HB 1134: uniform statewide payday lending regulations

Jennifer Allmon Executive Director The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 1134.  We would like to thank Representative Craddick for filing this important bill to provide uniform statewide regulation for payday and auto-title lenders. Frustrated with the lack of meaningful regulation by the state, cities throughout Texas have taken steps to pass a unified ordinance…

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HB 3347: Support before- and after-school care

Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports HB 3347. Analysis and Recommendation. Under HB 3347, the board of trustees of a school district can establish before-school and after-school programs for students in Elementary or Middle school. The programs would be maintained through public-private partnerships, and HB 3347 effectively makes…

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HB 3081: Undermines attempts to regulate predatory payday and auto title lending

Jennifer Allmon Executive Director The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops oppose 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 –…

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SB 2178: Should not include payday and auto title lending in its scope

Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops opposes SB 2178. Bill Analysis. SB 2178 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…

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Pope Francis and climate change

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…

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SB 892: expands a diverse network of foster care providers

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…

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SB 2144: school finance reform needs student-centered equity

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…

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HB 64 & HB 1537: Death penalty serves no purpose in Texas today

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…

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