TARENTUM (PA)
TribLive
February 6, 2021
By Deb Erdley
A bipartisan team of Pennsylvania lawmakers will invoke a rare emergency provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution, seeking to restore a constitutional amendment ballot question long sought by victims of child sex abuse. An administrative error by the Department of State, discovered late last month, prevents the question from appearing on the May 18 ballot.
The proposed amendment gives child sexual abuse victims a retroactive two-year “window” in which to file civil lawsuits, no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred. The enabling legislation was approved in the General Assembly on three separate votes — two in the House and one in the Senate — and was headed for a final Senate vote this month to put it on the May ballot. But the Department of State failed to complete an essential task: legal advertising of the proposed amendment.
The failure led to the resignation of Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, who officially left office Friday, and derailed the two-year process. Abuse survivors, bitterly disappointed, are scrambling for a way to move the bill over the finish line.
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