Penn State scandal could jumpstart long-stalled sex offender bills

State Sen. Larry Farnese told a Society Hill crowd that bills that have been mired in committee by the Republican legislature might now finally see light of day. All it took was 40 counts of sexual abuse.

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Penn State scandal could jumpstart long-stalled sex offender bills

POSTED: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 10:38 AM

State Sen. Larry Farnese says a bit of legislation he wrote, that would eliminate rights to public pensions for municipal and state employees who commit sex crimes against minors, has been stuck in committee for two months now, with no sign of budging. All it took was a massive sex scandal, involving eight or more victims over 15 years, to finally get his amendment to the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act back on track. Not that politics in Harrisburg have become cynical or anything.

"Many of the bills that you're going to be seeing in the next few weeks have been sitting around for months," Farnese told a group of neighbors in Society Hill last night. "This is an opportunity for us to step back and say, as citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, what do we want to do for our kids?"

Farnese's amendment could now be fast-tracked, along with other proposed legislation. That includes a bill from Rep. Kevin Boyle to require that those who are aware of abuse in schools report to the police, not just to their higher-ups. Sen. Kim Ward is looking to increase the penalty for those who don't report child abuse at the college level. And Rep. Mike Vereb is seeking to categorize sexual abuse by an official within a sports organization as a new type of offense.

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