Proposed state legislation on parental notification, Prisoners rehabilitation, food stamp eligibility and minimum wage increases are among the bills drawing the support of Catholic lobbyists as Catholic Lobby Day approaches.

The sixth annual gathering of Catholics from throughout California will take place in Sacramento April 27, a day for information sessions, a rally at the Capitol and visits with legislators on pending bills.

Locally, the Office of Justice and Peace is coordinating efforts to take 100 parishioners from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"The Annual Catholic Lobby Day is a unique opportunity for all us to gather together and make our voices heard," said Maria Elena Perales, office director. "On this day, Catholic leaders from across the state of California march towards the capital emphasizing our presence and appeal for decisions that support the most in need."

Already the California Catholic Conference has identified major legislative bills for 2004.

The bills the CCC is supporting include the following:

--SB1221, parental notification of confidential medical services, would require public schools to provide pupils' parent/guardian with advance notice of a student's absence for confidential medical services --- like an abortion. This bill will be one of the priorities for Catholic Lobby Day, said Carol Hogan, CCC associate director of pastoral projects and communications.

--SB1399, prisoners rehabilitation, would require a rehabilitation program be prescribed and implement for inmates.

--SB1639, education and training for CalWORKs recipients, would revise CalWORKs plan of welfare-to-work activities to include English language proficiency in the curriculum.

--AB1796, food stamps eligibility, provides that a convicted drug felon may be eligible for food stamps. Hogan said that parolees, including those charged with a felony for drug infractions, often need food stamps to make the transition from prison and into a paying job.

--AB1866 and SB1164, media access to prisoners, would require the Department of Corrections to permit news media visits to interview prisoners.

--AB2013, statewide fingerprint imaging system, would eliminate statewide fingerprint imaging system used in determining eligibility for food stamps and welfare. The current system to prevent fraud, said Hogan, costs more than the amount incurred by fraud.

--AB2832, minimum wage, would set the minimum wage at $7.25 by Jan. 1, 2005 and $7.75 by Jan. 1, 2006.

--AB2946, clergy access to county facilities, would require that clergy be allowed access to county jails and juvenile camps and ranches. Currently it's harder for clergy to access county facilities than state or federal facilities, said Hogan. This bill would correct that.

In opposition

Those bills which the CCC is lobbying against include the following:

--AB56, about child care, development and education, would lower the age of entry in compulsory education from six to five, removing that decision from the child's parents. "Our teaching is that parents are the first educators and the primary educators," said Hogan. "Many feel their child is not ready for school at age five."

--AB1967, gender-neutral marriage, would enact the "California Marriage License Nondiscrimination Act" and provide that marriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between two persons.

Hogan said this bill challenges Proposition 22, the "California Defense of Marriage Act," in which voters, by more than 60 percent, voted to define marriage as only being valid and recognized in California if it is between a man and a woman.

--AB2361, individualized education program team, would provide that an employee or member of the board of directors of a nonpublic school is ineligible to act as a representative on a team to develop, review or revise an educational plan for a student with exceptional needs.

This bill further divides private and Catholic school educators from public school educators, said Hogan. "Ideally private and public schools would cooperate with each other," she said. "Why can't we work together if we have a student with exceptional needs?"

Interfaith efforts

Ongoing concerns about how California's budget is impacting the poor will be addressed during Interfaith Lobby Day March 23.

"We're looking at how to preserve the safety net," said Sister of Social Service Simone Campbell, director of Jericho, an interfaith non-partisan public policy organization.

Workshops will take place on issues including health services, food, immigrant concerns, the environment and restorative justice. Targeted legislative visits by Jewish, Catholic and Christian organizations will follow.

Other legislative issues include the recent decision by the California Supreme Court to require Catholic Charities to pay for contraceptives if it provides prescription drug coverage in employees' health insurance. The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will decide by June 1 whether or not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(For a legal summary of the California Supreme Court decision in the Catholic Charities case, see www.the-tidings.com.)

Also, the Parental Notification Initiative --- to require that a physician notify a parent or legal guardian before performing an abortion on a minor --- had hoped to gather enough signatures to qualify for the November 2004 ballot. However, the expense of paid signature gathering had increased three to four times to prohibitive levels based on market demand. Initiative funders have decided to regroup and suspend signature gathering until after this more expensive political season.

Hogan said that efforts to date have served an educational purpose and "plowed ground for the next effort."

Most parents, she said, don't know that beginning in seventh grade a student can be excused for confidential medical services, and school attendance records are altered to indicate that the student was in school.

"It is counter-intuitive. If have to write a note for kid to get an aspirin, how could she be taken off campus without my knowledge?" said Hogan.

Editor's note: To learn more about legislative priorities of the California Catholic Conference, visit www.cacatholic.org. Information about the Parental Notification Initiative can be found at www.parentalnotification.org. To inquire about participating in Catholic Lobby Day April 27, call the archdiocesan Office of Justice and Peace at (213) 637-7690.