Pennsylvania Bill to Let Child Sexual Abuse Survivors Sue Again Stalls, Faces 30 November Expiry

Child sexual assault survivors in Pennsylvania are on the verge of being denied the opportunity to sue their attackers after a bill to temporarily waive filing deadlines stalled again in the state legislature.

The proposal would amend the state constitution and open a two-year lookback window for victims to file claims from years ago, beyond the normal statute of limitations. Similar measures have passed in a number of other US states in recent years, from New York to Louisiana.

The proposed amendment cleared the Democrat-controlled state house in June. But the bill is set to expire at the end of the legislative session on 30 November after Republican senators attempted to tie it to a separate move to expand voter identification requirements, a red line for many chamber Democrats.

Democrats have accused the Republican senate majority of playing politics with the bipartisan move. Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, has previously criticised Republicans for derailing the measure, noting in a social media post earlier this year that it passed the state house six times since he took office but never made it to his desk.

Democrats have been trying to push through versions of the law since at least 2018, after the exposure of a large-scale child sexual abuse scandal in the state's Catholic church in which more than 300 so-called predator priests were found to have harmed at least 1,000 children.

In 2021, internal systemic failures by the administration of then governor Tom Wolf denied Pennsylvania voters the chance to settle such a law in a statewide referendum, and supporters have been frustrated by repeated failures since. Under Pennsylvania law, a constitutional amendment must pass two consecutive legislative sessions with identical language to take effect; this year's measure was not taken up by the state senate.

Mark Rozzi, the former Democratic state house speaker and himself a survivor of abuse by a Catholic priest, said he was disappointed by the senators' inability to advance the move and also blamed Shapiro for not doing more, as reported by the non-profit investigative outlet Spotlight PA. He said victims waiting for this law to pass, and victims who have not yet come forward, deserve their day in court, and that perpetrators and the institutions that aided them will eventually be held accountable.

Republican leaders, for their part, have blamed Democrats, claiming victims were being harmed by inaction on the voter ID measure. Democratic state senator Maria Collett said the 3 November midterms give voters an opportunity to finally get a lookback window law passed if they re-elect Shapiro and grant Democrats control of both state legislative chambers.