Pa. Lawmakers Urge Quick Action On New Child Abuse Protection Laws

November 15, 2011 3:57 PM

State Rep. Louise Bishop (D-Phila., center) is comforted by State Rep. Dennis O’Brien (R-Phila., left) during the Tuesday press conference. Credit: Tony Romeo)

Reporting Tony Romeo

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) – Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are urging swift action on legislation to protect children from sexual abuse, but Governor Corbett is urging caution.

As a group of state lawmakers held a news conference today to push for action on legislation related to child sexual abuse, state Rep. Louise Bishop (D-Phila.) revealed her own story of abuse suffered at the hands of her stepfather when she was a child.

“But because he had been such a friend, I didn’t know how to react,” she recalled. “I was afraid. There was fear.”

Bishop and other lawmakers called for action on bills that would increase the requirements for reporting suspected child sexual abuse, would eliminate the statute of limitations in abuse cases, and would create a two-year window for civil suits previously barred by the statute of limitations.

Governor Tom Corbett, meanwhile, urges legislators to slow down, “not react in haste to what happened… what was reported last week.”

The governor says he and lawmakers now have a good reason to review these issues but need to take their time to do it right.

Reported by KYW Harrisburg bureau chief Tony Romeo

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Pa. Lawmakers Urge Quick Action On New Child Abuse Protection Laws

Michael Skiendzielewski

Governor Tom Corbett, meanwhile, urges legislators to slow down, “not react in haste to what happened… what was reported last week.”

The Chairman of Gov. Corbett’s Transition team as well as a key figure in his campaign administration while running for PA Governor is William Sasso, Stradley and Ronon, long-time counsel to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Also, Gov Corbett, as Chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, appointed William Sasso to a postion on the DRPA Board.

Yes, this is the same William Sasso, closely aligned with Governor Corbett, whose response to the First Grand Jury Report in Philadelphia in September 2005 was that the ffort was “anti-Catholic.”

There should be no surprise here that Governor Corbett suggests that the legislature must no act in haste to the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State. His good friend and political heavyweight, William Sasso, would most certainly like to delay, block and eventually kill any efforts at legislation to protect the children of the Commonwealth of PA.
Jon

It’s a shame the supreme court struck down the death penalty two states had for child molesters.