PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
Bill White
Pennsylvania House offers pleasant surprises
Polls have shown our state lawmakers are rated dismally by most Pennsylvanians, with good reason.
They have been on a terrible run of dysfunction and ineptitude for years, capped by last year’s disgraceful budget impasse.
So when House lawmakers accomplished TWO really good things in recent weeks, back to back, it was a very pleasant surprise. On March 13, they passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana. They followed up this week by passing a bill that loosens the statutes of limitations in child sex abuse cases, eliminating them for criminal cases and raising the limit to 50 for civil suits, even for people who previously were blocked by the law. …
As for the statute of limitations changes, yes, the House voted overwhelmingly for an amendment proposed by Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, to let all child sex abuse victims have access to the civil courts until age 50, a giant step forward. It passed the entire bill the next day, sending it on to the Senate.
But for some reason, the House left intact a tacked-on provision that partially lifts sovereign immunity protection shielding public entities such as public schools. That’s clearly a poison pill designed to kill the bill instead of allowing a clean vote.
I have no problem with exploring the sovereign immunity question, a focus of Catholic leaders who have vigorously opposed the statute changes. But it should be considered separately, not as part of this debate. At the very least, it’s likely to delay and complicate the discussion, attracting a new collection of lobbying opponents, which I suspect was the whole point.
Past statute of limitations bills have been buried in the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery. So with the newly passed H.B. 1947 assigned once again to Greenleaf’s committee, all eyes are on him.
Rozzi, whose own story of rape by a priest has been powerfully persuasive, told me he’s spoken to Greenleaf. Rozzi said, “My message to him is: You’re on deck. You need to do the right thing.”
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