2024 Legislative Priorities

FLORIDA CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS (FCCB)

RED Highlight indicates overlap with PC-FLAC’24 Issues

LIFE & DIGNITY
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
• Strengthening the social structures that support pregnant women and families, including the Florida Pregnancy Care Network
• Highlighting moral and practical problems with Florida’s death penalty to contribute to the end of its use
• Improving prison conditions to ensure adequate staffing, health care, and air conditioning
• Opposing any efforts to overturn Florida’s bans on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, while supporting palliative and hospice care that respects the dignity of the person

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.

• Ensuring the freedom of all people to serve in accord with deeply held moral or religious convictions concerning the sanctity of life, marriage, and human anthropology
• Defeating human trafficking by combating sexual exploitation and the demand for forced labor
• Providing access to supportive housing for homeless and vulnerable populations
• Protecting the poor and vulnerable from traps of debt and offering alternatives to license suspension for those who demonstrate an inability to pay traffic citation fees
• Enacting sentencing reforms so that just punishments have a restorative purpose and enhance reintegration into society
• Calling on Congress to pass federal multifaceted immigration reform
• Promoting policies that enhance the stewardship and care of Florida’s natural environment
• Supporting reasonable gun control measures

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, including mental health services, for all residents of Florida, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized
• Promoting ethical care across the spectrum of life, no matter the stage or condition
• Strengthening the safety net for seniors and other vulnerable Floridians in need of nursing home care
• Preserving health care conscience protections for providers and payors

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.  

• Protecting parental rights in education and promoting opportunities for human flourishing rooted in the truth, goodness, and beauty of the person and the family
• Increasing security resources in all schools
• Expanding all of Florida’s school choice scholarship programs to include pre-kindergarten
•  Streamlining cooperation between public and nonpublic schools for the implementation of federal programs, especially for special needs students
• Improving teacher access to certification pathways and increasing teacher recruitment and retention for all schools