Legislative testimony

Editor’s Note: The Texas Legislature’s International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee invited Ricardo Simmonds, Environmental Policy Advisor for the Office of Domestic Social Development, within the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, to address the committee on the Catholic Church’s stance on the environment, from the perspective…

Jennifer Carr Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support SB 892. This bill ensures that Texas will maintain and expand a broad and diverse network of foster care providers. In light of the foster care crisis that Texas has endured, the passage of this bill is an essential tool in reform. Since 1727, Catholic…

Michael Barba The Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops support SB 2144. This is the best first step toward addressing our school finance system, and runs parallel to our work: following the 2017 session, the bishops have charged the TCCB with providing recommendations upon how to improve the finance system. Our work will shed light on…

Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 64 and 1537. We thank Reps. Dutton and Farrar for filing this legislation. Analysis of Capital Punishment. There are four goals or ends of punishment which the bishops use to analyze whether a punishment is legitimate and should be applied: 1. the punishment results in the…

Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 316. We thank Rep. Canales for filing this legislation. Analysis of HB 316. There are four goals or ends of punishment which the bishops use to analyze whether a punishment is legitimate and should be applied: 1. the punishment results in the rehabilitation of the…

Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops oppose HB 995. Cause for Opposition. On page 6, lines 17-20 HB 995 states: “You may wish to designate an alternate agent in the event that your agent is unwilling, unable, or ineligible to act as your agent. Any alternative agent you designate…

Jennifer Carr Allmon As executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, I’m testifying in support of HB 2858. Many of our Catholic Charities agencies provide assistance to victims of human trafficking. While I worked at Catholic Charities in Houston, I served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Anti-Trafficking Task Force. In that…

Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops opposes HB 3947. Bill Analysis. HB 3947 establishes that a suit may be filed by a state-licensed business in district court against a municipal regulation if: the municipal regulation is more burdensome than the state regulation, or the municipal regulation would result in an adverse economic impact on the…

Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 3080. Under HB 3080, if a person with a severe mental illness is convicted of a capital offense, they cannot be sentenced to death, but must be sentenced to life without parole. Individuals with the following mental illnesses at the time of the offense are included…

Jennifer Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops opposes HB 3081. HB 3081 seeks to prohibit local cities from establishing payday and auto-title lending regulations. On its surface, this bill violates the Catholic principal of subsidiarity, which notes that governmental decisions are best made by those closest to those impacted by the decisions – which…