Carolyn Fortney, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of her family's Roman Catholic parish priest as a child, awaits legislation in the Pennsylvania Capitol to respond to a landmark state grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018 in Harrisburg.
Marc Levy / The Associated Press
Marc Levy / The Associated Press
Carolyn Fortney, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of her family's Roman Catholic parish priest as a child, awaits legislation in the Pennsylvania Capitol to respond to a landmark state grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018 in Harrisburg.
(Harrisburg) — Two state representatives are setting the stage for a push to change Pennsylvania’s laws governing sexual abuse.
The last time lawmakers attempted it, negotiations crashed after a bitter dispute over whether to allow retroactive lawsuits in certain cases.
Representative Mark Rozzi has been the key force behind changing statute of limitation laws.
As a teenager, the Berks County Democrat was abused by a priest.
The bill he’s re-introducing would get rid of the criminal statute of limitations on future sex abuse cases, and loosen age limits for civil suits.
Notably, it doesn’t include the retroactive lawsuit window that tanked talks last year.
Instead, Blair County Republican Representative Jim Gregory has a second proposal that would amend the constitution to explicitly allow suits in old cases.
Marc Levy / AP Photo
Berks County Democrat Mark Rozzi has long said, the reason he has so aggressively pursued changes to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations is that he himself was abused by a priest.
“We’re just trying to put together a solution,” Gregory said. “Hopefully this is what will eventually remove that last barrier to get this to the people of Pennsylvania.”
Senate Republicans were the key holdouts on retroactivity–partly due to constitutional concerns, but also because some worry suits on old cases will bankrupt churches.
It’s unclear how they’ll respond.
House Democrats and Republicans, Senate Democrats, Governor Tom Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and the state Victim Advocate have all supported retroactive lawsuits.
The House quickly positioned Rozzi and Gregory’s bills for committee consideration.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
