The Virginia Catholic Conference — the public policy agency of
the Commonwealth’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses — will pursue the
initiatives described below during the 2019 Virginia General Assembly session,
which began Jan. 9.
Respect Life
— Abortion: Defend existing pro-life
laws; support adding protections for unborn children to state constitution;
oppose ERA, which does not include necessary abortion-neutral language.
— Assisted suicide: Oppose
legislation that would legalize assisted suicide.
— Death penalty: Ban death sentences
for people with severe mental illnesses when they committed their crimes;
support legislation to repeal Virginia’s execution drug secrecy law.
— Gun safety: Preserve, and where
possible strengthen, all current restrictions against guns in places of worship
and on school property; support requiring background checks; support
legislation establishing temporary risk warrants to remove firearms from
persons who pose substantial risks of injury to themselves or others.
Religious Liberty
— Protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience to uphold
beliefs on marriage and human sexuality.
— Oppose legislation seeking to require health plans to cover
abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, sterilizations and other morally
objectionable procedures.
— Oppose defining birth control as anything the FDA considers a
contraceptive.
Families and Children
— Preserve state provisions affirming marriage as the union of a
man and a woman.
— Preserve freedom of conscience for health-care providers and
families that choose to engage in sexual orientation change efforts.
— Oppose loosening current restrictions on changing how one’s sex
is listed on a birth certificate.
— Oppose making laws gender neutral in cases where doing so would
be a substantive change (e.g., assisted conception and parenting).
— Oppose allowing “second parent adoption” by a person other than
the spouse of a birth parent or the spouse of a parent by adoption.
— Support parental rights in Family Life Education.
— Support adding clergy to state list of mandated reporters of
child abuse and neglect, with exemptions for clergy-penitent communications.
Parental Choice in Education
— Expand the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits
(EISTC) program to include pre-K students.
— Oppose any attempts to repeal or weaken the EISTC program.
Poverty and Economic Justice
— Support making Virginia’s earned-income credit refundable for
the lowest-income working families.
— TANF advocacy: Increase safety-net assistance; lift lifetime
ban for drug-possession convictions; fund postsecondary education scholarships
to break cycle of poverty.
— Support increasing minimum wage.
— Improve protections against predatory lending.
Immigrants and Refugees
— Oppose enforcement-only legislation, and support legislation to
build trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement and to
encourage crime victims and witnesses in those communities to come forward.
— Support legislation to expand immigrants’ access to driving
privileges.
— Support legislation to codify in-state tuition eligibility for
students granted federal DACA status.
Care for Creation
— Support the Virginia Alternative Energy and Coastal Protection
Act to improve coastal protections, energy efficiency and southwest Virginia
workforce development.
Budget
— Attain Hyde Amendment restrictions against state abortion
funding.
— Oppose funding for “long acting reversible contraceptives.”
— Increase auxiliary grant rates for assisted-living care for
low-income aged, blind and disabled individuals.
Stay informed
Sign up for alerts and updates and register for Virginia Vespers
Feb. 12 at vacatholic.org. Contact the VCC at 804/225-8565 or
[email protected].
