State GOP Won’t Fast-Track Emergency Process For Abuse

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – State Senate Republicans have killed a proposal to employ an emergency process to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to give victims of child sexual abuse a two-year window in which to file civil lawsuits. Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward announced Monday that the Wolf administration’s failure to advertise a proposed constitutional amendment doesn’t justify using the emergency amendment process. She says the Republican majority plans to start over, using the conventional amendment process. The Department of State announced six weeks ago it had failed to arrange the mandatory advertisement for a conventional constitutional amendment last year. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa accused Republicans of delaying justice “over a clerical mistake.”