The following comes from an Oct. 12 posting on Capitol Alert.
Invoking a legal tradition of “fairness” dating back to Roman law, Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday vetoed legislation that would have extended the statute of limitations for some sex abuse victims.
Senate Bill 131, by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would have opened a yearlong window for sex abuse victims who were excluded from a 2003 law that extended the statute of limitations.
Opponents painted the bill as an attack on the Catholic Church, and the church’s political arm called it a money grab by trial lawyers.
Brown, a former Catholic seminarian, issued an unusually lengthy, three-page veto message.
“Statutes of limitation reach back to Roman law and were specifically enshrined in the English common law by the Limitations Act of 1623,” he wrote. “Ever since, and in every state, including California, various limits have been imposed on the time when lawsuits may still be initiated. Even though valid and profoundly important claims are at stake, all jurisdictions have seen fit to bar actions after a lapse of years.”
The Democratic governor said the value of statutes of limitations is “one of fairness.”
“There comes a time when an individual or organization should be secure in the reasonable expectation that past acts are indeed in the past and not subject to further lawsuits,” he wrote. “With the passage of time, evidence may be lost or disposed of, memories fade and witnesses move away or die.”
The bill was backed by the National Center for Victims of Crime, the California Police Chiefs Association and the Consumer Attorneys of California. Supporters said the legislation was consistent with a growing understanding of the reasons victims of sexual abuse often wait years before reporting the crime.
Opponents of the legislation said the bill unfairly excluded public agencies, such as school districts, targeting private entities such as the Catholic Church.
The Rev. Gerald Wilkerson, president of the California Catholic Conference, issued a statement praising the veto.
He said the bill “was unfair to the vast majority of victims and unfair to all private and non-profit organizations.”
To read original story, click here.
Jim Beall (D-San Jose) is spluttering threats and vowing retaliation (SJ Mercury-News 10/14/13) because his signature legislation is dead, Beall of course claiming “hundreds of victims have been denied their day in court.” (Not.) This was a litigation-trolling expedition by a select group in the tort attorneys’ lobby (who have bought him, contributing about $40k in campaign support thru last year), and it also was Beall’s strings being pulled by the anti-prop 8 Equality Now crowd (the bill was co-authored along with Ricardo Lara, of LA, an openly gay, anti CC legislator, and radical leftist, ex-Berkeley City Councilwoman Nancy Skinner—all of whom have a 100% rating by Eq Now) as payback for the Cath C’s support of Prop 8. Of course, SB 131 would have exempted public schools: Why? Because Jim Beall gets over half a million dollars from public sector as well as other union org’s. And now he wraps himself in the victims of child abuse, the overwhelming number of whom are in the public school system. Follow the $$$.
Oh: by the way, we really should insist that Jim Beall not be allowed to list San Jose as his place of representation, because over 80% of his campaign contributions came from OUTSIDE his district—the largest chunk being lobby organizations in Sacramento area. Isnt it wonderful to live in a democratik republik?
California Governor Jerry Brown does something right for change!
Isn’t it odd though that in his blather about historical precedent ( Roman law, the Limitations Act of 1623 etc), he ignored the the most obvious reason why the bill should never become law – namely that it is blatantly discriminatory, being aimed obviously at the Catholic Church.
Too bad the twit couldn’t cite historical precedents and explore the reasons why, throughout history, boys were not allowed into girls’ bathrooms or vice versa, before he signed AB 1266.
Exactly! Rodney.
Those priest’s, brother’s and nuns, who fondled, molested and/or assaulted the innocent will answer for their spiritual crimes of ignominy! “Better that a millstone were hung about his neck and be cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little one’s”…the curse and admonition is clear… if ANY priest or religious harms a child/person…they will answer…believe you me, they will answer
Centenary Diamond, you dont have the facts on the Lawyer Larceny-Lottery: all the alleged perpetrators are dead and all the rest have been long since removed from ministry—and yet this bill would have exempted the entire public school system where the predominating number of abusers troll (John Jay 2002 study). This bill was a “second bite of the apple”—as it is now, individuals have til at least age 26 to come forward with claims OR when the repressed memory is documented by a licensed counselor: all the people who possibly could have did come forward and file at the time of the last statute-suspension in 2003. This is a smash-and-grab on the CC by the legal ichthyosaur class.
You don’t read very well do you Steve?…I didn’t disagree with what Brown did, I made a statement referring to the abuse of the laity by homosexual pederast priest’s, who have sexually assaulted children and adolescents…this has nothing to do with law suits, or out of court settlements…this has to do with fulfilling the office of the ministerial priesthood, in the sanctified manner each priest is called too…money never removes the stain and shame, these victims endured…whether or not they sought legal redress for these spiritual crimes…I agree and champion Brown for vetoing this bill…shockingly he supports abortionists and gay right’s!…so what has he really accomplished in the spiritual economy of things?…I ask you…
Yes, Governor Brown finally did something right. This law was discriminatory in the bad sense. Not all discrimination is wrong. Everyone discriminates every day. It used is to be said that a discriminating person had good taste.
Jerry Brown is liberal with fits of sanity. Thank God sanity won this time.
Beall (D-San Jose) is spluttering threats and vowing retaliation (SJ Mercury-News 10/14/13) because his signature legislation is dead, Beall of course claiming “hundreds of victims have been denied their day in court.” This was a litigation-trolling expedition by a select group in the tort attorneys’ lobby (according to Maplight.org, a campaign cash tracking site), contributing about $40k in campaign support thru last year). It also was Beall’s strings being pulled by the anti-prop 8 Equality Now crowd (the bill was co-authored along with Ricardo Lara, of LA, an openly gay, anti CC legislator, and radical leftist, ex-Berkeley City Councilwoman Nancy Skinner—all of whom have a 100% rating by Eq Now) as payback for the Cath C’s support of Prop 8. Of course, SB 131 would have exempted public schools: Why? Again, if you check Maplight.org and other sites, Jim Beall gets over $200k from public sector as well as other union org’s (almost 1/2 million all told from unions). And now he wraps himself in the victims of child abuse, the overwhelming number of whom are in the public school system.
Thank God!
This idiotic bill could have devastated our schools and parishes financially, and of course it was ONLY aimed at churches, the Boy Scouts, etc., not the PUBLIC schools.
The criminals who abuse children should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law — however, crippling Catholic schools, churches and hospitals does NOT help the victims of abuse, and it DOES harm the young people of today we are trying to educate.
The Beall bill was a bad deal…!
Allysia Finley has an opinion column “Jerry Brown to the Rescue” in today’s Wall Street Journal, which is very good.
Tom Byrne says it well: Brown is a liberal with fits of sanity. Maybe with his advancing age he might start thinking of The Last Days and his salvation. Maybe…
Lawsuits can cripple the Catholic Church’s ability to carry on its work of educating children, running shelters, operating hospitals — but they can never repair the damage done to victims of child abuse.
now pray that obama sees the light
Good for Governor Brown. I appreciate his veto message, in which he invoked the principle of fairness–the core rationale for statutes of limitation. I was disappointed when he signed the bill expanding the number of abortion providers, but this veto goes a long way toward redeeming Governor Brown’s reputation as a thoughtful and fair person.
Quote:
“The church’s political arm…”
We have a “political arm”? Since when?
~Theo
The fact Brown vetoed this bill was a good thing…the Church never would have needed this type of “political drama” in the first place, had it ordained “heterosexual men”, who fulfilled the office of the ministerial priesthood, in the sanctified manner they are called too…the far bigger issue is protecting the laity, and removing these “gay’ priest’s”… who are pederast’s, from active ministry!… AND “flushing” them out of the seminary!…unless they are excised from “all seminaries and religious communities”, these “gay” predators will continue to seek out young men to defile and debauch…sadly, Brown’s powers of discernment are crippled severely, as he champions gay rights, same sex marriage, and abortion on demand!…the “‘vetoing” of this bill is almost meaningless in the spiritual and Catholic economy of things…the positive thing I take from it is that these “vampire-like” attorneys, won’t be able to parasitize the Church anymore…the victims from 03, were served…those who didn’t come forward, surely should have…I agree…the statute of limitations are in place, and for good reason…
If you continually blind yourself to the role of straight pederast priests then you will condemn many many straight girls to abuse.
I guess killing unborn children is still OK though. Jerry get back to your Catholic roots. No wonder this state is suffering you and the democrats AKA murders of unborn children are bring God’s wrath on this state.
On the one hand, it’s not fair to move the goal posts after the fact, potentially open one up to false claims, and not apply the law equally upon all. On the other hand, there may be real victims out there that deserve their day in court. Perhaps there should be no statute of limitations on child abuse.
My point exactly…if child abuse happened, there should be “no statute of limitations”…if the perp is dead, it’s a little hard to seek redress if he/she has already passed…again, if the Church had not been ordaining these gays in overflow numbers, these “socially charged bills” would never be introduced and get the “air time” they do…and hundreds of settlements would not have been resolved, due to the “clergy abuse”, costing the Church hundreds of millions of dollars…the “real” issue remains the same…STOP ordaining GAY MEN into the ministerial priesthood, and allowing gay men to enter religious communities, where they frequently seek out other gay men to hook up with…these lawsuits are but an outgrowth of a grave systemic problem, that thankfully is being addressed, but the proof is in the pudding as they say…
Let’s face it, you aren’t anti-pederasty, you are anti-homosexuality. There is a huge difference. If there were not, the gay community would not be at the forefront of trying to prosecute wayward priests, now would they?
I am glad that the bill was vetoed. I will still be praying for the victims of these crimes and find ways to help them heal. The biggest way as a lay Catholic I can help these people heal is to grow in holiness. I will do my best.
I recognize this was a bad bill, but sadly, it was the only one I can recall being admonished from the pulpit. Was that because it would hit the purse of the Church? Where are the bishops on Obama Care?
Jerry Brown got one right. Anti-Catholic Freemasons are going to have a cow.
Governor Moonbeam was a Seminarian ?-must have been Jesuit.
Are you familiar with Gary Wills, Gordon? He’s another quasi-Catholic that spreads heresy and dissent through his little books that he’s been cranking out since the sixties. Educated at a Jesuit seminary, he still believes that gives him the authority to make such pronouncements as ‘women should be priests’ and the usual persiflage that permeates his thinking. Unfortunately, the guy can really write so he’s able to influence a certain group of people. I think he’s in the same age bracket as Brown and has about the same values and understanding. He’s Mr. Marsbar to Brown’s moonbeam. I think they truly believe they’re being really nice guys. God help us!
Lawyers have to be behind this and they use the misery of others to fill their pockets. Why is it that many advocate groups will not list who is funding them but they cry for transparency from others?
Anonymous, individuals can still come forward with abuse claims even after the statute of limits has passed under CA law, and they can present just cause as to why their case should be heard. If you check the legal record on these cases, almost all of them are ruled against by a very liberal CA judiciary. Why? They are without merit. The real falsehood here is that the Legal Larceny Crowd like super-attorney Jeff Anderson and others (read about them: that is the real scandal—they dont care about abused victims at all) wants to sue private corporate employers of dead defendants—an impossible situation for the CC to defend against. Nearly all of Jeff Anderson’s one thousand claimants he has collected (after the 2003 lifting of statutes) are mostly in their 50’s age-wise and are now claiming “shoulda”: ” I should have filed in 2003, and didnt; now I want to. ” What kind of legality is that? Questionable at best. They can still take it to a court and get their hearing. It will be tossed out.
I am very happy and very shocked that “Moonbeam” did something right for a change! I must admit I was surprised, given that he did all the wrong things last week by allowing non-medical personnel to abort babies. Well even a broken clock is right twice a day. I hope this will continue and my hat is off to him.
The CA Legislature is moving to Overturn the Veto by Governor Brown of this Renewed Attack on the Church by the Gaystapo – and a hearing is scheduled – apparently for January 13 2014, just in case anyone who can afford the gasoline to travel there is interested.
SEE
LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 10/12/2013
LAST HIST. ACTION : In Senate. Consideration of Governor’s veto pending.
FILE : SEN GOVERNOR’S VETOES
FILE DATE : 01/13/2014
ITEM : 30
SB 131 https://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_131&sess=CUR&house=B&search_type=email
STATUS https://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/sen/sb_0101-0150/sb_131_bill_20140109_status.html