SSTM Legislative Advocacy Ministry meeting on Thursday, February 13th at 7:00pm.
We have a special guest coming, John Geis, the President and Founder of Vocare (http://vocaremovement.org/). John will be sharing with us the vision and mission of Vocare, information on their recent activities, as well as the potential for forming a chapter of Vocare at St. Stephens. This meeting is open to all.
The St. Stephen's Legislative Advocacy ministry works to provide understanding of Catholic social teachings relative to important legislative matters, at both the state and national level, and to promote action consistent with church teaching. Our focus is on issues that most directly impact the family - the "vital cell of society." Monthly meetings on the 2nd Monday at 7:30pm in the Parish office conf room. For information email us at sstmlegislativeadvocacy@gmail.com
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
To no great surprise, on
Wednesday, February 5th - while most of the state of Washington had their
attention focused on the Seahawks Super Bowl parade - in Olympia the state
House held a floor vote on HB2148, the
Abortion Insurance mandate. Again, no surprise: the forces beholden to
Planned Parenthood passed this legislation with a 10 vote margin. Here’s the House debate on this bill
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014020019#start=1124&stop=3801
So now the battle moves to the state Senate (under SB6359 -- their version of the Abortion Insurance Mandate). This is where the margin is VERY SLIM, so it's critical that everyone you know starts calling state Senators. If this bill doesn’t make it out of the Senate Health Care Committee, then it won’t get a vote on the Senate floor. So step 1 is to CALL as many members of this committee right away and ask that it not receive a public hearing and not be passed out of committee (http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/HLTH/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx ). There’s maybe a 1 vote margin in this committee. PLEASE CALL these state Senators asking them to OPPOSE passage of this bill. You can simply say "Please vote no on SB6359/HB2148 because I do not want to pay for abortion!"
First, the Senate Law & Justice committee passed SB5156, Parental Notification of Abortion prior to abortions performed on girls under the age of 18, requiring a doctor to notify a parent or guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion on an underage girl. (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5156&year=2013 ). Please contact your state Senators to urge a YES/Support vote on this bill on the Senate floor. Here’s the video of the committee hearing (http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014021042 ).
You can find your legislators at http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Please continue reading the rest of this blogsite for other key legislative issues being addressed.
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014020019#start=1124&stop=3801
So now the battle moves to the state Senate (under SB6359 -- their version of the Abortion Insurance Mandate). This is where the margin is VERY SLIM, so it's critical that everyone you know starts calling state Senators. If this bill doesn’t make it out of the Senate Health Care Committee, then it won’t get a vote on the Senate floor. So step 1 is to CALL as many members of this committee right away and ask that it not receive a public hearing and not be passed out of committee (http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/HLTH/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx ). There’s maybe a 1 vote margin in this committee. PLEASE CALL these state Senators asking them to OPPOSE passage of this bill. You can simply say "Please vote no on SB6359/HB2148 because I do not want to pay for abortion!"
For more information on the details of this bill, please
scroll down to the January 27th blog posting under "Olympia".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile,
two other important matters were addressed this past week in the state Senate.
First, the Senate Law & Justice committee passed SB5156, Parental Notification of Abortion prior to abortions performed on girls under the age of 18, requiring a doctor to notify a parent or guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion on an underage girl. (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5156&year=2013 ). Please contact your state Senators to urge a YES/Support vote on this bill on the Senate floor. Here’s the video of the committee hearing (http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014021042 ).
Second, a
public hearing was held on SB6434
that is legislation focused on curbing human
trafficking in our state. While you are contacting your state
Senator on the Abortion Insurance Mandate and Parental Notification of Abortion, be sure to tell them you want them
to SUPPORT passage of SB 6434 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6434&year=2013).
This bi-partisan bill (sex-trafficking) would further empower law enforcement
by subjecting "certain property to seizure
and forfeiture for patronizing a prostitute." Vocare board members Angela Connelly and
Annmarie Kelly provided power testimony in support of this legislation (minutes 48 thru 54 of this video). http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014021042#start=0&stop=0
You can find your legislators at http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Please continue reading the rest of this blogsite for other key legislative issues being addressed.
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