HARRISBURG — When Josh Shapiro ran for governor in 2022, he touted his work as Pennsylvania attorney general to expose a systematic cover-up by the Catholic Church to protect priests who abused children.
“I sought justice for victims of abuse and put predator priests behind bars,” Shapiro said on social media during his campaign. “As Governor, I’ll continue fighting for accountability for victims of sexual abuse.”
Four years later, former lawmakers who are also survivors of child sexual abuse say Shapiro hasn’t done enough to live up to that promise.
Bill Wachob, a former Democratic state representative for Clearfield and Elk Counties who says he was abused as a preteen, penned an open letter accusing Shapiro of letting the issue “languish.”
“Here was a guy that made this such a pivotal issue, now in charge of the state,” Wachob told Spotlight PA. “You would think that the governor who exerted an enormous amount of leadership … when he shepherded [the investigation] through the grand jury process and issued the report, that he would be able to at least get the Senate to act on it.”
Wachob and many other survivors want the state to open a temporary window so those abused can file lawsuits even though the statute of limitations has passed. They view creating a path for victims in older cases to sue their abusers as a crucial step for accountability.
In recent legislative sessions, Republican leaders in the state Senate have refused to advance a proposed constitutional amendment on the issue unless it is tied to an expanded voter ID measure.
Shapiro, who is running for a second term and is rumored to have presidential ambitions, has repeatedly highlighted the challenges of presiding over a divided state government that has struggled to pass laws. He called on lawmakers to “do right by the survivors” in his 2024 budget address, and his administration has placed the blame firmly on leaders in the upper chamber.
“It is time for Senate Republicans to finally stand up to the powerful, allow a vote on this bipartisan, commonsense, and moral legislation, and give survivors of sexual abuse the justice and closure they deserve,” spokesperson Alex Peterson said in a statement.
Wachob told Spotlight PA he decided to write the letter after reading a profile of Shapiro in The Atlantic ahead of the release of the governor’s memoir, Where We Keep the Light.
Part of the article highlighted Shapiro’s time as Pennsylvania attorney general and a grand jury investigation he presided over that delved into six Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. The subsequent report detailed allegations of abuse by hundreds of priests over decades and accused church officials of covering up the wrongdoing.
Publicizing the report was a major victory given the sheer volume of behind-the-scenes litigation by powerful forces, including the Catholic Church and insurance interests, that tried to bury the document. The facts and allegations sparked similar investigations in other states and forced Pennsylvania’s legislature to finally face survivors, many of whom came to the Capitol daily to read parts of the report out loud.
As attorney general, Shapiro was a key ally in a push to pass a traditional bill to open the two-year window. That effort failed, but the survivor community was buoyed when Shapiro became governor, convinced he would use the might of his new office to get it through.
“I know that when a Governor wants something done, it usually gets done—especially when all that’s being asked for is a vote,” Wachob wrote in his letter.
“So, when a Governor who prides himself on ‘Getting Stuff Done’ allows this issue to languish year after year, it becomes impossible to ignore the question: Why the indifference? What changed?”
The push to provide relief to older abuse survivors stretches back decades, but it gained new momentum after the grand jury report.
Many Republicans in the state Senate opposed opening a two-year window through traditional legislation, saying they believed that route would violate provisions in the Pennsylvania Constitution that prevent retroactive punishment. Ultimately, the legislature agreed to push the measure through as an amendment to the state constitution, with Republicans arguing that it would be legally sound and hard to overturn in the courts.
Constitutional amendments send a question to voters for consideration. Unlike a traditional bill, they need to be passed during two consecutive legislative sessions, which can prove difficult. (Constitutional amendments don’t require approval by the governor, although both Shapiro and his predecessor have supported opening the statute of limitations.)
In 2019, state lawmakers advanced a constitutional amendment to open a two-year window, intending to get it to voters in spring 2021. However, the question never made it to voters. The Department of State, under Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, admitted in early 2021 that it had failed to properly advertise the proposed amendment, a devastating setback.
In the years since that blunder, survivors have lobbied the General Assembly to take action. State House Democrats support opening a window either through traditional legislation or a constitutional amendment, and have advanced measures to do so in recent years. But GOP leaders in the state Senate say they haven’t changed their mind about the approach.
“There continues to be no valid justification for Democrats to prevent Pennsylvanians from having the opportunity to weigh in on both issues at the ballot box,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said in a statement, referring to the constitutional amendment pairing abuse relief and expanded voter ID.
Mark Rozzi is a former state lawmaker from Berks County and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who made opening the window the centerpiece of his political career. Alongside Shapiro, he fought in 2018 for a traditional bill to provide relief to survivors. After that path was blocked by state Senate Republicans, he supported going through the constitutional amendment process, which alienated some survivors.
During his brief stint as state House speaker in 2023, Rozzi presided over a special session that was dedicated to abuse relief. But the approach failed to overcome legislative gridlock. He retired at the end of the session.
He told Spotlight PA that while he thinks state Senate Republicans are a major hurdle, he places more blame on the governor because of the focus that Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign placed on his grand jury report. Shapiro has a greater responsibility to the survivor community, Rozzi said.
“You have time to go on your Instagram account and post all these ridiculous stories,” Rozzi said of Shapiro. “You’re the governor, put your foot down. Either get a deal done or shut the government down.”
As for Wachob, he said he’s “not overly optimistic, absent the governor coming forward and playing hardball with the Senate,” that the issue will be considered this year.
“Certainly, the Senate over the last seven years could have taken up the legislation at any time, but given the fact that it has dragged on now for some time … it’s time for the governor to step up.”
Spotlight PA’s Angela Couloumbis contributed.