The child sex abuse lawsuit window passed the House 16 months ago. It never got a Senate vote
Two House bills would give survivors time to sue over expired claims. The records show both have sat in Senate committees since June 2025, and a House voter ID bill has stalled too.
For the second session in a row, Pennsylvania lawmakers appear set to adjourn without giving survivors of childhood sexual abuse a window to sue over claims that are past the legal deadline. Spotlight PA reported this week that the proposal has become a bargaining chip, with Senate Republicans tying it to voter ID (Spotlight PA).
The issue has been in front of the legislature for years. Lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment in 2021, but a clerical error by the Wolf administration kept it off the ballot, Spotlight PA reported. Amendments to the state constitution must pass both chambers in two consecutive sessions before going to voters.
What the records add
Two bills, one approach each. Rep. Nathan Davidson, a Democrat from the 103rd District, is the prime sponsor of both House bills:
- House Bill 462 would change state law directly to open a two-year window for lawsuits. It has 33 co-sponsors, all Democrats. The House passed it 122-80 on June 9, 2025.
- House Bill 464 is a joint resolution to put the same window into the state constitution. It has 34 co-sponsors, all Democrats. The House passed it 138-64 the same day.
On HB 464, Democrats voted 102-0 and Republicans voted 36-64, with one Republican on leave. Republicans who voted yes included Reps. Kerry Benninghoff, Bryan Cutler, Martina White and Thomas Mehaffie.
Where they stopped. Both bills went to the Senate on June 18, 2025. HB 462 went to the Judiciary Committee and HB 464 to the State Government Committee. On May 4, 2026, resolutions to force each bill out of committee were presented, and they were dropped from the calendar on June 23, 2026, according to the bill pages. Neither has had a Senate committee or floor vote. As of Friday, both have been in Senate committees for 492 days.
The voter ID side. In 2023, the Republican-led Senate passed a single bill that combined the abuse-survivor amendment with a voter ID amendment, abc27 reported. This session, the House's main voter ID bill is House Bill 771, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Mehaffie, a Dauphin County Republican, with 10 co-sponsors (seven Republicans and three Democrats). The House State Government Committee amended and reported it on May 6, 2025, in what Spotlight PA described as a bipartisan vote. On May 12, 2025, it went to the House Appropriations Committee, where it has stayed for 529 days. Spotlight reported that House Democrats did not send the Senate a voter ID proposal of their own (Spotlight PA).
Gov. Josh Shapiro has criticized tying the two issues together and has blamed Senate Republicans for stalling the survivors' window, Spotlight PA reported. Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Westmoreland County Republican, told Spotlight that "it is hard to get things done when you can't trust the person sitting across the table from you."
What happens next
The House has two voting days left this year, Nov. 9 and 10, and the Senate has Nov. 17 and 18, according to the House and Senate schedules. If the Senate doesn't act, HB 462 and HB 464 die when the session ends. Any new constitutional amendment would then have to start over in January and pass in two consecutive sessions before voters could see it.
There are no statewide ballot questions on the Nov. 3 ballot, according to Spotlight PA's voter guide.