By Jason Hall

The 2020 Legislative Session in Frankfort continues to move very quickly. Many bills of interest or concern to the Catholic community are being considered by our elected representatives. It is impossible to cover them all in one email, but here are a few where urgent action is needed.

You can call your legislator at 1-800-372-7181 (to leave a message in Spanish call 1-866-840-6574). Or GO HERE and enter your address to find your legislator and a link to email them.

Today, I am going to highlight a few bills that are pending in the HOUSE, so please leave a message for your State Representative for any or all of the following bills.

SB 1 – Sanctuary Cities – A few weeks ago, we asked you to contact your senators about Senate Bill 1, which would have charged all public agencies with the duty to use their “best efforts” to support federal immigration enforcement, even if that agency dealt with vulnerable populations and their personnel had no training in immigration law.

Thanks to your advocacy, the bill was amended to clarify that this support would only be expected in response to a specific request from federal immigration authorities. In addition, a number of sensitive agencies were exempted. However, the “best efforts” standard remains for most agencies, and it is unclear what that would mean for adoption and foster care services and other agencies that deal with individuals and families in difficult circumstances.

SB 1 has passed the Senate and is now in the House. It is very important that we let the House know this is not a proper use of limited state resources and could prevent many persons in need from being able to access essential services, including local law enforcement when they are victims of crime.

HB 67 – Abortion and the KY Constitution – This bill would amend the state constitution to clarify that there is no right to an abortion in the Kentucky Constitution. A number of other states have passed strong pro-life legislation that could potentially withstand a challenge under federal law, only to see those laws struck down by their state courts who have held there is a state right to abortion. HB 67, if passed and approved by the voters in November, would prevent that from happening here. Please ask your Representative to support and, if possible, to sign on as a cosponsor. By clicking on the bill number, you can see if your Representative is already a cosponsor.

HB 237 – Death Penalty and Mental Illness –This bill would prohibit the application of the death penalty against someone with a diagnosed severe mental illness. Again, please urge your Representative to support and co-sponsor.

HB 1 – Public Assistance – This is in an earlier stage of the process, and we hope positive amendments will be adopted. As introduced, however, HB 1 is problematic. For some time, we have been hearing of a desire to reform public benefits in positive ways, and we hoped HB 1 would be that. However, as currently written, it would put into law new work requirements and various punitive measures to cut people off from critical assistance at sensitive times in their life. For example, if someone with a drug conviction is released from jail or prison and fails to enter a treatment program within 90 days, he or she would be permanently barred from receiving Medicaid benefits. Given the severity of the substance use disorder crisis Kentucky has been experiencing, this could be disastrous. Please ask your Representative to OPPOSE HB 1 unless amended to remove these harmful policies.

HB 350 – Scholarship Tax Credits – For several years, House Floor Leader Bam Carney has championed Scholarship Tax Credits and worked hard to get them passed. Unfortunately, Rep. Carney fell ill in December, and he is continuing to fight for recovery. We extend our sincere prayers and thoughts to him and his family as they go through this difficult time. House Bill 350 has been filed and will create a scholarship tax credit for families wishing to attend nonpublic schools. Legislative leadership has committed to passing the bill this session and unlike 2019, this is a budget year, which makes passing the bill much easier from a procedural and political perspective. A Scholarship Tax Credit program would bring educational choice to Kentucky by encouraging charitable donations to tuition assistance programs. These programs would provide need-based scholarships to families who wish to send their children to a K-12 nonpublic school, including faith-based schools.

Jason Hall is the Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky. Its mission is to represent the Church and the state’s four Roman Catholic dioceses in public policy matters on both the state and federal level.