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BC-PA--Pennsylvania News Digest, PA

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Legislation in Pennsylvania to give victims of child sexual abuse more time to sue took another step forward in the Senate on Tuesday, although not without debate over whether people who have lost the legal ability to sue should get it back. As a result, the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote narrowed portions of a bill that passed the House overwhelmingly in April, but broadened the proposal in other parts. It comes amid scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania and a renewed push in Pennsylvania and other states to relax laws that prevent some child sexual abuse victims from suing for damages. The committee's half-hour hearing was dominated by debate over a House provision opposed by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, which represents for-profit insurers, and the Senate committee ultimately removed it. That provision would have given victims the ability to sue, even if they are now older than the current legal age limit of 30. Proponents of removing the provision say it would violate longtime Pennsylvania constitutional case law. The state attorney general's office concurred, siding earlier this month with four out of six law professors who said in testimony released by the committee that the provision would go against longstanding case law. Other senators argued that this precise situation has not been tested in the state's courts. "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has never addressed the constitutionality of revival of a child sex abuse statute of limitations and all the individuals arguing against this provision during the testimony conceded this very point," said Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia. "The case law is very far from clear on how this issue would be resolved by the Supreme Court." However, senators went farther than the House bill by removing any age limit at all for a victim to sue a perpetrator, a co-conspirator or someone who failed to report the abuse to authorities. The House bill had raised that age limit to 50, up from 30. Other provisions would eliminate the statute of limitations in future criminal cases for a list of more severe crimes that involve child victims. That provision is not retroactive. Meanwhile, it would raise the age limit of a victim suing an organization from 30 to 50, and prevent organizations from claiming immunity from lawsuits when they have acted with negligence.

Senate panel OKs wider age limit in child sex abuse lawsuits