With just hours left in the year's final voting session today (Wednesday, 10/17/18), the top Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate was pushing a plan that would temporarily allow older victims of child sexual abuse to sue their attackers – but not the deep-pocketed institutions, such as the Catholic Church, that may have covered up the crimes.

The latest proposal, championed by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), would also create a "tribunal" of judges to oversee a state-run compensation fund through which victims who are too old under the law to file civil claims could access compensation. It is not clear who would finance that fund, although the state's eight Catholic bishops have broadly supported the concept.

The new plan was immediately met with condemnation from victims and their advocates, who say the only just solution is to fully adopt a state grand jury's recommendation to offer a temporary reprieve in the civil statute of limitations to allow lawsuits against both abusers and institutions for two years.

Currently, the law bars legal claims for sexual abuse from those older than 30, which would prohibit recovery of damages for decades-old acts like many of those described by a state grand jury report of clergy abuse in Catholic dioceses.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office ran the sweeping grand jury investigation into clergy abuse in nearly every Roman Catholic diocese in the state, called Scarnati's compromise plan "disgraceful."

"A priest earns about $25,000 a year and will have no ability to pay for the mental health counseling and the drug and alcohol counseling, the services that these victims need," said Shapiro, who came to the Capitol Wednesday to meet with top senators. ** "The only entity that can help support these victims ironically is the institution that enabled the abuse and they are exempt."**

Asked about the idea behind a victims compensation fund, Shapiro said: "The idea that you are going to let the Catholic church define whether or not it participates and how much they are willing to put into a fund is a slap in the face to the victims … and it allows them to continue the coverup, to continue to silence victims."

Sen. Don White (R., Indiana) described some portions of Scarnati's plan to the cluster of reporters that had gathered outside the room in the Capitol where Republican senators were meeting privately. He said the proposal has support among rank-and-file Republicans.

"Right now, nobody's opposing what's going on," he said. "There's good civil talk and back and forth, a lot of questions being asked."

He added: "From my standpoint, I think it's what we should be doing."

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) said he would not comment when asked whether he supported the measure. Drew Crompton, the Senate's top lawyer and Scarnati's chief of staff, also declined comment.

Scarnati's proposal, however, would walk back his stated opposition to any reprieve in the statute of limitations. For years, he and others have said they believe any retroactive change in the law violates the remedies clause of the state Constitution, which has been interpreted by some lawyers and legal scholars as blocking any temporary exceptions to time limits.

The debate over the civil window picked up intensity after the release in August of a grand jury report on Catholic clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania involving more than 1,000 victims over seven decades.

The grand jurors who spent two years listening to evidence in the case made four policy recommendations. Key among them was eliminating the statute of limitations in future criminal cases involving child sexual abuse; and opening a two-year window so that victims who are too old under current law to file civil claims can have a chance to sue their attackers and the institutions that covered up the abuse.

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives late last month passed legislation, championed by Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), a clergy abuse victim himself, that included a provision for a two-year window. Victims and their advocates have crowded Capitol hallways and visited senators' offices in recent weeks to persuade them to follow the House's lead.

Scarnati has been the most vocal and the most powerful opponent to a window. Lobbyists for the Catholic Church and the insurance industry have also fiercely lobbied against any retroactive changes. Both have claimed that such a retroactive change would deal a devastating financial blow.

If they had protected the survivors, and the abuse hadn't happened, there wouldn't be the necessity of paying compensations to victims.

This is disgraceful.

Source.