HARRISBURG, Pa. — Following five weeks of political gridlock, the Pennsylvania House reconvened on Feb. 21 and came one step closer to passing a long-awaited child sexual abuse lawsuit measure.
Three new House members were sworn in Tuesday morning, flipping the house to a Democratic majority for the first time in 12 years. The majority, though, is razor thin, at 102 Democrats to 101 Republicans.
The new majority was expected to boost hopes of passing a measure to allow childhood sex abuse survivors to sue their abusers. The measure would open a two-year window for lawsuits even if the statute of limitations has passed.
The measure is the signature piece of legislation for Speaker of the House Mark Rozzi (D-Berks), who has pledged that the House will not address any other legislation until the measure is passed. He has said he wants to pass the measure both as a constitutional amendment and as a regular law, in the hopes that one will be enacted soon.
“I will keep my promise to survivors of childhood sexual assault and bring up a constitutional amendment and statutory bill, both of which will provide a window to justice and desperately need relief for victims,” Rozzi said in a video statement on Feb. 21.
Democrats and Republicans spent most of the day sparring over operating rules, with a primary focus on the size of a majority needed to amend bills.
The same fight over operating rules was the reason the House had previously been in recess. Legislators’ frustration was evident in their remarks.
“Can the legislature please stop with the tricks and the antics and focus on the one thing that was important, which is delivering justice for those that were sexually assaulted, to stop with the games, Mr. Speaker, to stop with the tricks and do our jobs?” said State Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh).
“Mr. Speaker, I wish we could have taken this up weeks ago and stopped these games, as was suggested, but we've been out for a month and a half,” State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh) responded, referring to the impasse over operating rules.
Democrats flexed their new majority to pass operating rules for the special session around 3 p.m. The action opened the door for a vote on the child sex abuse measure.
The House recessed and set to reconvene on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Democrats said they were confident the child sex abuse measure would pass before the end of the special session on Friday.
However, the fate of the bill is unclear in the Senate. The measure already passed there, but bundled with two unrelated measures deeply unpopular with Democrats, who saw the bill as a poison pill.
Following the vote on operating rules, Democrats said they would only run the child sex abuse bill as a standalone measure.
“It's going to the Senate this week and then the Senate will have to decide what they want to do. If they want to delay and stall and turn their back on victims, that will be up to them,” said State Rep. Tim Briggs (D-Montgomery).
Senate Republicans indicated they were not considering passing the constitutional amendment as a standalone measure. Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) wrote in a statement,
“The Senate has fulfilled and completed our commitment to address this issue and a special session remains unnecessary. The Senate swiftly passed Senate Bill 1 on January 11, and in the last six weeks, the House has failed to take action to give voters a voice on these critical issues. I believe the only path to resolve the speaker’s top priority is for the House to pass Senate Bill 1 as presented.”
Following the operating rules vote, House Republicans said they preferred to pass the bundled Senate bill in regular session in the House.
“Senate Bill 1 could be amended in the House as long as we adopt regular rules. If they have 102 votes to change it, they can do whatever they want,” said Republican Leader Brian Cutler (R-Lancaster).