SB 168 was heard Monday, February 11 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first of three committee stops. Under the proposed bill, police would be required to honor all requests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold individuals beyond the time they would otherwise be released from a law enforcement agency. Courts have found that state and local governments do not have the authority to enforce immigration laws.
For the first time in many years, full funding of the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund was included in a governor's proposed budget. Governor DeSantis' budget, which outlines potential spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2019, does not recommend any sweeps of state and local housing trust funds. Legislators have historically raided the pool, which was established to provide funding for construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing, down-payment support, emergency repairs, and limited rental development to assist the disabled, elderly, veterans, disaster victims, and others in need of housing assistance.
Since taking office on January 8, Governor DeSantis has filled three vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court. Longtime Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince were required to step down after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. (A 2018 amendment to Florida's constitution raised the mandatory retirement age for justices to 75, effective July 1, 2019.)
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is deeply encouraged by the signal Governor DeSantis broadcast to the people of Florida and to the Florida Legislature by presenting a budget that uses every penny of Sadowski State and Local Housing Trust Fund money solely for housing. The Florida Catholic Conference was one of the eleven founding members of the Sadowski Coalition back in 1992 when the William E. Sadowski Act was enacted. We are now one of over 30 statewide organizations that comprise the Sadowski Coalition.
The bishops of Florida join with Catholics and others of goodwill in reacting in horror and disgust to the recently passed law in New York State that legalizes abortion essentially for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy and removes any protection for children born alive after abortion. Sadly, similar bills were proposed in Virginia and elsewhere. As Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, Chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, stated, "This legislation is evil, pure and simple."
The Florida Catholic Conference (FCC) was established on February 1, 1969, as an agency of the Catholic bishops of Florida. The five founding bishops served the four dioceses comprising the Province of Miami at the time: Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll of Miami; Bishop Paul F. Tanner of St. Augustine; Bishop William D. Borders of Orlando; Bishop Charles B. McLaughlin of St. Petersburg; and Bishop John J. Fitzpatrick of Miami. As the dioceses of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Palm Beach and Venice were established, their respective bishops joined the FCC board of directors. Thomas A. Horkan, Jr., an attorney from Miami, was appointed the FCC’s first executive director and established the office in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city.