With the new year comes a new session of the Virginia General
Assembly. The 2020 session — Jan. 8 – March 7 — will feature numerous hotly
contested issues, and the Virginia Catholic Conference will be very involved in
many of them. On our agenda is defending pro-life policies, religious liberty
and parental choice in education as well as continuing to build momentum
against the death penalty, enacting just policies for immigrants, and advancing
measures to reduce gun violence and poverty.
The session follows on the heels of the pivotal November 2019
elections that significantly altered the General Assembly’s composition and
power structure. Before the elections, Republicans held thin majorities in both
the 40-member Senate and the 100-member House of Delegates. Now, Democrats
control both chambers.
In some fundamental areas where we had previously made gains,
this shift signals stiff challenges ahead. Already filed measures seek to
remove parental consent and ultrasound informed-consent requirements before an
abortion is performed, to eliminate health and safety standards for abortion
facilities, and even to establish a “right to personal reproductive autonomy”
in Virginia’s constitution.
Resolutions have been introduced to ratify the
Equal Rights Amendment, the language of which has already been used to
challenge and overturn pro-life laws in other states.
Legislation has also been
filed seeking to deny religious employers and service providers the ability to
operate consistently with their beliefs on human sexuality and marriage — creating
lawsuits against faith-based providers.
A bill to legalize assisted suicide,
first introduced in 2019, is expected to resurface in 2020.
A bill to repeal
the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits program also will be
considered. This program enables thousands of low-income students to attend
Catholic and other nonpublic schools. We will take strong stands against each
of these measures and others that threaten to roll back longstanding,
hard-fought policies that protect life and liberty and enhance the lives of
families and communities.
Conversely, in areas of our advocacy that have not succeeded in
the past, prospects for passage have improved. Early filed legislation seeks to
help immigrants get to work, go to school, access health care and attend church
by creating a state-issued permit granting driving privileges to those who
cannot obtain driver’s licenses because of their immigration status. Bills have
been introduced to limit and even abolish the death penalty. And several bills
have been filed to expand the instances in which background checks are required
for gun purchases and transfers. We will be a key supporter of these
initiatives and a number of others likely to be proposed in these areas.
Many more bills continue to be filed in key areas of VCC advocacy
such as education, poverty reduction and access to health care. We continue to
monitor the introduction of bills closely to address emerging challenges and
opportunities.
People often ask, “How can I make a difference?” We recommend the
following:
• Go to vacatholic.org, where you can join our email network,
like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Each of these platforms will
provide action alerts throughout the session — easy and effective ways for you
to contact your legislators before they vote on key bills.
• Attend the second annual Virginia March for Life Feb. 13.
Please join us in Richmond for a day of prayer, advocacy and witness for life —
featuring a Mass concelebrated by Arlington Bishop Michael F. Burbidge and Richmond
Bishop Barry C. Knestout, visits to legislators’ offices, the rally and march.
Check out times and other details at vacatholic.org.
• Attend the fifth annual Virginia Vespers: Evening Prayer for
the Commonwealth March 5, hosted by Bishop Knestout, Bishop Burbidge and the VCC at
the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond at 5 p.m.
Caruso is executive director of the Virginia Catholic
Conference.
