The Office of the State Inspector General (OIG) has released its final report summarizing the first year of Georgia’s sexual harassment prevention policy and detailing a compliance review for 12 selected executive branch agencies. “This comprehensive report establishes a baseline and demonstrates that, while there remains room for improvement, our state agencies are committed to […]
Degraffenreid | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG – A new report from the Pennsylvania Department of State (DOS) credits a “lack of executive oversight” as the chief reason why a state constitutional amendment which would have retroactively extended the timeline for victims to file civil actions against their abusers, stalled in a procedural snafu that won’t see it be considered as a ballot question until 2023 at the earliest.
The proposed amendment,
House Bill 14, would have provided “an individual for whom a statutory limitations period has already expired, [to] have a period of two years from the time that this subsection becomes effective to commence an action arising from childhood sexual abuse, in such cases as provided by law at the time that [the legislation] becomes effective.”
Sometimes, an investigation can turn up answers. Sometimes, they turn up questions. It would have been nice if the Office of the State Inspector General discovered either in the dive into why a constitutional amendment never made it to the Pennsylvania primary ballot. On May 18, the voters were supposed
.
HARRISBURG â âInternal systemic failuresâ were behind the Wolf administrationâs bungling of a statewide referendum that would provide legal recourse to survivors of child sexual abuse, according to a much-anticipated report released Wednesday.
The Office of State Inspector General found no evidence that the administrationâs failure to advertise the proposed constitutional amendment as required was deliberate or the result of outside pressure or âintentional malfeasance.â
But it did find the Department of State, which oversees elections, had no formal or written process in place for ensuring referendums appear on the ballot. There was also little, if any, executive oversight or staff training â a chronic complaint from employees interviewed for the inquiry â and paltry communication between the various bureaus within the department that are responsible for getting questions on the ballot.
A report issued Wednesday found lacking oversight and systemic failures – not willful disregard – within the Pennsylvania Department of State resulted in a botched constitutional amendment.