The Virginia Catholic Conference – the public policy agency
of the commonwealth’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses
– will pursue the following initiatives during the 2016
Virginia General Assembly session, which convenes for 60 days
beginning Jan. 13. The conference’s agenda was formulated in
consultation with its education and respect life, health and
social concerns policy committees and was approved Nov. 13 by
its management committee, headed by Arlington Bishop Paul S.
Loverde and Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo. (Note:
Other items may be added to the conference’s agenda as
legislation is filed and reviewed.)
Respect life
– Restricting state funding of abortion and abortion
providers to the greatest extent possible.
– Preserving pro-life gains made in prior years.
– Supporting the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
(This bill, if enacted, would add to Virginia law
constitutionally permitted protections for unborn children
from the stage at which substantial medical evidence
indicates they are capable of feeling pain.)
– Opposing legislation to include within the state’s
definition of birth control anything deemed by the Food Drug
Administration to be a “contraceptive method.” (The FDA’s
list of currently approved “contraceptives” includes
abortifacients and sterilization procedures.)
– Prohibiting state investment in research that requires the
destruction of human embryos or fetuses and in entities that
conduct such research.
– Closing Virginia’s “gun-show loophole” by requiring
unlicensed gun sellers at gun shows to conduct background
checks on potential purchasers. (Background checks would
determine if the potential buyer has a criminal record or a
mental health history making him or her ineligible to own a
firearm. The requirement that background checks be conducted
currently applies to licensed gun dealers.)
Capital cases/criminal and juvenile justice
– Exempting individuals with serious mental illness from
execution.
– Opposing legislation to give special secret status to
pharmacies to compound execution drugs using undisclosed
materials.
– Investing in community-based alternatives for juvenile
offenders.
– Opposing disproportionate cuts to community-based juvenile
justice programs.
– Increasing the minimum threshold for the crime of “grand
larceny” from $200 to $500.
– Making juveniles convicted of non-homicide felonies
eligible for sentence modification after 20 years.
-Eliminating the lifetime ban on Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families (TANF) benefits for people with drug-related
felony convictions who are re-entering their communities
after incarceration.
– Restoring voting rights to individuals convicted of
nonviolent felonies who have completed their sentences.
– Limiting inmate phone services commission.
Family life/freedom of conscience/institutional concerns
– Supporting measures to connect victims of human trafficking
to appropriate services and treatment.
– Protecting the ability of religious institutions to make
personnel, housing, benefits and other decisions that reflect
their beliefs (e.g., regarding the sanctity of life and
marriage).
– Preventing discriminatory action by state government
officials due to sincerely held religious beliefs or moral
convictions that marriage is the union of one man and one
woman.
– Preserving freedom of conscience for health-care providers
and families that choose to engage in sexual orientation
change counseling.
– Supporting increased funding for post-adoptive services.
– Support changing the foster-care “age out” from 18 to 21.
– Opposing second-parent adoption by non-marital partners.
– Preserving the historic rehabilitation tax credit.
Health/social and economic concerns/environmental justice
– Supporting efforts to expand access to health insurance
coverage to people up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty
Level. (This means that an individual makes $15,654 or less a
year.)
– Opposing budget reductions to programs that provide
shelter, health care and other basic necessities to
low-income Virginia residents.
– Raising Virginia’s minimum wage beyond the federal
requirements.
– Making the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refundable –
allowing low-income taxpayers to receive a share of their
state EITC in the form of a refund when their income is so
low that the credit exceeds their state tax liability.
– Closing the open-end line of credit loophole, and
regulating lines of credit as other lenders are regulated.
(Many open-end line of credit lenders charge interest rates
between 260 percent and 400 percent APR.)
– Requiring Virginia’s payday and car-title lending
industries to operate under the same annual-percentage-rate
cap on interest (36 percent) as other small-loan lenders
operating in Virginia.
– Supporting proposals to increase state contributions to the
Housing Trust Fund, and identifying other sources of
consistent support for the program.
– Providing state-subsidized rental assistance to working
families whose wages do not enable them to afford adequate
housing.
– Prohibiting discrimination based on veteran status or use
of financial assistance in the provision of housing.
– Reducing the waiting list for community-based services for
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
– Implementing a cost-of-living adjustment for payments to
low-income families under the TANF program.
– Opposing the diversion of TANF funding toward non-TANF
purposes.
– Supporting a Back to School Supplies and Clothing Allowance
for TANF-eligible, school-aged children.
– Opposing legislation to require local departments of social
services to drug test Virginia Initiative for Employment Not
Welfare (VIEW) recipients, and to make recipients ineligible
for TANF benefits for one year if they test positive.
– Protecting Medicaid reimbursement rates.
– Maintaining Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining.
Education
– Improving and expanding the Education Improvement
Scholarships Tax Credits program.
– Advocating that preschools accredited by the Virginia
Council for Private Education be recognized as quality early
childhood education programs.
– Supporting the creation of a statewide virtual school.
– Prohibiting the expansion of allowed weapons on school
property.
– Preserving eligibility for in-state tuition for immigrant
children who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) status by the federal government and who meet
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