Also known as the Child Victim Act, Wisconsin 2009 Assembly Bill 453 removes the time limits on filing civil suits against clergy members or any adult at the time the victim was a child. This bill is directly confronting the issue of Catholic schools and churches where there have been multiple reports of child molestation and sexual abuse. The proposal would allow civil suits to be filed even after 17 years past the 18th birthday of the victims.
The controversy arises because the Catholic Church perceives the bill to attack it as an institutions as well as malign it as one that enables pedophilia. Furthermore, the bill would put a cap at $50,000 on public school liability should the incident involve someone from the public school system. Civil suits filed against private schools and churches, meanwhile, have no limit.
In the case of Assembly Bill 453, which has yet to be passed as of February 2011, public schools will be vulnerable to civil suits even after the school employee accused of committing the act has retired or left the school. For many lawyers, they see it as a difficult case to win because memories fade and facts are harder to determine.
The volatile nature of this bill stems from the reaction of the Catholic Church, which says that schools will close and declare bankruptcy because of this bill.The truth is about 14 suits have already been filed against public school districts, and more are expected if the statute of limitations were to change.
The perception though among professionals and experts is that this bill will not pass approval simply because of the influence of the Catholic Church and its members in influencing the minds of those in a position to vote for the bill -- for example, Assemblyman Charles Levine, who withdrew his support for the bill after receiving letters from his constituents, many of whom are Catholic Hispanics and Italian-Americans.
One vocal opponent of the bill decried it as an attempt to bankrupt the church, disregarding the fact that an amendment was added to include public schools. With no end in sight yet, it is expected that there will be continued efforts to have the bill approved.
Supporters of the bill will continue to fight for the bill to pass, but it is going to be an uphill climb. They are encouraged though by the fact that the states of California and Delaware have passed similar bills, and more than 300 people have been added to sex offender lists, all of whom were previously unidentified as offenders.