PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
April 8, 2019
By John Baer
The Pennsylvania legislature, once again, is poised to turn its back on who knows how many survivors of child sex abuse.
Promises of action? Pledges to victims? Repeated assurances that those who were violated (and long-voiceless) might find some measure of justice?
You tell me.
The state is among the nation’s worst in terms of legal recourse for victims. Ironic, given state findings of abuse that last year lit up the issue.
Our legislature, of course, swung into action, embraced survivors and proceeded to pose and preach. Then failed to do anything.
Now, the issue is back with new legislation expected to be taken up this week. But it’s really only for future victims. For past victims? The waiting room.
It’s a two-bill package with bipartisan sponsorship from Reps. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) and Jim Gregory (R., Blair).
One bill eliminates the criminal statute of limitations for abuse, which, if enacted, catches us up to 40 other states. Hey, better late than never.
It also gives future victims the option up to age 55 to sue their abusers. Current law allows such lawsuits up to age 30.
But gone is the will to open a “window” of time during which past victims – for whom statutes expired – can sue.
Instead, while other states move in that direction (New York now has a window; New Jersey just passed one that Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to sign), we’re keeping that window shut.
Oh, the second bill addresses a window. But it calls for amending the state constitution to allow it, a clear and drastic shift in approach that can’t sit well with survivors.
A constitutional amendment needs to pass two successive legislative sessions before going to voters as a statewide ballot question, a long, often dead-end process.
At a minimum, we’re talking three years. And the legislature can get tricky with constitutional amendments, passing them in one session, forgetting them in the next.
So, the best we’re offering past victims is take a number, have a seat. We’ll be with you in a few years.
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