California Catholics Urged To Take Part In Catholic Advocacy Day

I always enjoy receiving emails from the California Catholic Conference. Today’s bulletin contained a reminder of the upcoming Catholic Advocacy Day tomorrow in Sacramento.

More than 100 Catholic delegates will travel to Sacramento on Tuesday, April 29, to advocate on a variety of bills promoting life and dignity in the Golden State. YOU, as part of the Catholic Legislative Network, can join forces with them by sending your email of support to your legislators beginning today.

Diocesan teams will meet with legislators and staff to support measures that would help pregnant mothers, promote naturalization, advance education, reward hard work and bring common sense to county jail procedures.

Statewide measures are selected based on whether or not they reflect Catholic principles and the likelihood of their advancement through the legislative process. Dioceses may also select local issues to add to their discussions with lawmakers.

This year, delegates will urge support for these issues:

SB 899 and AB 1579 combine the Catholic principles of reverence for life and economic justice. The measures would revoke the CalWORKs Maximum Family Grant provision, thereby eliminating any pressure for a pregnant woman receiving assistance to abort her child rather than sinking further into poverty.

Restoring funding for the Naturalization Services Program (NSP) would allow community-based organizations such as Catholic Charities to assist resident aliens in the complex and sometimes frustrating process of finalizing citizenship.

AB 1786 and AB 2427 would allow, respectively, low- and middle income parents to receive a tax deduction for K-12 educational expenses and new K-12 teachers to receive individual tax credits for expenses on instructional materials and classroom supplies.

AB 1876 and SB 833 would allow common sense reforms in the state’s prison realignment process. AB 1876 would stop exorbitant phone charges for families calling loved ones in jail and SB 833 would allow people to arrange safe transportation by adjusting jail release time.