The ball is now in Rep. Mark Rozzi's court.
House Bill 1947 is about to come up again for debate in the Pa. House.
It's the landmark legislation - which passed the House last spring - that would greatly expand the time a victim of child sexual abuse has to file a lawsuit against their abuser, as well as eliminating the statute of limitations for criminal charges in such cases.
The question is whether or not the bill will include Rozzi's controversial amendment that would make the language retroactive, meaning victims from as far back as the 1970s could still come forward and file civil actions.
House Bill 1947 - including Rozzi's amendment - passed the House 180-15. But the retroactive language was stripped out of the Senate version after a full-court press by opponents of retroactive language, including the insurance industry, National Catholic Conference and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
A letter from Philadlelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput labeled the legislation no less than an attack on the church and warned of dire consequences should the retroactive language hold up.
Several Delaware County legislators said they took some serious heat from the church because of their votes in favor of the measure. Rep. Nick Miccarelli, R-162, of Ridley Park, actually had his name casually dropped in his parish bulletin as having supported HB 1947. Rep. Jamie Santora, R-163, of Upper Darby, said the church's actions was coming dangerously close to "electioneering."
Rozzi had been adamant that he would put the amendment back into the Senate version that was sent back to the House. He actually held a press conference on the steps of the archdiocese's offices in downtown Philly to say just that.
Not it does not appear quite as clear.
There is fear that with the retroactive language included, the measure would fail in the Senate, thus killing off the changes that would take place for all abuse cases going forward in terms of both the criminal statute of limitations, and giving victims until they reach the age of 50 to take action. Right now those rights expire at age 30.
In the meantime, staff writer Kathleen Carey has been exploring the debate surrounding House Bill 1947 and the issue of child sex abuse.
You can read the first two parts of her series, an overview of the debate surrounding House Bill 1947 and the programs put in place by the Catholic Church to battle child sexual abuse, here and here.
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