BISHOPS URGE RECONSIDERATION OF ENFORCEMENT-ONLY IMMIGRATION POLICIES Immigration policy continues to be a topic of great public interest. The pictures of the father and his daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande, as well as reports of inhumane conditions for children in custody at the border, touch our conscience and invite action. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, [...]
HOUSE PASSES DREAM ACT The U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6) on June 4 by a vote of 237-187. Click here for more information on the bill. Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, said, [...]
The Catholic bishops of Iowa are pledging cooperation with the Iowa Attorney General’s request for information to be voluntarily provided regarding clergy sexual abuse. Please see below for the full text of their statement: “Last week the Iowa Attorney General asked the state’s four Catholic dioceses to submit, by Aug. 1, 2019, documents related to [...]
Now that Gov. Reynolds has completed her signing of bills, the bishops of Iowa have released a statement on the 2019 legislation session. Here is the full text: We, the members of the Iowa Catholic Conference, recognize the hard work of lawmakers in our State. We would like to commend them for some of the [...]
The Iowa Legislature concluded its 2019 session on Saturday. In the closing days, the Legislature passed a tax “clean-up” bill, House File 779, which included a $2 million increase in the School Tuition Organization tax credits for a total of $15 million. If all the tax credits are expended that would mean about $23 million was [...]
The staff of the Iowa Catholic Conference wishes you a blessed and prayerful Easter season! It looks like the Iowa Legislature is entering its last week or two of work for the year. We are pleased that both the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees have passed bills including an increase the School Tuition [...]
The pace of debate on the floor of the Iowa Legislature slowed down some last week as leaders from both chambers spent time behind closed doors working on the budget. The Iowa Catholic Conference has updated its action alerts opposing the legalization of sports betting and the provision of contraception without a prescription. We encourage [...]
LEGISLATURE ADDRESSES FUNDING FOR NONPUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS The education funding bill, HF 758, passed the House and goes to the Senate. It appropriates $954 million from the general fund to the Department for the Blind, the College Student Aid Commission, the Department of Education, and the Board of Regents. Funding for public school aid was [...]
Budget bills for state departments are being introduced at the Legislature, which is usually a sign that the session is heading into its last month or so. House Joint Resolution 14, the proposed constitutional amendment that would restore voting rights for people who have committed a felony and completed their sentences, was passed by the [...]
The second “funnel” deadline in the Iowa Legislature is approaching. To survive, a bill must have passed one chamber and through a committee in the opposite chamber by April 5. (This does not apply to appropriations or tax-related bills). Several bills of interest to the Iowa Catholic Conference are bumping up against the deadline, including: [...]