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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 5, 2022 11:42 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jim Gregory |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Constitutional amendment to provide a two-year window for civil lawsuits for childhood sexual abuse. victims |
| In the near future, I will reintroduce my joint resolution amending Article I, Section 11 of the PA Constitution to provide for a two-year window in which civil lawsuits alleging childhood sexual abuse may be filed in court notwithstanding otherwise applicable defenses. This joint resolution creates a two-year window in which civil lawsuits alleging childhood sexual abuse may be filed in court notwithstanding any statute of limitations, statutory cap on damages, sovereign immunity, governmental immunity or official immunity defense. Therefore, claims which presently are barred by a statute of limitation would be “revived” for a two-year window from when the constitutional amendment may become effective. These revived claims would be governed by the law in effect at the time of enactment of the amendment. As a proposed constitutional amendment, this legislation must pass each chamber of the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions and then must be presented to the voters for adoption. You may recall that the Department of State failed to properly publish the version of this proposal after its passage in the 2019-20 Legislative Session, which meant that House Bill 14 of the 2021-22 Legislative Session served as the first effective passage. Therefore, this would be the second consideration of this proposed constitutional amendment. Please join me in sponsoring this critically important joint resolution. |