A California bill accused of unfairly targeting the Catholic Church
and other groups with lawsuits on decades-old abuse charges has stalled
in a committee, but the measure is still being considered.
On Aug. 14, Senate Bill 131 received six votes in the local Assembly
Appropriations Committee, three short of the nine needed to advance to
the assembly floor for a full vote.
Four committee members voted against
the bill while seven did not vote.
The committee, which primarily considers how much a bill will cost the
state government, focused on whether new lawsuits would overburden the
legal system, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The group will consider the
bill again next week.
California's Catholic bishops have asked Catholics to continue to contact their lawmakers in protest of the legislation.
The Wall Street Journal criticized the 2013 bill as a “nonprofit
shakedown” that targets the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, and the
“political enemies” of the legislature, in which Democrats hold a
supermajority of seats.
Backers of the bill include the National Center for Victims of Crime,
whose deputy executive director Jeff Dion told the Assembly Judiciary
Committee that it is “very important” for abusers “and the institutions
that enabled them” to be held accountable.
However, S.B. 131 specifically exempts public schools and other government institutions from lawsuits.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Faithful Citizenship website said that
this exemption means the bill “unfairly targets Catholic and private
schools” and fails to protect the 92 percent of California children
educated in public schools.
The archdiocese recently launched a new video to encourage opposition to the bill.
“The Catholic Church, and private institutions like the YMCA, YWCA, the
California Council of Non-Profit Organizations, and other private and
religious institutions in Los Angeles give hope to millions in need
through countless charities, educational programs and social service
agencies,” the video says.
“But Senate Bill 131 in the California State Legislature may threaten
the ability of private schools and social service providers to continue
to serve the poor, the hungry, the elderly, and the struggling in Los
Angeles and throughout California.”
The bill passed the state Senate May 29 by a vote of 21-10. It passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee by a 6-2 vote.
If the California Assembly approves the bill, the legislation would lift
the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits against private
schools and private employers who failed to take action against sexual
abuse by employees or volunteers.
It would allow alleged victims younger
than 31 to sue employers of abusers, extending present age limit for
alleged victims from 26 years old.
The bill also provides a one-year window for victims older than this new
age limit to sue alleged negligent employers. This could result in many
new lawsuits concerning allegations dismissed after 2003, when the
statute of limitations was previously suspended.
That suspension resulted in almost 1,000 claims against the Catholic
Church in California, with legal awards totaling to $1.2 billion. Some
of these claims dated back to the 1950s.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, in his June 21 column for The
Tidings, said the proposed legislation “puts the social services and
educational work of the Church at risk.”
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ social media and postcard campaign has
helped encourage Californians to send more than 75,000 postcards and
emails to representatives in opposition to the bill.
“The bishops of the California Catholic Conference believe it is urgent for all Catholics to act now,” Archbishop Gomez said.
The archdiocese’s new video can be seen at the link http://archla.org/131id.
The archdiocese is providing more information about S.B. 131, including how to contact state legislators, through the website www.LAFaithfulCitizen.org.