CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald
By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press
POSTED: 10/12/2013
SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Saturday that would have allowed some sex abuse victims who are now barred by the statute of limitations to file lawsuits against private institutions that employed their abusers.
Nine people who say they were abused by priests while attending Palma High School in Salinas were among those who planned to sue if the bill had gone into effect.
Brown said he vetoed Senate Bill 131 because it unfairly expanded on a similar measure passed in 2002 amid the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal.
The current bill from Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would have lifted the statute of limitations for a group of alleged victims who are 26 or older and missed the previous window to file lawsuits because of time and age restrictions.
Catholic Church leaders, including the Diocese of Monterey, and representatives of other organizations in opposition, such as private schools and the State Alliance of YMCAs, said the proposal to allow claims is unfair because it does not allow accusers to sue public institutions. Brown agreed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.