The top Republican in the Iowa House says there needs to be more review of a bill designed to ensure Iowa men who were sexually abused by Boy Scout leaders decades ago get full payments from a national settlement.
Iowa’s current time limit on suing perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse means Iowa victims could get as little as 30% of the money victims in other states will receive if the legislature doesn’t act soon. The Senate unanimously passed a bill on the topic this week, but House Speaker Pat Grassley says the legislation could have broad implications.
“We understand that what these victims went through is a very terrible that they’ve experienced,” Grassley says. “While the bill is crafted very narrowly, this is a significant change.”
Under Iowa law, survivors of child sex abuse must file lawsuits seeking damages before they turn 20 — or within four years of realizing they were victims of sex abuse as a child. The bill would waive those time limits for former Boy Scouts. “We recognize that this is a really difficult situation,” Grassley says, “but the last few weeks of session it’s really hard to be able to find resolution.”
The bill originated in the Senate committee that writes budgets, and Grassley says he’s having members of the House panel that considers court-related matters review it. “This is a much bigger deal than I think it’s being perceived to be and I would say probably everyone would say from all sides it’s a big deal, but changing this is a fundamental change the way we typically do things in Iowa when it comes to statute of limitations, so I don’t think this is something we can just rush though,” Grassley says. “That being said, I understand the clock is ticking as well.”
According to a lawyer who’s familiar with the case, the governor needs to sign the bill into law by April 19 for Iowa adults who were victimized by Boy Scout leaders to get a full payment from the legal settlement. A $2.5 billion settlement fund has been created to pay 82,000 men who say they were abused by troop leaders. Between 300 and 350 of those men are Iowans.