Jan. 06, 2023
HARRISBURG – As a long-time advocate for childhood sexual abuse survivors and prime sponsor of the legislation to give them recourse in court, Rep. Jim Gregory (R-Blair) today commended Gov. Tom Wolf and House Speaker Mark Rozzi on their commitment to a special session dedicated to granting that relief to survivors.
“Since first taking office, I have promised to work to get victims of child sexual abuse the civil justice they have waited for. Today, together, with my longtime partner on this effort, Speaker Mark Rozzi, we are taking the necessary step to ensure victims don’t have to wait one additional day beyond the May Primary Election to get it,” Gregory said. “I am grateful for Speaker Rozzi’s commitment to correcting the devastating error from two years ago.”
Gregory, who nominated Rozzi for the role of Speaker, believes today’s announcement demonstrates Rozzi will uphold other commitments he has made.
“The time for politics will come. But today, the people of Pennsylvania should recognize that Speaker Rozzi is not waiting to govern,” Gregory said.
Gregory and Rozzi have been championing reforms in Pennsylvania since a 2018 grand jury report revealed widespread abuse by Catholic priests living and working in the state.
One of those reforms called for a two-year window of time in which lawsuits could be filed if the statute of limitations had already expired in a victim’s case. In 2021, the two-year window was headed to ballots for voters to consider as a potential constitutional amendment. However, failures by the Department of State left that matter off ballots, giving Gregory and Rozzi the unfortunate task of starting their process again.
Gregory’s newly introduced
House Bill 14 would put the two-year window on ballots May 16.