Pa. lawmakers consider fast-track plan for abuse lawsuit window
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) A bid to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to give victims of child sexual abuse a new legal window to sue over otherwise time-barred allegations got new life Thursday, days after the disclosure of a paperwork error threw it into disarray.
Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, said on the state House floor that Republican leaders in both chambers were working with him and he hoped to get the proposed amendment on the spring primary ballot through an emergency process.
“We’ll be able to pass a standalone quickly and get this on the May ballot as originally intended,” Rozzi said.
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Rozzi, a prime backer of the amendment who has told of his rape by a priest when he was 13, said the top-ranking senator in the GOP-majority Senate, President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, supports an emergency amendment process. Corman and other top Senate Republicans were noncommittal or silent Thursday.
“As always, we look forward to reviewing any plan the House is able to pass over to the Senate and that includes an emergency constitutional amendment,” Corman spokesperson Jenn Kocher said.
House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said in floor remarks that his caucus will work with Rozzi and other backers to get the emergency amendment through the chamber.
Pa. enacted 140 laws last year, but only 27 of them addressed the coronavirus
Updated Feb 03, 2021;
Posted Feb 03, 2021
Gov. Tom Wolf used his veto power to nix a record 19 bills passed by the legislature in 2020 15 more than he did in 2019. (JOSE F. MORENO / Philadelphia Inquirer)
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By Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA and Cynthia Fernandez of Spotlight PA
HARRISBURG In 2020, the coronavirus thrust state government into the lives of Pennsylvanians unlike any other time in recent history.
But the nation’s largest full-time legislature with some of the highest-paid lawmakers emerged from the year having failed to address some of the public’s most pressing needs, and marred by some in the majority party who sought to undercut the election results, spread misinformation, and fuel hyper-partisan fights.
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When DaJuan Davis learned that his application for rent relief was denied, exposing him and his son to another potential eviction, he felt “crushed.”
I felt so dejected. It took a lot of energy from me, said Davis, 45, in a January interview. The sometime commercial driver and convenience store worker, now employed by McDonald’s, sat on his living room couch, while his 13-year-old son attended virtual school in an adjacent bedroom.
He said he’s rented from Monroeville-based Arbors Management for 11 years. He’d weathered eviction filings, which followed a change of employment and gap in pay, in 2019.
His best hope of avoiding another eviction filing, following his July 8 loss of a job, had seemed to be Pennsylvania’s CARES Rent Relief Program. On July 10, he and the property manager filled out forms seeking six months of state help paying the $610-a-month rent for his Penn Hills apartment.