Virginia General Assembly Update – Week 9
Session is on track to end tomorrow (Saturday, March 9) as scheduled, culminating with a vote on the budget bill the General Assembly will send to the Governor. Looking back on these past eight-plus weeks, we want to express our deep gratitude for your persistent and energetic participation in the political process as faithful citizens. Your response to action alerts this session has been outstanding!
Key updates: Earlier this week, the assisted suicide bill (SB 280) was carried over to 2025 by a House committee, thus ending consideration of the legislation for this session. Thank you to everyone who helped prevent assisted suicide from passing. Your voice matters and will continue to be critical in future debates on this issue.
Governor Youngkin must decide by midnight tonight whether he will sign, veto, or amend 84 bills in a batch that arrived on his desk last week. Among them are three bills we oppose and are urging a veto on: SB 238, which would require health plans to cover everything the FDA defines as contraception – including some drugs that can cause abortions; HB 110, which attempts to bring commercial surrogacy brokers to Virginia; and HB 174, which attempts to create a statutory definition of marriage that directly conflicts with the Virginia constitution’s one-man-one-woman definition of marriage. There are also about a dozen other bills on the Governor’s desk that we oppose, but he has until April to decide on those. Please be on the lookout for further updates and opportunities to take action.
Pregnant and need help? Click here to find pregnancy resources offered by our two dioceses.
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In prayer and in public, your voices are urgently needed to bring Gospel values to bear on vital decisions being made by those who represent you.
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The Virginia Catholic Conference is the public policy agency representing Virginia’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses.
