Posts Tagged ‘85th’
As amended, HB 21 improves school finance and offers choice for special needs students
Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 21 as amended by the Senate. The Principle of Parental Choice. We strongly support parental choice and we applaud Rep. Simmons for authoring this bill, both because it: 1. recognizes that parents are the primary educators of a child, and 2. provides opportunities for special needs…
Read MoreHB 2008: requires payday lenders to comply with federal military lending regs
Jennifer Allmon Executive Director The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support HB 2008. This bill requires that payday and auto-title lenders comply with the federal military lending act. The TCCB supports this bill to prevent predatory loans to active duty military. The Texas Catholic Bishops first became concerned about the harmful effects of payday and…
Read MoreHB 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…
Read MoreHB 1335: Parental choice helps children in foster care and with special needs, too
Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy My name is Michael Barba and I am testifying on HB 1335 on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. The Principle of Parental Choice. We strongly support parental choice and we applaud Rep. Simmons for authoring this bill, both because it: recognizes that parents are the…
Read MoreHB 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…
Read MoreHB 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 –…
Read MoreSB 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…
Read MoreSB 1530: seeks to prohibit local cities from establishing payday and auto-title lending regulations
Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy I am testifying in opposition to SB 1530 on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. SB 1530 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…
Read MorePope 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…
Read MoreSB 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…
Read MoreSB 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…
Read MoreHB 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…
Read MoreHB 316: Punishment appropriate for the actions
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…
Read MoreHB 995: Alternate agent for medical power of attorney could cause confusion
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…
Read MoreHB 2858: addresses horrors of human trafficking
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…
Read MoreHB 3947: strikes at payday lending reform
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…
Read MoreHB 3080: Life imprisonment for people convicted of capital offense who have severe mental illness
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…
Read MoreHB 3081: undermines hard-earned payday lending regulations in 42 Texas communities
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…
Read MoreHB 1155: Disrespectful of the human body
Jennifer Carr Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops opposes HB 1155. We oppose this bill because it allows for the cremation of human remains using alkaline hydrolysis. The dehydration of human remains in a vat of chemicals is disrespectful of the human body and does not allow for burial of the body. Treating the dead…
Read MoreHB 2225: oppose removal of state standards for child migrants
Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops is against HB 2225. We oppose this bill because it effectively removes the state’s standards for childcare if the children are migrants. Background. The licensing requirements maintained by DFPS were established in order to ensure the quality of care for children housed in family residential centers (FRCs).[1]…
Read MoreHB 3054: improve the rights of juries serving death penalty cases
Mary Helen Russell I’m testifying in support of HB 3054 on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. The Bishops are meeting today across the street in preparation for their advocacy day tomorrow, which is why the Executive Director, Jennifer Allmon, is unable to be here to deliver this testimony. However, the issue is…
Read MoreHB 3859: ensures broad and diverse network for foster care reform
Jennifer Allmon Executive Director, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops is in support of HB 3859. 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…
Read MoreSB 1018: Denies the dignity of families
Michael Barba I am testifying against SB 1018 on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. Background. The licensing requirements maintained by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) were established in order to ensure the quality of care for children housed in family residential centers. DFPS first established an emergency version…
Read MoreHB 1799: Good cooperation to keep children safe in public and private schools
Lisette Allen The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support of HB 1799. In our own operation of schools, we have established a program called Safe Environment, through which we train all staff how to recognize early signs of potential abuse and prevent it from occurring. We maintain policies governing adult-student interactions, including on social media.…
Read MoreBishops object to House version of SB4, anti-sanctuary city bill
The House State Affairs Committee considered SB4 today, and Bishop Joe Vasquez testified against the bill. As passed by the Senate, two parts of the bill are particularly objectionable: (1) the bill does not prioritize criminal offenders for detention and deportation, and (2) the bill allows local law enforcement to stop individuals in public and…
Read MoreHB 21: First step in addressing school finance reform
Michael Barba HB 21 makes adjustments to the finance system, especially by providing a new weight for dyslexic student and folding funds into the Basic Allotment. It is a first step toward addressing a fundamental problem in the system. The fundamental problem is that Texas collects revenue through a local property tax to fund a…
Read MoreHB 35: Protects dignity of the human person
Jennifer Carr Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports H.B. 35 because it seeks to protect the dignity of the human person. In particular, the Bishops are grateful to Chairman Cook and his staff for their role in bringing this issue to light. The revisions contained in H.B. 35 are long overdue and provide…
Read MoreSB 20: ‘Great first step’ to prevent Texans from unintentionally subsidizing abortion
Jennifer Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports SB 20. We would like to thank Senator Taylor for filing this bill to prohibit abortion coverage on health benefits plans in the federal health benefit exchange program. We also applaud the provision which requires that individuals purchasing insurance be notified that coverage for abortion is…
Read MoreSB 25: Stop ‘wrongful birth’ lawsuits
Jennifer Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports S.B. 25. This bill is short and simple, but presents a powerful message of profound respect for unborn life and the lives of persons living with disabilities, and the noble desire of doctors to do no harm to their patients. S.B. 25 prohibits wrongful birth lawsuits that claim…
Read MoreBishops support full funding of Texas’ DFPS
Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support fully funding DFPS, especially programs pertaining to aging out, kinship care, prevention and intervention, and the shift to a regional community-based model. To inform this conversation, I’ll walk through two persistent problems facing the agency. Caseload In 1996, the Governor’s Committee to Promote Adoption told DFPS…
Read MoreFort Worth Catholic Charities: HB4 encourages positive kinship care for children in foster care
Dana Springer Director of Child Welfare Services Catholic Charities Fort Worth The main goal of foster care is reunification between child and their birth family. Currently, relatives of the child are not the first option for placement. Research by the Health and Human Services Department has shown that children placed in kinship care have less…
Read MoreFort Worth Catholic Charities: Faith-based agencies welcome HB6
Shannon Rosedale Catholic Charities Fort Worth. More than 25% of Texas’ foster care provider networks are faith-based. These agencies provide a necessary service to protect the state’s most vulnerable children. The services provided are life-saving. For the system improvements in HB 6 to be successful, they must be coupled with conscience protections. Protecting the conscience…
Read MoreAlternatives ways to reform immigration system – not SB4
Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops As Bishop Joe Vasquez stated emphatically, we oppose Senate Bill 4. I add to his testimony several alternatives, recommended by the bishops, which would significantly improve our immigration system. It would serve the people of Texas to examine how our laws can advance…
Read MoreTestimony on SB 11: Cautious first step in foster care reform
Jennifer Allmon Executive Director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops I’m testifying in cautious support of SB 11. The issues facing our foster care system in Texas are numerous and complex. SB 11 is a beginning point in providing some needed reforms. We believe that a triage assessment system is an improvement that will…
Read MoreBishop Vásquez: SB 4 Opposition Testimony
My name is Bishop Joe Vásquez of the Diocese of Austin. I am testifying today on behalf of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops. We are opposed to Senate Bill 4. The Catholic Church has a long history of involvement in the immigration issue. Our experience in working with immigrants throughout the years compels us…
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