Some other important information about House Bill 1947

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.