Lawmaker wants $60 million Penn State fine kept in Pa. to help abuse victims

One Pennsylvania lawmaker says he’s finished asking nicely for the $60 million fine against Penn State to be spent in the commonwealth.

Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, says he’s sent two letters to the NCAA, which fined the university in July for the role the school’s football program played in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The money is supposed to be donated to abuse victims’ organizations.

But the NCAA has insisted only a quarter of the total fine will go to groups in Pennsylvania, and Corman says that baffles him.

“The issue all happened here, these are dollars raised through mostly Pennsylvanians,” he said. “I would hope the NCAA wouldn’t fight this, [that] they would just agree to it and say, ‘Look, the spirit of what we’ve asked for is being adhered to, so good.'”

Corman is proposing legislation that would require the fine against Penn State to be redistributed within the commonwealth, though not to any organizations affiliated with the university.

His bill would apply to any college or university fined $10 million or more.