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The Arizona Catholic Conference (ACC) is the public policy agency for the Diocese of Gallup, the Diocese of Phoenix, and the Diocese of Tucson.

From the Arizona Catholic Conference, the public policy agency for the Dioceses of Gallup, Phoenix and Tucson.

It was a banner day at the House of Representatives yesterday as four important bills either initiated or supported by the Arizona Catholic Conference (ACC) were passed out of this chamber.

At the top of the list was the Abortion Consent Act (HB 2564) which would require the following: 1) informed consent before abortions; 2) more meaningful parental consent; 3) rights of conscience for health care providers (including pharmacists); and 4) statutory assurances that non-doctors cannot perform surgical abortions.  This common sense bill was passed by a vote of 36-19.

Also passing out of the House today on a 37-19 vote was the proposed state ban on partial birth abortions (HB 2400).  This legislation is important because it enables local prosecutors to bring legal actions in order to make sure that this horrific procedure is never performed in Arizona.

Finally, last but not least, the full House approved bills that would make the scholarship (corporate) tuition tax credit permanent (HB 2288) and streamline the charitable organization tax credit benefiting crisis pregnancy centers and other nonprofit groups serving the poor (HB 2286).  The vote for HB 2288 was 33-23 and the vote for HB 2286 was 55-1.

The ACC is most grateful for the extremely high number of e-mails that were sent to legislators in response to our action alert.  Your quick response made a tremendous impact on legislators at a critical time.