Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, spoke about a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations specifically for child sex abuse victims involved in a Boy Scouts of America settlement. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Lawmakers on Friday approved a measure that would lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse specifically for victims involved in the Boy Scouts settlement — narrowly meeting the deadline needed for affected Iowans to receive the same compensation as people in other states.
The House voted 88-1 on Friday to approve Senate File 2431, hours after it cleared the House Appropriations Committee. The bill creates a limited exception to the statute of limitations for civil actions involving child sexual abuse. Iowa law currently requires victims of child sexual abuse to file a civil lawsuit before age 19, or within four years of becoming aware that the abuse resulted in the suffering and injuries for which they are seeking compensation .
The legislation removes time limitations in cases involving claims “against the bankruptcy state of an organization chartered by Congress.” The language was specifically crafted to apply to the Boy Scouts of America and the 2020 bankruptcy settlement was reached between the group and more than 82,000 men who said they were sexually abused as children by Boy Scout troop leaders.
Through the $2.46 billion Scouting Settlement Trust, individuals involved in the settlement have the opportunity to recover money for damages caused by abuse related to their time in Boy Scouts. But without the new law, Iowans would receive less compensation than victims in other states because each state’s child abuse statute of limitations is taken into account among other factors when determining settlement payouts.
Senators rushed to pass the bill earlier in April because attorneys involved in the settlement said the state had until April 19 — Friday — to make changes to the statute of limitations so Iowans could receive damages that was comparable to victims in other states.
The future of the bill in the House of Representatives was unclear as lawmakers neared the end of the session, as the bill was not assigned to a committee until more than a week after it was sent there from the Senate. It was ultimately assigned to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, and lawmakers approved the bill in a subcommittee of the whole and in committee on Friday morning.
The bill’s floor manager in the House of Representatives, Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, said that without the bill’s passage, payouts for an estimated 300 to 700 Iowans would decrease by as much as 70%. She urged her colleagues to support the measure, saying it was “the right thing to do.”
“We can’t turn back time, we can’t take away the damage, but we can help with compensation,” Meyer said.
Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, said during the committee meeting that he was concerned about the legislation because of its broader implications for the state’s statute of limitations.
“I’m concerned about what we say to the next group that comes along and the equal application of the law,” Holt said. “What happens to the next disadvantaged group in terms of the exception we make today, and the law that applies equally to all people?”
Rep. Charley Thomson, D-Charles City, introduced an amendment during debate in the House of Representatives in an effort to answer some questions about how the law could affect the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims in the future. The adopted amendment contains language stating that subsequent legislative changes to limitation periods: in general, “bad public policy’, but that the bill concerns ‘unusual and exceptionally rare circumstances’.
“The amendment will also make clear that this is a very unusual set of circumstances, and that while it is not normally the policy of the State of Iowa or the General Assembly to waive or make exceptions to statutes of limitations, we doing. in these very rare, unusual circumstances,” Thomson said.
The amendment also states that the measure should not be interpreted as a precedent for approving exceptions to statutes of limitations in the future. Thomson said this language will both increase the statute’s enforceability and make it more likely that the measure will survive constitutional scrutiny.
After passing the House, the bill returned to the Iowa Senate for consideration of the amendment. It passed with unanimous support and went to the governor’s desk for final approval. Gov. Kim Reynolds is expected to sign legislation Friday to meet the April 19 deadline.
Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, thanked Iowans who contacted lawmakers advocating for the bill, as well as Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, for taking the lead in moving the bill through the legislative process.
“I think this is a bill that we can all be proud of,” Petersen said.
The post Bill changes statute of limitations for Boy Scouts sex abuse settlement first appeared on Iowa Capital Dispatch.
