Ivey Dejesus
Patriot News
April 10, 2019

https://bit.ly/2G7vT4I

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, center, said he would reserve judgment on companion SOL reform House bills until they arrived in his chamber. Photo by Dan Gleiter

Pennsylvania on Wednesday further advanced the debate over the reform of child sex crime laws as House lawmakers approved two key reform measures even as counterparts in the Senate introduced a third counter bill aimed at similar purposes.

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved two companion bills that respectively call for the elimination of criminal statute of limitations involving child sex crimes; and call for a constitutional amendment that would lead to a revival of expired statute of limitations.

House Bill 962, sponsored by Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, would also remove sovereign immunity in civil claims, meaning that if an institution has known about child sex crimes, it would be held responsible.

Meanwhile, a cadre of freshmen Democratic Senators on Wednesday introduced a bill that seemed to compete with the House bills. Senate Bill 540 would lift the statute of limitations for adults who were sexually abused at any age.

Earlier in the morning, ahead of introducing the bill in his chamber, Sen. Tim Kearney, D-Chester, laid out the key points of the Senate bill at a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda attended by state officials and survivors of child sexual abuse.

The Senate bill, which is being co-sponsored by the five freshmen Democratic senators, including Kearney, follows the recommended guidelines outlined in the findings of the 2018 grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse across the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

The Senate bill calls for the abolishment of criminal statute of limitations and a two-year revival window of expired statute of limitations. The proposal also calls for a six-month delay to allow for the completion of compensation funds already being processed.

“We are doing what we think is right," Kearney said. "The bill right now has all the elements we think are important and the fastest and best way forward to getting victims the help and support they need.”

The House bills, which are linked by an amendment - now advance to the Senate for consideration.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, signaled willingness on the part of Senate leadership to consider the bills.

“I welcome something coming over. I have been saying that since last October,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for something. I applaud it and as soon as we get the bills over and assigned to committee, we can start talking about how we can get something done.”

In September, just weeks after Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the findings of the most recent grand jury investigation, the House overwhelmingly approved a measure that would give victims of child sex abuse a retroactive two-year window in which to sue. Senate Republicans blocked that measure.

Scarnati at the time argued that the retroactivity component of the measure was unconstitutional.

The grand jury investigation documented the systemic sexual abuse of thousands of minors at the hands of some 300 Catholic priests. Investigators recommended abolishment of criminal statutes in cases of child sex crimes and the establishment of a retroactive two-year window.

On Wednesday, ahead of his chamber’s session, Scarnati seemed to suggest leadership would consider all proposals, including the one calling for a constitutional amendment to establish a two-year retroactive window.

“It’s something new,” he said. “I do not know what to make of that but we will take a look at it.”

While similar in intent, the main difference between the Senate bill and the two companion bills out of the House is that the former keeps the two main issues in the reform effort joined. The House bills splits them between two bills.

Rozzi’s bill would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes going forward. Under its provisions, future victims of abuse would have until age 55 to file lawsuits. Currently, victims have until age 30 to pursue civil lawsuits and until age 50 file criminal suits.

If approved by the Senate, House bill 963, sponsored by Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Blair, would launch a referendum seeking to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to revive expired statute of limitations. Such an amendment would pave the way for a two-year retroactive window for victims who have “timed out” of the legal system because of expired statutes. That proposition has been one of the main obstacles in previous efforts to reform the statute of limitations.

Kearney said a constitutional amendment to establish a retroactive window was no longer necessary.

He also said that there was room for compromise between the Senate bill and the House bills, although he said he would vote against the constitutional amendment bill.

Kearney said he didn’t necessarily oppose the House bill calling for the prospective elimination of criminal statute of limitations.

“We are trying to do our best to not put a delay on this,” Kearney said. “Having to go through a constitutional amendment process means it’s two to three years before we get real change. We don't have time to wait.”

Kearney said he and fellow Democratic freshmen senators had no assurances from the Senate Republican leadership that they would support their bill.

“We are grabbing the bully pulpit because we can and we are trying to push this forward in a way we think makes sense,” Kearney said.

He added that Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, has had “many discussions” about the bill with Scarnati, but that he had no insights as to how the Senate’s top-ranking member felt about the new proposal.

“It is difficult to tell,” Kearney said.

Pennsylvania Victims Advocate Jennifer Storm said the Senate bill reinvigorated the effort to reform the statute of limitations. Storm, who has voiced opposition to the idea of splitting the issues in the pair of House bills, said that over the years, the efforts to reform the laws had left out adult survivors.

“This bill is for all survivors of sex abuse and trauma,” she said.

Storm noted the importance of the issues revolving around reform remain in one bill.

To split them would amount to "denying people justice and we’ll be allowing predators to continue to walk among us free.”

The Senate bill is roughly modeled after legislative measures recently enacted in New York and New Jersey.

Storm stressed the importance of not “splitting the issues” among two bills. She reiterated that the process of a constitutional amendment takes time, and there currently is no commitment from Senate leadership that such a proposal has its backing.

“Without a window for justice we are just prospectively moving forward and not doing anything to account for all grand juries we had and all grand jurors that have continuously made this recommendation time and time again,” Storm said. “We would be dishonoring them, if we remove that portion from the bill or changed it in some way.”

She said she hoped that the Senate would give the three bills "meaningful consideration."

Kearney was joined at the press conference by other Democratic lawmakers, as well as Shapiro and University of Pennsylvania law professor Marci Hamilton, a national advocate for the reform of child sex crime laws.

Hamilton excoriated the Pennsylvania Legislature for its failure to over the years to reform its child sex crime laws.