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The 60-day regular Florida legislative session is set to begin on March 4 and run through May 2, 2025. Each year, the FCCB releases its policy priorities prior to the start of the annual legislative session. Key issues for 2025 have been identified and are listed under the advocacy areas of Life & Dignity, Health Care, Family & Social Concerns, and Education on our website.

In the United States, January 22 is designated as a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. The day is to be observed in prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.

Florida's Bishops invite you to join them in Tallahassee to advocate for the protection of human life and dignity as lawmakers continue the important work of shaping Florida's laws and future for the common good. Each year during the legislative session, Catholics from across the state gather in Florida's capital city to put their faith and civic responsibility into action.

Recently, Catholic advocates like you urged President Biden to commute the death sentences of the 40 people who were on federal death row. Thanks in large part to those efforts, President Biden commuted 37 of those death sentences on December 23.

Joseph P. Harmon, PhD, joined the Conference in January. Joe works under the direction of the executive director and is a member of the policy team. He is responsible for assisting with review of bills filed in each legislative session, research and position development.

We are profoundly relieved at the defeat of Florida’s pro-abortion Amendment 4. This is a positive outcome for Florida and all efforts to promote the flourishing of our state. Though Amendment 4 failed to reach the 60% threshold required to pass, a majority of Floridians voting in the general election supported it. While significant gains to protect women and preborn children in recent years will remain in place, abortion in Florida will continue at a very high rate under our current laws.

Passage of Amendment 3 would have contributed to the false impression that marijuana is safe. Use of recreational drugs inflicts harm on the individual user, as well as the family and society. Young people are especially susceptible to its adverse effects and negative impacts on brain function. We urge that increased educational efforts are undertaken to inform adults and youth alike about the harmful and dangerous effects of marijuana use.

On July 1, Vote No On 4 Florida formally launched its multilingual campaign to defeat Amendment 4 on the upcoming November ballot with the unveiling of new websites in both English and Spanish and the rollout of its first campaign video. Entitled “Not What it Seems,” the video exposes the deceptive nature and extreme ramifications of Amendment 4.

The bishops have released a statement encouraging Floridians to vote "no" on Amendment 3, to prevent increased addiction to marijuana and adverse health outcomes for our communities. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who use marijuana have almost a 10% likelihood of becoming addicted, with that risk increasing in people who use marijuana frequently or start using it during youth or adolescence.

On June 28, Governor Ron DeSantis signed five bills, including HB 1347, a bill that was opposed by the FCCB during the legislative session held earlier this year. The bill amends Florida's consumer finance statutes, ultimately allowing lenders to charge higher interest rates on loans to borrowers that would not have been able to qualify under the state's current framework.

The 10th National Eucharistic Congress is set to occur July 17-21 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will converge at their final destination after completing a two-month journey tracing the sign of the cross over the United Sates.

Today, Vote No On 4 Florida formally launched its multilingual campaign to defeat Amendment 4 on the upcoming November ballot with the unveiling of new websites in both English and Spanish and the rollout of its first campaign video entitled “Not What it Seems” which exposes the deceptive nature and extreme ramifications of Amendment 4. The 2-minute video reveals that while other amendments provide clear definitions, the 34-word Amendment 4 fails to define any of its terms, including crucial words like "viability," “healthcare provider,” and "patient's health," leaving voters in the dark about its true impact.

Florida Amendment 4, which will appear on Florida’s November 2024 ballot, is an extreme proposal that legalizes full-term abortion with no protections for the preborn child, including when the child is capable of feeling pain. This proposed amendment to our state constitution would prohibit all restrictions on abortion before viability and create a broad exception that any healthcare provider could exploit to allow abortion up to birth.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled yesterday on a case brought by several pro-abortion groups challenging the constitutionality of Florida's 15-week abortion limit. A restriction on abortions after 15-weeks gestation was passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Governor DeSantis in April 2022. 

Today the Florida Supreme Court ruled to allow placement of the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” on the November 2024 ballot, which will appear as Amendment 4. Prior to ballot placement, Florida’s Supreme Court reviews the language of constitutional amendments proposed by initiative to determine whether it is clear and unambiguous and covers only a single subject.

The latest national and state-by-state Catholic school enrollment numbers are out – and they amplify the contrast between what’s happening in Florida and most of the rest of America. Nationally, Catholic school enrollment in PreK-12 held steady, according to the latest annual report from the National Catholic Educational Association, released Wednesday. In 2023-24, 1,693,327 students were enrolled in Catholic schools, virtually the same number as the prior year. In Florida, enrollment climbed to 90,785, up 5.2% from the prior year. Read more at nextstepsblog.org.