Governor and Lawmakers Move 2018-2019 Budget Forward
Governor Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have agreed on significant items in a $190 billion dollar budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
Lawmakers voted to approve the budget bill late Thursday, which will now go to the Governor who has until June 30 to sign. Though it is largely approved, the Governor still has the authority to reduce or eliminate any appropriation contained in the budget.
So far, the approved budget includes gains for several CCC priority issue areas including immigration, human dignity and family life, while making modest gains and leaving something to be desired in other areas such as education.
Immigration funding received a boost in the final package, including $45 million to expand legal services for immigrants.
There is a one-time $4 million influx to provide legal services for undocumented and immigrant students, faculty and staff. The allocation is part of the University of California “Compromise Package.” The California State University system will receive $7 million.
Voices Needed to Stop SB 320 Now
SB 320, the bill that would require California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) to provide abortion-inducing medications at their on-campus health centers has cleared another hurdle to become law. Now is the time to contact your lawmaker, even if you have already done so, to tell them this bill is irresponsible and abhorrent.
Earlier this week, the Assembly Health Committee approved the bill on a partisan or “party-line” vote, which will now be heard in the Assembly Committee on Higher Education. The committee members need to hear from you now to help prevent the bill from moving forward.
In case you missed it, take a moment to view this video of Bishop Jaime Soto as he sits down with Anna Arend from Students for Life of America to examine SB 320 and the impact it would have on California public universities.
Trump Admin Overturns Asylum Protections for Refugees
This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions overturned asylum protections for domestic violence and gang violence victims from other countries. The new qualifications for those seeking refuge in the U.S. are so narrow that it’s unlikely many asylum claims will be valid.
USCCB President and Galveston-Houston Archbishop Daniel Cardinal DiNardo released a statement calling asylum, “an instrument to preserve the right to life” and expressing deep concern for victims.
“The Attorney General’s recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection. These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives,” Archbishop DiNardo said.
According to Department of Homeland Security, in 2016 alone more than 60,000 individuals sought asylum in the U.S. from violent and gang-afflicted countries in Central America.
AMA Refutes Own Council Recommendation to Oppose Assisted Suicide
On Monday, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates voted not to affirm the report of its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) to maintain opposition to assisted suicide and sent the report back to committee for further review.
The CEJA report, online forum and Reference Committee all recommended that the AMA maintain its position in opposition to assisted suicide. In spite of those recommendations, the House of Delegates voted 56%-44% for further study.
In the interim, the AMA remains opposed to assisted suicide, absent a vote to actually change the position. There will likely be another debate at the next annual meeting in June of 2019.
“The American Medical Association’s decision to not confirm their own Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs’ recommendation – namely that they maintain their opposition to assisted suicide – does not take into account that this bad public policy puts vulnerable patients at high risk for coercion, mistakes and even abuse,” said Matt Vallière, executive director of Patients Rights Action Fund. “Although the AMA’s opposition position still stands for now, a referral back to CEJA is a lost opportunity and a failure to stand against a policy that has grave consequences for everyone, but especially persons living with illness, disabilities, or socio-economic disadvantage. Assisted suicide is not medical care.”
World Youth Day Cross and Icon to Travel Around U.S.
The official World Youth Day (WYD) Cross and Marian Icon, entrusted to the youth and young adults of the world by St. John Paul II in 1984, will make a multi-city tour of the United States in August 2018, the first time in twenty-five years such a coordinated journey has occurred.
The USCCB Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth (LMFLY), in particular its World Youth Day USA (WYDUSA) initiative, is coordinating the national tour.
The Cross and Icon will travel across the country from Sunday, August 19 to Monday, August 27, 2018. The five stops along its U.S. journey will include, in order: Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; Houston, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles, California.
Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, O.S.A., Metropolitan Archbishop of Panama and host of the next international World Youth Day gathering in January 2019, extended the Latin American tour of the WYD symbols to include the United States.
June 15, 2018
Vol. 11, No. 21