. HARRISBURG In a rarely used move, leaders in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have agreed to employ an emergency tactic to allow voters to decide whether survivors of decades-old sexual abuse should have a chance to sue the perpetrators and institutions that covered up the crimes. The chamber’s decision follows the shocking admission this week that “human error” by the Wolf administration would prevent voters from deciding the issue during the May primary. The news devastated Pennsylvania’s community of survivors, who have long pushed for a two-year reprieve in the statute of limitations so they can bring litigation, and led Secretary Kathy Boockvar to resign.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — When Republican state Rep. Jim Gregory learned Monday from Gov. Tom Wolf that an administrative error will delay a
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ANGELA COULOUMBIS AND CYNTHIA FERNANDEZ Spotlight PA
(Editor’s Note: Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for their free newsletters.)
HARRISBURG When Republican state Rep. Jim Gregory learned Monday from Gov. Tom Wolf that an administrative error will delay a decision on whether survivors can sue for decades-old sexual abuse, he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
“That’s where I had to leave it with him to hope he understood the gravity of what this means to victims, to know that we could be so close to achieving something for them that has been decades in wait,” Gregory, a survivor of child sexual abuse, said of his conversation with Wolf. “To now have to say, again, you’re going to have to wait. I would believe that my emotions mirrored the emotions of other victims.”
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.