PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Survivors of child sex abuse are expressing frustration as the Pennsylvania Legislature missed the deadline to get a constitutional amendment on the May primary ballot.
The proposed amendment would open a two-year window for child sex abuse survivors to seek civil action if their case is outside the current statute of limitations.
But a deadline for the state legislature to pass the bill to get it on the May ballot came and went on Jan. 27. A constitutional amendment has to pass both chambers in two consecutive sessions before it goes on the ballot for all voters to decide.
“The feeling amongst survivors and advocates in Pennsylvania is that the legislature is inflicting more pain upon the victims who have been waiting for justice,” said Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Pennsylvania Communications Manager Mike McDonnell.
“Some things, in my opinion, are absolutely more important than any party politics — and this is certainly one of them.”
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In early January, the Senate packaged the child sex abuse amendment proposal with one on voter ID, and another that makes it easier for the legislature to overturn government regulations, two issues Democrats oppose. All three measures — child sex abuse, voter ID, and easier repealing of government regulations — passed both legislative chambers as regular bills last session.
The state House of Representatives hasn’t been able to take any actions, as they’ve been unable to agree to a rules package – which is typically little more than a formality.
House Republican leader Bryan Cutler points the finger at Speaker Mark Rozzi and House Democrats.
“We've sent a series of rules to the Democrats. Many times they would not return our calls or respond to the offers that we had made,” said Cutler.
“Unfortunately, by not calling us back in session, by not having us vote on rules, we're in a situation now where those deadlines are now impossible, and I think that's unacceptable.”
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"We shouldn't even be here, because the Department of State should have properly advertised it they didn't, and that I find that very frustrating and equally unacceptable,” he added. “But now to not even come to work, and not even to have session so that we could consider this and any other issues that we could agree on like this one, I think is unacceptable."
The House Democratic caucus wants the survivor constitutional amendment to be run as its own separate bill, as in their words, “survivors have waited too long for justice.”
“House Democrats believe that the survivor constitutional amendment should be run as a clean bill. Our caucus was pleased that before leaving office, Gov. Wolf announced a special session to provide the General Assembly an opportunity to address this measure in a streamlined manner consistent with the public pledge all four caucuses took in August,” said Democratic caucus spokeswoman Nicole Reigelman.
“Unfortunately, Republicans in the House and Senate were disingenuous when they took that pledge and are more concerned with scoring political points early in the legislative session by leveraging survivors of childhood sexual abuse for their own partisan gain.
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Rozzi said the chamber will meet on Feb. 27, according to Spotlight PA. Three special elections for House seats are scheduled for Feb. 7, with Democrats expected to win all three seats. If that happens, Democrats will win a majority of House seats.
McDonnell encourages child sex abuse survivors who feel further victimized by this process to ask for support to help them in their journey.
“Especially in this climate right now … any individual who's really feeling the effect of all of this, Don't go it alone. Reach out for support. Reach out to us as a peer support network, and let us take that that walk with you,” said McDonnell.
“It's not fair to to put that all on yourself.”