Corbett to sign Pa. child-abuse bills

Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign the first bills in the Pennsylvania’s Legislature wide-ranging response to the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy scandals.

Corbett was holding a signing ceremony in suburban Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Child Resource Center.

Lawmakers have approved a half-dozen bills that update nearly 20-year-old state laws on how cases of suspected child abuse are defined, investigated and punished in Pennsylvania.

Roughly 20 bills are part of the legislative package.

One bill that passed would expand the definition of who investigators can consider a potential perpetrator of child abuse. Another bill addresses a longstanding complaint of child welfare advocates by lowering the threshold for the kind of injury or pain that is considered child abuse.