PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
June 18, 2012|By Amy Worden and INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU
HARRISBURG — Two Philadelphia lawmakers are making an end run around the legislative process to try to get their stalled child-abuse protection bills to a House floor vote.
State Reps. Michael McGeehan and Louise Williams Bishop, both Democrats, say the overlapping trials of two Philadelphia Archdiocese priests and former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky are reason enough to consider their bills, which seek to expand the statutes of limitations for civil and criminal liability in claims of past assaults on children.
“Sexual abuse of children is at the forefront in the Capitol right now, from the highest reaches of the Catholic Church in Philadelphia and one of the most prestigious secular institutions in Pennsylvania,” McGeehan said at a news conference in the Capitol.
Both bills have languished in the House Judiciary Committee for 15 months without a hearing or a vote. On Monday, McGeehan and Bishop introduced rarely used “discharge resolutions” that would essentially force their bills to a floor vote as early as Wednesday — unless the committee chairman, Rep. Ron Marsico (R., Dauphin), decides to shift the bills to another committee.
Marsico did not return a phone call seeking comment.
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