The SD Catholic Conference opposes Senate Bill 3. We do not agree that recreational marijuana use is safe and harmless, as has been assured during movements to legalize the drug in various jurisdictions. We do not see how this bill advances the cause of human flourishing and the common good. Read more…
The SD Catholic Conference supports HB 1246, a bill that establishes in statute the fundamental rights of parents to nurture, educate, and care for their children. The bill would firmly solidify in statute a rule that currently exists in judicial case law. As a practical matter, it would not eliminate Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports the passage of House Bill 1311, which would require that courts use state adoption laws in all instances of voluntary termination of parent-child relationships. It would thus eliminate the use of commercial contracts currently being used to end these most important relationships. While the Read more…
The SD Catholic Conference opposes SJR 502, which seeks to amend the state constitution to permit mobile sports betting throughout the state. The Catholic Church does not understand games of chance to be inherently wrong in every instance. However, very serious concerns arise in the context of modern sports betting, Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports the passage of Senate Bill 159, which would eliminate the death penalty as a possible criminal sentence for those with severe mental illness. The measure defines severe mental illness as “schizophrenia with psychotic symptoms, major depression with psychotic features, bipolar disorder with psychotic features, posttraumatic Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference opposes Senate Bill 137, which seeks to legalize commercial surrogacy in the state. The great pain felt by couples who experience infertility is a heavy burden. All who carry this cross should be met with love and support. And yet surrogacy is not the answer Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports the passage of House Bill 1005, a bill that ensures sex-segregated restrooms and overnight accommodations for K-12 school children. The bill does not apply to single-occupancy rooms. Boys and girls are not interchangeable, but have God-given differences that are uniquely beautiful and important. Such Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports the passage of House Bill 1113, a bill to criminalize threatening a pregnant mother with murder, assault, or kidnapping in order to coerce an abortion. This bill is similar to a prior HB 1193, which the SDCC supported in 2019, which criminalized such a Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports the passage of SB 46, a bill that provides for fairness in sports, ensuring girls and women will not be required to compete against boys and men in athletic activities. SB 46 ensures state law respects the natural law, as given by God and Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports Senate Bill 71, a bill raising the cap on South Dakota’s tax-credit K12 scholarship program to $3.5M. The program is currently capped at $2M. As the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught, “Parents who have the primary and inalienable right and duty to Read more…