Pa. House set to vote on bill giving childhood sexual abuse survivors chance for justice

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse who have been waiting for a chance to seek justice may see positive movement in that direction Friday in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

The chamber has positioned two separate pieces of legislation for a vote that would lift the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse crimes for a two-year period. It would allow survivors to file previously time-barred civil claims against their abuser and any institution that covered it up including public schools.

House Bill 1 proposes to accomplish that through the constitutional amendment process while House Bill 2 would achieve it through the regular law-making process. Republicans’ attempts to amend the bill were defeated, withdrawn or ruled out of order.

However, if either or both win House passage, the chance for justice that survivors would have sought for nearly two decades remains up in the air. Neither bill matches the version the Senate passed last month.

It also remains unclear whether efforts are underway or soon will be to reconcile the differences between them.

The Senate passed a package of proposed constitutional amendments that along with addressing the statute of limitations reform also included two unrelated proposed constitutional amendments that are unpopular with Democrats. One seeks to require voters to present identification every time they vote and the other would give the General Assembly, instead of the governor as is currently the case, final say on regulations lawmakers dislike.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana County, said he viewed the Senate passage of that package as the last time the chamber would vote on that issue.

Attempts to get comments from House Democratic leaders and Pittman’s office by the time this story posted were unsuccessful.

People can find their local sexual assault resource center via a toll free hotline at 1-888-772-7227 or online at https://pcar.org/help-pa/locations. If a person suspects a child is being abused, call ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313.