By the Editorial Board
USA TODAY NETWORK - PENNSYLVANIA
Successive grand jury investigations dating back to the early 2000s exposed the scale of child sexual abuse and cover-up in Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic Church. The most recent panel of jurors pored over the evidence, then outlined searing findings in a 2018 report: More than 300 priests and had abused more than 1,000 children over a 70-year period in six Roman Catholic dioceses.
It’s advice to right these wrongs? Change laws to protect children and give victims long timed-out of the justice system a temporary window to seek civil damages.
The grand jury, overseen by Attorney General Josh Shapiro, said victims who reported abuse were often blamed, cowed and sometimes silenced with settlements that prohibited them from reporting abusers to law enforcement. And too often, church leaders handled wrongdoing not with a call to police, but in-house with ineffective treatment, then redeployed the predators to offend again.
As a result of a bill I authored with Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward and Sen. John DiSanto, three potential amendments will appear on the ballot this spring to prohibit discrimination and improve the way the state responds to emergencies.
Although all three of these amendments are popular with voters, Gov. Tom Wolf and his allies are doing everything possible to derail the amendments pertaining to emergency declarations so he can continue to ignore the legislature and thumb his nose at the will of the people.
The sabotage effort began with the wording of the questions that will appear on the ballot. The language the Administration used has been widely criticized as being inaccurate, confusing and prejudicial (it absolutely is).
Bill aiding abuse survivors clears Pennsylvania Senate hurdle But will it see a vote? pghcitypaper.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pghcitypaper.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
An emotionally charged discussion over a bill giving sexual abuse victims more time to sue their abusers on Wednesday ended with a state Senate committee approving the legislation.
In a 11-3 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 951, which the House passed 149-52 on April 7. The bill, which gives victims a two-year expanded window to file civil suits, now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne County, the chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, said that pursuing a constitutional amendment is the “legally prudent” way to allow victims to seek justice.
Yet she said she was backing the statutory remedy after the failure of the Pennsylvania Department of State to properly advertise an amendment ended the constitutional effort for this year.
Pa Senate to consider bill giving sex abuse victims more time to sue publicopiniononline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from publicopiniononline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.