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With time in the legislative session running out, state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, urged the Senate on Monday to pass the two-year retroactive window for childhood sexual abuse victims to file civil action against their abusers.
Rozzi was joined for a news conference Monday at the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown by advocates and victims including Shaun Dougherty of Johnstown, who was a victim of clergy abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.
The House voted 173-21 in late September to pass Senate Bill 261, a statute of limitations reform bill, including Rozzi's amendment to establish a two-year retroactive window for now-adult victims of childhood sexual abuse, allowing them to pursue civil claims against their abusers.
Local House members Judy Ward, R-Hollidaysburg, and John McGinnis, R-Altoona, voted against the bill, citing constitutional issues with the retroactive window. They say the "remedies clause" in the state constitution prohibits a retroactive change to the civil and criminal statutes of limitations.
The bill has been returned to the Senate, where it faces opposition from some senators including Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, for the same reason.
An alternative to the retroactive window is a Victim's Compensation Fund.
However, there is no sign of what the Senate will pass back to the House with only a week and a half left before the legislative session ends Oct. 17.
"It's in the hands of the Senate. Nobody knows," Dougherty said. "Really and truly the press conference Monday was about whether Senate was going to do right thing or send something to House that we don't know what it is. The Senate's silence on the issue and the window speaks volumes to me."
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in August revealed findings of a statewide investigative grand jury that spent two years uncovering abuse of children by priests and a systematic cover-up spanning decades by senior church leaders in Pennsylvania and the Vatican. The grand jury recommended reforming the criminal and civil statutes of limitations on sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, creating a "civil window" so older victims may now sue for damages, clarifying penalties for a continuing failure to report child abuse and specifying that civil confidentiality agreements do not cover communications with law enforcement.
"The Senate is either going to listen to those recommendations or listen to lobbyist and special interests (fighting) against us," Dougherty said. "The world is waiting to see what happens."
The bill was passed from the House to the Senate's Rules and Executive Nominations Committee chaired by Sen. Jake Corman, R- Centre.
Corman's spokeswoman Jenn Kocher said the Senate plans to vote on it the week of Oct. 15, the final days before the legislative session ends. However, she could not say what would be included in the bill when the Senate votes.