Contact your Senator!

Ask them to vote AGAINST HB 1947

This bill was passed in the House of Representatives, and is coming up for review by the Senate in the week of June 13th.  We need to contact our officials BEFORE that date.

PA Senator:  Daylin Leach

District Phone:  (610)-768-4200    Capitol Phone:  (717)-787-5544

The Senator is our King of Prussia elected official, sits on the Judiciary Committee, and has not yet made up his mind on this issue.  He is a key player!  Please be polite and thank the Senator for his service!

Other people to call if possible:

King of Prussia State Representative:  Tim Briggs                (610) 768-3135     (717) 705-7011

Senate Judiciary Committee:  Lawrence Farnese                  (215) 925-3121     (717) 787-5662

Senate Judiciary Committee:  Stewart Greenleaf                 (215) 657-7700     (717) 787-6599

Senate Judiciary Committee:  Arthur Haywood                     (215) 517-1434     (717) 787-1427

Senate Judiciary Committee:  John Rafferty                         (610) 831-8830     (717) 787-1398

Senate Judiciary Committee:  John Sabatina                        (215) 281-2539     (717) 787-9608

Senate Minority Approp. Comm. Chair: Vincent Hughes     (215) 879-7777     (717) 787-7112

Senate Maj.  Caucus Administrator: Charles McIlhinney  (215) 489-5000     (717) 787-7305

Senate Majority Caucus Chair:  Bob Mensch                          (215) 541-2388     (717) 787-3110

Senate Minority Whip:  Anthony Hardy                                (215) 492-2980     (717) 787-5970

WHAT TO SAY:

Sample 1:  “I am calling to ask Senator _____ to vote AGAINST House Bill 1947.  While I agree that child sex abuse should be criminally prosecuted, I am strongly opposed to increasing the statute of limitations for civil liability.  It will become very difficult for cases to be decided justly, based on the evidence, if cases are going back 40 or more years.” To further explain:  We all have a fundamental right to defend ourselves in court in a reasonable timeframe; before memories grow dim, evidence is lost or spoiled, witnesses die or cannot be located.  Statutes of limitations exist to ensure justice in this way.

Sample 2:  “I am calling to ask Senator _____ to vote AGAINST House Bill 1947.  While I agree that child sex abuse should be criminally prosecuted, I am strongly opposed to increasing the statute of limitations for civil liability.  I am a parent who coaches and or volunteers in my community, and I am not sure I can continue my service if such a large window of liability is opened and the possibility exists for me to be wrongly sued for the next 40 years.” To further explain:  HB 1947 proposes to allow survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file both criminal and civil lawsuits until the are 50 years old.  This means that volunteers who work with kids could be sued by those children (justly or unjustly) for multiple decades after their date of service, long after evidence and witnesses may have disappeared.

“I am calling to ask Senator _____ to vote AGAINST House Bill 1947.   While I agree that child sex abuse should be criminally prosecuted, I am strongly opposed to increasing the statute of limitations for civil liability.  It is clear that lawyers have more to benefit than anyone through this legislation, and I am very concerned that unscrupulous claimants and personal injury lawyers will take advantage of this statute and bankrupt important community organizations. To further explain:  The burden of proof for a civil lawsuit is much lower that that of a criminal lawsuit.  Extending the civil statute of limitations back to the 1960s incentivizes all of the wrong people to file lawsuits in hopes of a big payout.  Even in cases where a crime occurred – these lawsuits punish the CURRENT organization, not the actual criminal from decades ago.  Bankrupting an organization today does not fix what happened decades ago – it merely cripples that organization’s ability to exist and do good work today.

 

5 June 2016

Dear Friends,

A bill is currently pending in our state senate, HB 1947, that poses serious dangers for our own parish and for all the parishes, ministries, charities and schools of our archdiocesan Church.  With this letter, I urge you to write or telephone your local state senator and members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against HB 1947, and especially to oppose any retroactivity provision in the civil statute of limitation covering sexual abuse.

All of us are rightly angered by the crime of sexual abuse.  Over the past decade the Church has worked very hard to support survivors in their healing, to protect our children and to root this crime out of Church life.   But HB 1947 and bills like it are destructive legislation being advanced as a good solution.  The problem with HB 1947 is it prejudicial content.  It covers both public and religious institutions – but in drastically different and unjust ways.  The bill fails to support all survivors of abuse equally, and it’s a clear attack on the Church, her parishes and her people.

HB 1947 is retroactive for private and religious entities, but not retroactive for public institutions.  It places very low caps on damages for sexual abuse in public school in the future.  And it makes it hard for abuse victims to sue public institutions going forward.  Meanwhile, private and religious entities face unlimited liability for exactly the same evil actions, and not just going forward, but also in the past.   This is not justice.  In fact, HB 1947 actually excludes most victims.  And it also targets innocent Catholic parishes like ours, and families like your own, that will bear the financial burden of crimes committed by bad individuals in the past, along with the heavy penalties that always result from these bad bills.  This is not just an archdiocesan problem.  It’s very much our problem.  In other states where similar legislation passed,  local parishes exactly like ours have been sued, resulting in parish and school closures and charity work being severely crippled.  The effect of bills like HB 1947 is to erase the sacrifices of generations of faithful Catholics who have done nothing wrong.

The Church in Pennsylvania accepts it responsibility for the survivors of clergy sex abuse.  It’s committed to helping them heal for however long that takes.  But HB 1947 and bill like it are not an answer.  This kind of legislation is unjust and deeply misleading.  It benefits too few victims, and it ends up punishing Catholic parishes and families that are innocent of any wrongdoing.

This is a serious and time-sensitive matter.  Please take a few minutes to review the important information show on the links below.  Senate hearings begin on or around June 13th.  Please act now to contact your state senator, and members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, and urge them to oppose HB 1947 and any effort to impose civil statute retroactivity.   You can do that quickly and easily by visiting www.pacatholic.org.  That’s the website for our state Catholic Conference, and you’ll see a prominent link to the homepage about the vital matter.    Thank you and God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Jesus Christ,

 

 

Reverend Martin T. Cioppi, Ed. D.  –  Pastor

These are the guidelines used by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for all Staff and anyone working with children even on a volunteer basis: Archdiocesan Child Protection Requirements for Staff and Volunteers

Survivor Information and Reports

Archdiocesan Victim Assistance

Let our government officials know that this Bill is NOT equitable by sending your e-mail through this link: Voter Voice

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