(Radio Iowa) – Legislators may pass another bill to extend a legal deadline, so hundreds of Iowa men may get a full payment from a two-and-a-half BILLION dollar compensation fund for victims who were abused by Boy Scout leaders. Iowa law requires child sex abuse victims to file lawsuits by the time they reach the age of 19 — or within four years of when they realize they’ve been abused.
A bill passed in 2024 said Iowans who were abused by Boy Scout leaders had until he end of THIS YEAR to settle claims, but the cases are not yet resolved. Senator Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge has proposed extending the deadline until bankruptcy court proceedings and any appeals surrounding the settlement are completed. “Rather than me going directly off what some of the Boy Scouts who have been offended have said to me, I asked to be able to visit also with their attorneys,” Kraayenbrink said, “and they were very helpful in…where they are at in the process and why this needs to be extended.”
A Senate subcommittee has approved Kraayenbrink’s proposal and it will be considered in a full Senate committee this week. Representative Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant, says it’s likely the House will again suggest a different timeline for getting these settlements resolved, like within four or five years. “It’s not normal to have that kind of litigation within the course of bankruptcy,” Lohse said. “…Understand that it may take a little longer than what might be normal.”
Kraayenbrink says he heard from several men in their 40s and 50s who’d been abused when they were Boy Scouts after the legislature passed that 2024 bill. “I thought that not only took a lot of guts for them to do, but it also showed the importance of us doing what we’re doing now,” Kraayenbrink said. It’s unclear how many former Iowa Boy Scouts who were abused as children and filed claims are still living in Iowa.
One legislator has suggested it could be as many as 700 current Iowa residents. The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after lawsuits were filed representing more than 84-thousand adults who alleging they were abused when they were Boy Scouts by the organization’s volunteers and troop leaders.
