The above-referenced bill amends the Finance Law to require that state agencies meet their obligations to not-for-profit organizations with which they contract to provide services essential to struggling and low-income New Yorkers.
The New York State Catholic Conference supports this legislation. More 
The above-referenced bill seeks to burden New York’s already strained not-for-profit organizations by imposing arbitrary deadlines by which they must either expend much-needed resources on construction and improvement projects or risk losing their tax exempt status.
The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this legislation. More
The above-referenced bill would reverse the June 24, 2004 New York State Court of Appeals decision which invalidated capital punishment (People v. LaValle). This legislation would, therefore, restore the death penalty in New York State.
The New York State Catholic Conference strongly urges you to oppose this legislation.
The Catholic Bishops of New York State and the country believe that capital punishment is not justified in contemporary society. They seek a society of justice and peace, and urge elected officials to send the message that we can break the horrific cycle of violence without taking life for life. More
The above-referenced bill seeks to amend the definition of “cremation” under the Not-For-Profit Corporation Law to include “any chemical process.” Therefore, the bill would allow for the chemical digestion of human remains through the process known as alkaline hydrolysis.
The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this bill. More
The above-referenced legislation would require the Department of Correctional Services to establish academic programs to prepare inmates to complete the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) and provide inmates with an opportunity to complete a GED prior to release.
The New York State Catholic Conference supports this legislation. More
The above-referenced bill applies to cemeteries organized and operated under the Religious Corporations Law and attempts to prohibit those cemeteries from selling monuments and memorials. The Catholic Conference continues to object to governmental encroachment on the operation of church-affiliated cemeteries. These cemeteries perform burial services according to the rites and rituals of the Church and, as such, are and should remain outside the purview of governmental intrusion.
In addition, in these difficult fiscal times, it is necessary for financial stability to allow all cemeteries, not just religious cemeteries, to supplement and diversify their revenue sources to ensure perpetual care, maintenance and stability of the cemetery. More
The above-referenced bill would place certain restrictions on non-profit organizations and their ability to operate effectively.
The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this legislation.
The bill requires that land currently tax exempt be used “exclusively and actively for the exempt purpose” for which tax exempt status was originally granted. Such language would prove overly burdensome to many non-profit organizations by requiring continuous use of land for only a small category of narrow purposes. More
The above-referenced bill attempts to define terms in the Real Property Tax law relating to the tax exempt status of non-profit organizations, a task heretofore left to the courts.
The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this legislation.
This bill attempts to define terms such as “religious purpose” narrowly and intrusively by restricting tax exempt status to land used for purposes that are “fundamental” and “necessary” to the practice of religion. The bill specifically rejects meditative practice or the maintenance of open space as fundamental or necessary to the practice of religion, therefore defining for religious organizations what their religion is or should be. More
The above-referenced bill would authorize and regulate the combative sport of Mixed Martial Arts, which is currently prohibited from New York by law.
Mixed martial arts, otherwise known as “ultimate fighting,” purports to combine karate, judo, jujitsu, boxing, wrestling and tae kwon do, however in an extremely dangerous and seriously debilitating way. Injuries from these events are numerous, and participants are routinely severely bloodied or rendered unconscious. At least two participants in “ultimate fighting” events in the United States have died from injuries sustained during a match in the last three-and-a-half years. In June 2010 in Columbia, S.C., Michael Kirkham collapsed after his first professional fight and remained unconscious before dying of a brain injury two days later. Kirkham took several strikes to the head during his match, which was a state-sanctioned fight.
Supporters of the New York bill note the revenue that the licensing of “ultimate fighting” events in the state are expected to generate. But approval of this bill would generate more than revenue. It would generate our state government’s acceptance and approval of extraordinarily violent behavior. It would generate serious injuries and possibly deaths of fighters in our state. It would generate “copycat” incidents in which children accidentally injure or even kill themselves or others imitating the moves of the participants. And it would surely generate a further coarsening of our culture, something we can hardly afford. Legislators must ask themselves, “Is this what we want New York to be?” The New York State Catholic Bishops believe the only honest answer to that question is no. More
The above-referenced bill would amend the Domestic Relations Law to require advanced directives for the transfer, use and disposition of gametes or embryos used in assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs).
In attempting to regulate the practice of ARTs, this legislation would indicate a societal acceptance of the artificial creation, manipulation and destruction of human life. The continued availability of ART procedures cannot be endorsed by our Conference, and indeed, is opposed by many New Yorkers, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who hold moral objections to artificial means of reproduction that treat children as merchandise rather than as precious gifts. More
