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Regular Session of the Florida LegislatureJanuary 11 - March 11, 2022
The following priority issues are expected to be considered by lawmakers during the 2022 Regular Session of the Florida Legislature.
Click here for a .pdf version for printing and distribution. -
LIFE
The true moral test of society is how the weakest and most vulnerable members are treated. If the inalienable right to life of the unborn is not protected, the human family will make little progress with other issues relating to life and dignity, including the death penalty, euthanasia, poverty, and immigration.
- Limiting the harm of abortion to the greatest extent possible in Florida law*
- Ensuring suffi cient enforcement of current abortion regulations
- Reducing the demand for abortion by strengthening the social structures that support
pregnant women, including the Florida Pregnancy Care Network - Ending the use of the death penalty in Florida while emphasizing rehabilitation over
retribution in the criminal justice system
* When it is not possible to overturn or repeal a pro-abortion law, “proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law” are legitimate and proper (St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 73). -
EDUCATION
The Church supports the rights of parents to select the schools they deem best suited for their children. There is a special emphasis on ensuring that poor and disabled students receive federal and state services necessary to achieve academically and socially.
- Expanding access to the Family Empowerment and Florida Tax Credit Scholarships by increasing eligibility thresholds
- Raising the enrollment cap on the Family Empowerment Scholarship program for students with special needs
- Ensuring suffi cient resources and accountability so that each VPK and K-12 student receives a high-quality education
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HEALTH CARE
As a basic human right necessary for a healthy and just society, the Church supports ensuring accessible, quality health care for all. Health delivery systems must be rooted in values that respect life, acknowledge human dignity, and respond to the needs of the poor and vulnerable.
- Ensuring access to health care for the most economically and socially vulnerable
residents of Florida, including mental health services - Exempting people with mental illness from being sentenced to death
- Promoting ethical care at the end of life, including palliative and hospice care, that respects the dignity of the human person
- Opposing strongly any efforts to overturn Florida’s ban on physician assisted suicide and euthanasia
- Promoting policies that enhance the stewardship and care of Florida’s natural environment
- Ensuring the freedom of all people to serve the public in accord with deeply held moral or religious convictions concerning the sanctity of life, marriage, and human nature (the unity of body and soul)
- Ensuring access to health care for the most economically and socially vulnerable
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FAMILY & SOCIAL CONCERNS
As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the world. Every person has a fundamental right to life and to that which is required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities to one another, our families, and society.
- Improving juvenile justice policies by treating minors according to cognitive abilities and making the most of their capacity to reform their lives
- Protecting the poor and vulnerable from the traps of debt and offering alternatives to license suspension for those who demonstrate an inability to pay traffic citation fees
- Utilizing Sadowski and general revenue funds to address the shortage of affordable housing
- Defeating human traffi cking by combating sexual exploitation and the demand for forced labor
- Protecting essential outdoor workers, who include immigrants, through heat illness prevention requirements and concurrently calling on Congress to pass federal comprehensive immigration reform
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