The Senate Rules Committee amended a package of GOP-backed constitutional amendments to include one that provides a two-year window to revive child sex abuse claims, a move that Democrats rejected.
Pa. Senators gathered in a crowded meeting room on Tuesday for a committee meeting where a package of proposed constitutional amendments was advanced to the full Senate for consideration on Wednesday. One of those bills paired creating a two-year window for child sexual abuse survivors to file a civil lawsuit against their abuser with two controversial measures that Republican lawmakers back and Democrats oppose. Jan. 10. 2023 Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.
“These issues have been a focal point of the General Assembly over the last several years, and we have remained consistent with our pledge to present these significant matters to voters through the constitutional amendment process,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana County, in a statement.
Until that logjam breaks, the House is not in a position to consider the Senate’s package of amendments if it passes as expected. Also complicating its passage is House Speaker Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, a child sex abuse survivor, has stated that he will not consider any other piece of legislation until the statute of limitations amendment gets passed.
Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County picked up on that theme during the rules committee discussion. He accused his GOP counterparts of hijacking the statute of limitations issue by combining it with the other issues his caucus rejects and called it reprehensible. During the Rules Committee discussion, Pittman called packaging the statute of limitations issue that his caucus committed to acting on early in this session with its other priorities was “an efficient and timely manner to bring these questions to voters in May.”
The rules committee also approved a separate constitutional amendment that requires routine audits of election results by the state Auditor General’s office.
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