Editorial: Senate should pass childhood sexual abuse bills

The Pennsylvania Senate has a job to do.

The state House of Representatives passed two bills this week that would allow survivors of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits past the previous lines drawn.

One bill frames a two-year window that bypasses “sovereign and governmental immunity retroactively to permit these survivors to seek justice against the Commonwealth and local agencies.” Plainly, it opens the door to hold official agencies responsible in court.

The second bill creates that same window to allow the suits that were previously prevented by time. The important part of that bill is that it does so with a constitutional amendment.

Does this sound familiar? It should.

Similar bills were passed in 2019. For an amendment, however, bills must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions. Then they have to be published for people to read. Then they go to a vote by the people.

In 2021, that didn’t happen. The advertisements weren’t done, so the amendment couldn’t go on the ballot for voters. It was a serious failure, and Kathy Boockvar resigned as secretary of state over it.

But the real problem was that it punted the bills back to the Legislature to start the process over again. For victims of childhood sexual abuse, it was a new insult.

Now the House’s actions send the bills to the Senate once more. It is time for the upper body to push the process along.

The point of the bills was to offer a path to justice for victims. While lawmakers did their job the first time, that was tripped up by failures in the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf.

The Senate should embrace their turn at the bills as an opportunity to set things right. Passing these bills gives the GOP-led chamber a chance to take a stand for victims.

This doesn’t have to be political. Harrisburg being Harrisburg, it probably will be, but it shouldn’t.

There is nothing political about wanting to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who were victimized. That should transcend party and ideology.

And in this instance, it would correct a second wrong done to the victims by the state.