Catholic Days takes over cyberspace

“(Catholic Days) is an event that began decades ago. It’s take on different formats and different agendas,” Sheedy said in a prepared legislative briefing of the event available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkK2YuFZGm8. “And this year we certainly have a different format, but it has maintained the goal of giving the opportunity to Catholics across Florida to engage on issues of concern of the church with our legislators.”

The briefing was bookended with opening and closing prayers by Bishop William Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee and Bishop John Noonan of Orlando, respectively. In his prayer, Bishop Noonan offered his hopes that legislators “truly search for what is right and good for citizens of Florida.” In his remarks, Bishop Wack said Catholic Days at the Capitol shows legislators that Catholics make up a good part of the electorate and the community cares “deeply about the direction of our state and nation.” The event is also a good reminder for the faithful of who they are as Catholics.  

“We don’t just gather to pray in church, but we also gather to advocate for justice and peace for our state, our country, our world,” Bishop Wack said.

FOUR BILLS, THREE AREAS

As with legislative briefings of other years, the talk focused upon four bills that could serve as discussion points with legislators during individual meetings. While in-person meetings were not possible this year, diocesan directors of respect life/culture of life offices have been working on scheduling meetings through the Zoom virtual platform. Instead of standing in the offices, participants can enter offices remotely.

Sheedy explained that the four bills cover three different areas — respect life, healthcare, and education. During the briefing Sheedy spoke with Ingrid Delgado, associate director for social concerns/respect life at the conference, about the two bills that concern respect for life — abortion and death penalty. The abortion bill concerns strengthening abortion limits and limiting the harms of abortion, specifically Senate Bill 744/House Bill 351 — Support improved regulation of abortion laws and prohibit abortion after 20-weeks gestation. 

During the 2020 legislative session, the parental consent bill passed. A major win for the pro-life movement, it reinstated (after some 30 years) parental consent prior to a minor gaining access to an abortion. Support for this bill builds on the bipartisan success of parental consent.

Delgado identified four issues of concern revolving around abortion that caused the promotion of a bill that strengthens regulation: 1) In Florida, doctors’ offices that perform abortions are not required to be licensed or regulated as an abortion facility if it is not their primary function (less than 50% of care services offered); 2) In Florida, third-trimester abortions are prohibited except in the case of saving the life of the mother, but Delgado said according to the Agency for Healthcare Administration website there were some third trimester abortions reported for other reasons; 3) In Florida, abortions are prohibited after a child is viable, but there is no clear guidance for inspectors to determine if that happens; and 4) Florida requires that if a child is born through an abortion that the child is viewed as the patient and immediately transported to a hospital. But Delgado said there is no concrete evidence such as a paper trail that viability took place or if a child was transported.

Delgado said advocates would like to see the legislature “establishing a hard line in gestation for when an abortion is prohibited.” In 2019, Delgado said in Florida 900 abortions were performed after 20 weeks. The period of 20 weeks was chosen because other states have set that precedent in law and their research reveals a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. 

DEATH PENALTY

On the death penalty front, the conference is asking advocates to inquire their legislators about co-sponsoring bills deleting capital punishment from Florida statutes. Florida has the second most populous death row and imposed more capital punishment sentences last year in the courts than any other state. But more than 30 death row inmates have been exonerated in Florida, and there is increase in public support for alternatives to the death penalty, such as life without the possibility of parole.

During the 2020 legislative session a bill was posed to abolish the death penalty, but it did not advance. When asked whether such a bill would pass during this session, Delgado admitted it was unlikely. But that doesn’t mean Catholic advocates should abandon the issue.

“There is significant value to educating members about this issue and elevate their interest. Demonstrating bipartisan support would be a step in the right direction,” Delgado said, adding during last session 20 members of the legislature agreed to co-sponsor the bill. Those members were all members of the democratic party, and Delgado said, “we would love to get a Republican co-sponsor.”

HEALTHCARE

Ken Kniepmann, associate for health, sat with Sheedy to discuss the healthcare bill he hopes would get sponsored — support conscience protections for health care providers. Kniepmann explained bill provisions would protect health care workers and entities from being forced to provide services that they find objectionable on ethical, moral or religious grounds. According to the conference Florida currently provides conscience protections for health care workers in the areas of abortion (F.S. 390.0111), family planning (F.S. 381.0051), death penalty executions (F.S. 922.105) and end of life directives (F.S. 765.1105). 

He added “emergency, lifesaving treatments must always be provided,” which is required by current laws. This bill would involve “concerns of conscience” related to “elective, and not emergency interventions.” 

“This is not in realm of emergency procedures,” Kniepmann emphasized. “Only lifestyle or elective procedures.”

EDUCATION

The final bill concerns Senate Bill 48, which works to expand access to state scholarship programs for students currently in private schools and increase parental empowerment by converting state scholarship programs to educational savings accounts. Mike Barrett, the conference’s associate for education, said the bill would strengthen and streamline educational choices of six different state scholarship programs that are categorized in three groups: income based, special-needs based, and voluntary pre-kindergarten.

It is families — not schools — that apply for those state scholarship programs, and it is the families who decide where to spend the money, Barrett stressed. More than 170,000 students are currently enrolled in one of Florida’s five scholarship programs. This includes about 30,000 Catholic school students. Parents of qualifying students can use scholarship funds to pay for costs and tuition at an eligible private school. 

The bill removes all prior-public-school attendance requirements from income-based and special-needs scholarship programs so that private school students can immediately qualify. It also converts scholarship programs to educational savings accounts, which offer greater flexibility in appropriate uses of scholarship funds. 

Q and A

Following the briefing, participants of the Catholic Days at the Capitol were offered the opportunity to participant in a virtual question and answer session. Delgado took the reins to answer the first question about abortion concerns in the new year. 

“There is a bill filed in each chamber in regards to 20 weeks further banning abortion after a baby achieved 20-weeks gestation,” she said. When a chat room visitor wanted to know how advocate for future bills, Delgado assured them that “legislature (members) are responding to something…here we get to begin the conversation and hopefully they will react by hitting file. We have to create the concern. We are talking to key members.” Delgado added, “There were over 900 abortions in the state of Florida in 2019 after 20-weeks gestation. Such a bill would save lives in the state of Florida and at the same time can prompt a legal challenge at the federal level.” 

Regarding the healthcare bill, Kniepmann hopes to see passed, he said “the bill is in drafting in both the House and the Senate. This is that whole dance of legislation. We’re getting close to having a sponsor on the Senate side. So we really expect that bill to be filed within the next few weeks. And on the House side, we are talking to a number of members who are certainly friendly to the overall purpose (of the healthcare bill), but we don’t have anybody nailed down just yet.”

The healthcare bill provides “a forward-looking framework for addressing conscience protections that are either religious, moral, or ethical. So, that the legislature doesn’t have to visit this issue every time. It not only protects individuals but it protects institutions and it protects payers.” Concerning regular care provided by a physician, “it doesn’t give an institution or a physician the right to deny regular general care (physicals, annual care, etc.) and it doesn’t give them the right to deny services to groups. It’s really around the service itself that the conscience protection applies.” 

The scholarship bill “SB 48 has been filed,” Barrett said. “In the House, we are hopeful that a House companion bill will be filed soon. We don’t know exactly when that will be. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t at the beginning of session.” If the bill goes through, “the scholarships will be equal to 100%.”

“On the state level, I think right now that SB 48 does not pose any potential issues from a religious freedom standpoint,” Barrett said. “With the current administration, and the current state of the House and the Senate, that that’s’ not something that we have to worry too much about at this point. From the federal level, there are some things that we will need to keep an eye on whether it is executive orders or legislation that is passed.” He added, “The Equality Act has been discussed and is likely to be proposed at the federal level, which would impose regulations on business and schools in regards to LGBTQ non-discrimination that could pose religious freedom issues.”

SCHOLARSHIPS

Concerns over students attending mandatory public schools prior to using the McKay scholarship were raised. Barrett added that the new bill “would eliminate those requirements. This is a good thing because there are plenty of private school students who may be eligible for those scholarships. A lot of times students are diagnosed later on in their school career after they spent several years in a private school. They might get diagnosed with a disability that hadn’t been identified before or a student in private school their parents could experience a drop in income that drops them below the income threshold for the scholarship. Senate Bill 48 basically creates two separate scholarship programs,” Barrett said. “One based on special needs, and one based on income threshold and also bullying incidents.” 

Education savings accounts were a frequent topic in the chat. “SB 48 will create two scholarship programs. Under both scholarship programs, the scholarships will be education savings accounts, which is the way the Gardiner scholarship is set up right now. The money goes from the state to the scholarship funding organization (like a Step Up for Students) and then the money is deposited into an account for the families. Then the families are able to use those funds for any of the appropriate uses listed in the statute, which obviously includes cost and tuition but also includes a whole list of other potential educational things that the family can use as funds.” These other options include “after school programs, summer programs, different types of curriculum, online courses, etc.”

COST OF EXECUTIONS

One question focused on the cost of executions. Delgado suggested they peruse the Death Penalty Information Center. “It’s a place that has centralized information on all aspects of the death penalty. This organization actually doesn’t take a position on the death penalty,” she said of their impartiality. “They just gather the information.” At the time, Delgado didn’t have a “recent cost study” of executions. However, “if we look at the cost studies from other states in regards to the death penalty they found that the difference per case between seeking death and seeking life…could be a million and a million point five dollars per case. I think we would find similar numbers in Florida.” To bring more attention to the situation, she added “inviting members to look at the department of corrections budget. It is the largest, costliest state agency in Florida.”