Hello and Happy New Year! The Texas Legislative Session begins next Tuesday, January 11, with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo providing the opening prayer in the House. Links to the live broadcasting of the prayer will be made available through our Facebook and Twitter pages. We look forward to providing you with news updates and action alerts during the upcoming session. 

We've already hit the ground running by participating in an Immigration Press Conference on Thursday, January 6, 2011. "Immigration is good for Texas. Arizona-style policies, on the other hand, have several pitfalls and risk decreasing the very safety of Texans,” said Andrew Rivas, the Executive Director of the Texas Catholic Conference, the official public policy voice of the Bishops of Texas. “We look forward to working with the legislature and our immigration partners to enact state-appropriate laws that recognize the historic and present-day contributions of immigrants in Texas.” Read the full press release here. You can also view a video of our statement here. This week we also submitted a letter regarding the use of restraints on pregnant inmates.

Per our Guidelines on Advocacy, we also want to reiterate the following policy reminder: It is the policy of the Texas Catholic Conference and the active Bishops of Texas not to endorse candidates for office, including house officers. The Texas Catholic Conference and the active Bishops of Texas are not taking a position on the Speaker’s election. We pray for all elected officials and look forward to working with the incoming members of the Texas Legislature.