Deadline looming for Iowa lawmakers to help Boy Scout sex abuse survivors
Lawmakers hope the bill will get survivors millions more
DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Television Iowa Capitol Bureau) - Iowa lawmakers have less than two weeks to help Boy Scout sexual abuse victims get more settlement money. Former Iowa Scouts may only get around 30% of what they’re entitled to if the law doesn’t change.
There are more than 82,000 former Boy Scouts across the country who have filed claims in the $2.46 billion settlement.
Former Scouts from Iowa could get less than what they’re entitled to because of the state’s narrow civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. Democratic State Senator Janet Petersen of Des Moines said, “In Iowa, that deadline is when a person turns 19 years of age. No other state bars teenagers from civil courtroom. Iowa is the only state that does this.”
A bill in the Iowa Senate opens up the statute of limitations just for the Boy Scouts settlement. Republican State Senator Tim Kraayenbrink of Calhoun County said, “We’re hoping that this legislation will help open that up to from 300 to 350 Boy Scouts in the state of Iowa who have filed claims against this trust fund.”
Kraayenbrink says lawmakers need to get a bill signed into law quickly, as they’re facing a deadline of about two weeks.
Petersen says victims in the settlement are entitled to up to $2.7 million, but the if state law doesn’t change, would get only around 30% of that amount.“Our goal is to make sure that they’re not penalized because their abuse occurred in Iowa,” Petersen said.
Kraayenbrink says that while the state can’t change the past, he hopes the bill is something positive for victims. “I don’t think there’s any way of giving them back their life from when this happened to them, but will it give them some type of relief or some type of acknowledgement that they were wronged? I do believe that is something that it will help with,” Kraayenbrink said.
Petersen also says she hopes the bill helps the victims in this case, but says lawmakers need to eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases entirely. “Iowa needs to do a better job of protecting our children. Our laws right now really do a better job of protecting predators and institutions that cover up crimes against our children,” Petersen said.
When speaking with reporters Wednesday Governor Kim Reynolds said that she’d be open to signing the bill.
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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Television-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV or on X/Twitter @ConnerReports.
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