CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee
By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013
A bill to extend the statute of limitations for some sex abuse victims fell three votes short in an Assembly committee Wednesday amid fierce lobbying, including more than $250,000 from an umbrella organization of the California Catholic Council.
Senate Bill 131 by San Jose Democrat Jim Beall would open a one-year window for victims excluded from a 2003 law that extended the time during which sexual abuse victims can file a civil lawsuit.
The measure is sponsored by the National Center for Victims of Crime and supported by the California Police Chiefs Association and the Consumer Attorneys of California.
Opponents have argued that the bill unfairly targets the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts in order to create a revenue machine for lawyers.
“If the bill loses, the molester protectors win,” Beall said after it failed 6-4 along party lines in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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