By Christen Smith | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania House Democrats, on a party-line vote, sent two identical constitutional amendments back to the chamber floor on Tuesday for future consideration.
The do-over comes six weeks after the chamber referred the amendments back to the Judiciary Committee for a public hearing, in adherence to new policies adopted after a months-long gridlock provoked a review of operating rules.
Majority Chairman Tim Briggs, D-King of Prussia, said doing so – even though, at the time, a majority of lawmakers favored passing the proposals – upheld the chamber’s new rule that requires public hearings for constitutional amendments before proceeding to a floor vote.
“The thoughts of the minority party really hit home,” he said. “I think it [the hearing] was very useful for the public and for lawmakers.”
Back on March 1, with Democrats’ official one-seat majority cemented, the chamber debated House Bill 1, and a second proposal to codify the same reform into law. The former was sent back to committee on March 13, according to legislative records, followed by a public hearing on March 29.
House Bills 1 and 2 would create a two-year retroactive window for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil suits against their perpetrators. The first bill would amend the Constitution – pending voter approval – to do so, while the latter opts to enact through statute, meaning it needs only legislative support and the governor’s signature to become law.
During the March 1 floor debate, however, the chamber amended Senate Bill 1 to strip out voter ID and regulatory process changes. Lawmakers also updated the remaining language to match the House bill’s statute of limitations reform. A spokeswoman for House Democrats confirmed the change to The Center Square on Monday.
Doing so harkened back to the ideological dispute at the core of the House’s two-month hiatus: Democrats rejected two of the three constitutional amendments rolled into SB1 and refused to adopt regular session operating rules until the chamber approved HB1 in a special session.
Although majority support exists in both the House and the Senate for statute of limitations reform, Senate leadership said all voters deserve a chance to weigh in on all three constitutional amendments initially included in SB1.
This position, according to a Senate Republican spokeswoman, “has not waivered.”