VIDEO: Legislators Push Mattiello, Ruggerio to Expand Statute of Limitations on Sex Abuse Crimes
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Legislators and survivors of sexual abuse took to the Rhode Island State House on Monday to urge Rhode Island Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio to publicly support legislation to extend the civil statute of limitations for sex abuse crimes against minors to 35 years in Rhode Island -- from the current seven years on the books.
The rally came on the heels of the recent revelations from Pennsylvania in a grand jury report that made public the abuse of over 1,000 children by more than 300 Catholic priests -- and after legislation stalled at the Rhode Island General Assembly last session to extend Rhode Island's statute of limitations to well beyond the existing seven years.
"In light of the horrific events in Pennsylvania that the grand jury report that came out -- the scathing report of sexual abuse in the Catholic church of children -- we're here to respond to that report [and] all those horrific events," said Representative Carol Hagan McEntee on Monday, who along with Senator Donna Nesselbush has sponsored the legislation last session.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"This past legislative session, myself and [Senator] Donna Nesselbush sponsored legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases," said McEntee. "That bill was promised to me by Speaker Mattiello after heartbreaking testimony from my sister -- Dr. Ann Hagan Webb, Jim Scanlon, and several others."
Call for Support
"So I am here today to call for a recommitment to this bill -- that bill was promised by Speaker Mattiello but never delivered," said McEntee. "We worked on it, and last day of the session -- there were many amendments made, I was willing to do 35 years statute of limitations as our sister state Massachusetts does; and our other neighboring state has 30 years."
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"Here in Rhode Island we have a seven-year statute of limitations. So if you don't have the wherewithal to bring your cause of action by the age of 25 you are knocked out by the statue of limitations," explained McEntee.
"As a lawyer. and a person who has felt the sting of sexual abuse, by a priest, in my family. we did the best we could, we pushed as hard as we could, but the bill, at the 11th hour, never came down," said McEntee. "10 o'clock on a Saturday -- I'm sitting in the judiciary committee -- the bill that was promised to be never came forward."
McEntee argued a compromise could have been made last session.
"You'll hear discussion from the leadership that we couldn't agree on the amount of years, or we couldn't agree to language -- yes, we could," said McEntee. "I asked for 35 years, the Speaker's office asked for 15, I was willing to compromise at 25, then the language that came down was "prospective" language which said that only those acts of childhood sexual abuse that occurred after the passage of that legislation would be subject to the extended statute of limitations."
"I said I could not put my name on a bill like that, not bring it to the floor -- that could only protect people that do not exist at this time," said McEntee. "It doesn't take care of the young people currently being abused as children right now and those whose statute of limitations has not yet [ticked]."
Next Steps
McEntee said that when reconsidering the legislation this time, she will not be open to any compromise.
"In light of that, we are here today, in light of what happened in Pennsylvania to renew my commitment to come back and pursue this bill, and this bill will have 35 years of statute of limitations, it will have no prospective language, and it will include not only private and non-profit institutions but also public institutions," said McEntee.
The Speaker's office responded on Monday.
"Should Rep. McEntee reintroduce her legislation, it will be given a full and fair hearing next year," said Larry Berman, spokesperson for Speaker Mattiello. "The bill was primarily advocated by the sponsor. A lot of time was spent working with her on the legislation, but the House Judiciary Committee could never reach a consensus as to what the final terms should be. I would expect that this issue will be worked on again next year.”
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