LCWR-9 Legislative Network Report
Sister Susan M. Seeby, CSA
The Legislative Network Committee met on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Updates on the committee are as follows:
Anti-Human Trafficking- A link to the toolkit was posted on the site of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference. It was noted that in a survey of parishes, of 467 parishes only 14 responded that they were aware of the toolkit. It was suggested that, perhaps, sisters in our various communities could be asked to check with the secretaries at their local parishes as to the whereabouts of their parish packet and then advocate for it to be used in the parish.
Question for LCWR-9: Sister Sally Ann Brickner, JPIC promoter for CSA received a request to “ghost” write an article for Archbishop Listecki for his “Love One Another” column for the diocesan paper. She did not do this. During a conversation about this, the question was posed, “would LCWR-9 want to identify key dates from the Anti-Human Trafficking calendar and arrange to write some articles for publication in diocesan papers or to route them to bishops as talking points for their communications?”
Possible Action for LCWR-9:TheSinsinawaDomincans & congregations from the Dubuque area went together to take out a full page newspaper add in support of refugees.
Is this a possibility for LCWR-9? (A copy will be available at our April meeting).
Point Persons to Follow Legislation at the Wisconsin Legislature:Since LCWR-9 does not have a fulltime advocacy person at the Capitol, and staying on top of legislation is an important function of the committee, members have agreed to take responsibility for tracking legislation for specific areas of interest. The liaison to the Leg-Net committee will be notified by the responsible JPIC coordinator when legislative advocacy is needed and will then contact LCWR-9. Issues and responsible JPIC coordinators follow:
Human Trafficking – Sr. Sally Ann, Brickner, OSF
Racism - Sr. Dorothy Pagosa, SSJ-TOSF
Immigration - Sr. Felicia – OSF
Care for Creation - Joy Peterson, PVBM
Practicing Solidarity During ICE Raids:With the increase of ICE raids, Voces de la Frontera has begun to set up a rapid response team to stand in solidarity with the undocuments. Voces de la Frontera is looking for volunteers to *respond to emergency calls from their hotline – persons must be bi-lingual.
*Go to the site of the raid and being/standing in vigil with individuals who are being raided
*Contacting folks that are a part of the Emergency Rapid Response team they are trying to build. If you are interested you can obtain further information by contacting Nayeli Rondin-Valle, (414)-779-0219, or mailto: or Voces de la Frontera, (4140-643-1620 to become involved and get more information. (See attached sheet)
JCWR Convocation:The JPIC coordinators held their convocation at Techny. Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda was the keynote speaker, talking about Climate Change. It was an excellent event. THANK YOU TO LCWR-9 for helping to sponsor this event.
BILLS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER:
Please note the following and take action: Federal Law in Senate and House-
SB 256, HR 767 The Stop, Observe, Ask and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Act directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a pilot program to combat human trafficking to be known as ‘Stop, Observe, Ask and Respond to Health and Wellness Training.’ While human trafficking victims are often difficult to identify, a reported 68 percent of trafficking victims end up in a health care setting at some point while being exploited, including in clinics, emergency rooms and doctor’s offices. Despite this, out of more than 5,680 hospitals in the country, only 60 have been identified as having a plan for treating patients who are victims of trafficking and 95 percent of emergency room personnel are not trained to treat trafficking victims. The SOAR Act will help close the gap in health care settings without plans for treating human trafficking victims
You can contact Senators Baldwin & Johnson and Rep. Grothman via this link through the SSND Justice office
This bill is working its way through the Wisconsin legislature…. No vote yet
Wisconsin Bill 127This bill prohibits a city, village, town, or county (political subdivision) from
enacting an ordinance, adopting a resolution, or establishing a policy that would
prohibit an employee from inquiring whether an individual who receives public
services is lawfully present in the state, notifying the federal government of the
presence of aliens who are not lawfully present, acting according to or complying with
state law regarding arrested persons who are not lawfully present, inquiring about
the immigration status of an individual who has been lawfully detained or arrested,
or from otherwise cooperating with or assisting the federal government, or other
units of government, with immigration enforcement. Under the bill, a state resident
who believes that a political subdivision is not complying with these requirements
may petition for a writ of mandamus requiring compliance, and, if a court finds that
a political subdivision has failed to comply, the Department of Revenue must reduce
the political subdivision's shared revenue payments in the next year by $500 to
$5,000, depending on the political subdivision's population, for each day of
noncompliance.
– Access a copy of this bill here