Rozzi wants justice for survivors more than the leadership post

Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi is calling the chamber back into session on Feb. 21 with a plan in mind and a hope for a break in the stalemate that has prevented any legislation moving in Harrisburg.

But the Berks County Democrat said Wednesday he would rather see adult survivors of child sexual abuse have greater opportunity to sue their abusers than continue to hold the speaker’s gavel.

“That priority is getting victims of childhood sexual assault their day in court to provide them justice, to provide them the truth, to allow them to expose their perpetrator to protect all the children in this commonwealth from ever being sexually abused by their predators ever again,” said Rozzi, who was abused as a child by a Catholic priest.

“I never wanted to be a legislator. I never wanted to be speaker but I’m here right now and my priority still has not changed,” Rozzi said.

Rozzi said he intends to start the session with the passage of a set of “good government, fair” internal operating rules shaped by a bipartisan work group he put together and a statewide listening tour he led.

Then he will call for votes on the issue that has been his sole priority since being elected to the House’s presiding officer post on Jan. 3.

Rozzi intends to call for a vote on a bill that opens a two-year retroactive window for survivors of childhood sexual assault to file civil lawsuits against their abuser regardless of when the abuse occurred. Rozzi, a moderate who vowed to work as an independent speaker, also plans to call for a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment that would accomplish the same thing but would deal exclusively with the statute-of-limitations issue.

More amendments

That would differ from the Senate package of three proposed constitutional amendments it passed primarily with Republican votes and sent over to the House in January.

Senate Bill 1 also includes an amendment to require voters to present a valid government-issued ID every time they vote, and an amendment that would end the governor’s ability to veto the legislature’s disapproval of a regulation.

Rozzi was highly critical of the Senate Republicans’ strategy of tacking unrelated amendments onto the statute-oflimitations reform that has idled in the General Assembly for more than 18 years.

“It’s like the only way they know they can get their horrible agenda passed is to strap it on the back of victims, which is horrible and disgraceful and disgusting,” Rozzi said. “Let it stand on its own merit and put it up for a vote for Pete’s sake. We’ll see where (Senate Majority Leader) Joe Pittman and (Senate President Pro Tempore) Kim Ward fall.”

Senate Republican spokeswoman Kate Flessner responded by accusing Rozzi of playing political games over the last month instead of organizing the House and engaging in dialogue with the Senate.