Texas Catholic Voice March 19

TCCB staff has worked diligently to complete bill review and is now focused on drafting testimony. We register support or opposition for bills by “dropping a card” at the committee hearing or we provide oral testimony.

Bills on which we take a position may be heard at simultaneous hearings. With only three staff available to testify, we cannot be everywhere at once and may have to prioritize certain bills over others. Priority is given to bills that have the greatest impact on the common good, bills on which the author invited us to testify, and whether our position is well articulated by coalition partners who are testifying. Written testimony is available on our website; we update as hearings progress.

This week there are several important bills being heard in the Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee which relate to raising the age of criminal responsibility and raising the age at which a juvenile court may exercise jurisdiction over a child. The TCCB supports these bills to ensure that children (minors) are not treated as adults in the legal system which so often hinders restorative justice. We will be testifying in support of SB 581, which prohibits a property owners association from restricting religious expression protection on an owner’s property, and HB 1916, which prohibits payday and auto-title lenders from using telemarketing calls to solicit consumers on the Texas "Do Not Call" list. Please contact committee members if you are one of their constituents and voice your support for this legislation.

See below for the full list of bills we are supporting this week, but please note the committee hearing schedule is fluid and bills may be added to existing hearing dates and new hearings are scheduled throughout the week.

We are pleased to report that all of the pro-life bills we supported in Senate State Affairs at the marathon hearing last Monday were voted out of committee, including our top priorities SB 9 and SB 394.