House Votes to Again Provide Window to Victims
HARRISBURG – Fulfilling a pledge to act early this session to give voters the opportunity to open a two-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to take civil action, House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) joined the overwhelming majority of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle in voting in favor of
House Bill 1.
“While we worked to take steps that would help past victims with the votes taken today, we have not done enough to protect other victims, including the one who testified recently at Speaker Mark Rozzi’s listening tour event,” Cutler said. “We saw every House Democrat vote this week against holding sexual harassers and abusers accountable for their actions in blocking a vote to allow the Ethics Committee to form, as an accusation against a current member is widely known.
“These actions raise serious concerns about how the Democratic Majority is operating, and if they can be trusted to guide our chamber forward this session.”
The statute of limitations amendment was passed in consecutive previous sessions as required to change the Constitution, but the Wolf administration’s Department of State failed to follow public notification requirements, forcing the Legislature to repeat itself in passing the amendment in the fall of 2022 and again this week.
“This vote was sadly a do-over, due to carelessness and mismanagement by the Pennsylvania Department of State,” Cutler said. “Their incompetence denied voters their right to amend the Constitution last fall, and victims their path to recourse.”
The House also passed
House Bill 2, which would provide the same window, but without a constitutional amendment. However, Cutler voted against that measure, citing personal concerns over potential legal challenges to the bill’s constitutionality until such time that the Constitution is amended.
The legislation now advances to the Pennsylvania Senate for consideration.
Republican Leader Bryan Cutler
100th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives