Virginia General Assembly Update – Week 7
Virginia General Assembly Update – Week 7
The 2025 Virginia General Assembly session ends tomorrow! As deliberations and debates wind down, here are some key updates.
Budget Negotiations: Yesterday, Senate and House conferees struck a deal on state budget provisions. Both chambers will vote on the compromise tomorrow.
Bills Headed to Governor’s Desk: Of the hundreds of bills that passed during this session, we oppose a handful of them – including the IVF-related bill we brought to your attention last week. Unfortunately, that measure passed the Senate 23-16. We will be asking the Governor to veto it and other legislation that is harmful to life, health, dignity, and conscience. We also support bills that have passed that would help low-income families, reduce violence, and provide needed reforms to our criminal justice system. The Governor has until March 24 to decide whether to sign, veto, or propose amendments to legislation that has reached his desk.
Thank You: To each of you who attended Virginia Pro-Life Day, acted on our alerts, and/or offered prayers and encouragement for our advocacy during session, thank you! You are engaged in the vital work of faithful citizenship, and your voices lift up many who are vulnerable and voiceless in your communities.
In addition to General Assembly matters, here are some other important updates.
Bishops’ Statements on Immigration: As the national discussion continues on the topic of immigration, we encourage you to read the recent statement by Bishop Burbidge and column by Bishop Knestout.
Continued Advocacy for Life: This year’s passage of an extreme resolution to allow virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy is the first step in the two-year process required to amend Virginia’s constitution. Your continued witness at the state capitol for life and against this radical constitutional amendment proposal is urgently needed, so please make plans now to attend the Virginia March for Life in Richmond on April 2.
USCCB Refugee Resettlement Alert: If you have not already done so, we encourage you to take action here on the USCCB alert to urge the resumption of refugee resettlement. We first circulated this USCCB alert last week. As the alert states, this is a critically important issue because the current indefinite suspension of refugee admissions “impacts thousands of refugees who had already been fully processed, undergone extensive security checks, and approved for refugee status by the federal government while outside of the United States. This includes many persecuted Christians, as well as Afghans who had been approved for special immigrant visas because of the assistance they provided to the U.S. mission and U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan.” Thank you for considering this advocacy opportunity.
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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.
