PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Following a poignant debate on the House floor, Pennsylvania lawmakers by an overwhelming majority voted Tuesday to advance a measure that would allow a generation of victims of child sexual abuse to seek justice.

After years of failed efforts by advocates to reform laws applying to child sex crimes, House lawmakers voted 180-15 to approve a bill that will — if approved by the Senate — eliminate criminal statute of limitations on future child sex abuse crimes and amend civil statutes.

Under the bill, the criminal statutes applied child sex abuse crimes would fall under the same parameters applied to murder: The statutes would never expire.

Civil statutes would extend from the present age 30 to 50. The bill would also retroactively extend civil statutes that expired at a victim’s age 30 to 50.

For victims’ advocates, Tuesday’s vote stands as a…