Texas

Please join us for our upcoming “CWA Faith and Family Dinner with the Legislators” in Austin on March 15.  This is our biennial fundraiser event that takes place in conjunction with the Texas Faith and Family Day sponsored by CWA of Texas and multiple other outstanding pro-family organizations. The dinner will take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn – Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake) in Austin.

Join us and dozens of Texas Legislators for an evening of fun, fellowship, and inspiration. This is an event that you don’t want to miss!

The following day is the Faith and Family Day at the Capitol, where attendees will have the opportunity to hear about various bills pertaining to our faith and family values and be given practical steps on how to personally play a role in seeing these bills passed into law.  It’s an exciting day of information and advocacy! The briefing session will be followed by a Faith and Family Rally on the South steps of the Capitol.

We look forward to having you join us in Austin for these special events.

To find out more details and to register for our “CWA Faith and Family Dinner with the Legislators” and the Faith and Family Day, go to texasfaithandfamily.com.  Purchase tickets to the dinner online with a credit/debit card, or mail a check to CWA of Texas, P.O. Box 1386, Orange, TX 77631.

For more information, please email me at [email protected].

Prayerfully consider joining us for these very important advocacy events, and let your voice be heard!

Dana Hodges
State Director
CWA of Texas
[email protected]
tx.cwfa.org

Much has been happening in Austin as the 85th Legislative session is in full swing. We currently have three bills that we would like for you to assist us in by both praying and taking action.

Dismemberment Abortion Ban

Senate Bill 415, “Relating to a prohibition on the performance of dismemberment abortions; providing penalties; creating a criminal offense.”

 Tomorrow, February 15, there will be a hearing on this key pro-life bill, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban.  This ban would end the gruesome practice of dismemberment abortions and make it a criminal offense when committed. We all became aware of how this horrific abortion practice was being widely performed in the recent undercover Planned Parenthood videos. CWA of Texas will be present at this hearing and will be testifying to the need for this strong pro-life legislation. Click here for more information on this bill.

Texas Privacy Act

Senate Bill 6, “Relating to regulations and policies for entering or using a bathroom or changing facility; authorizing a civil penalty; increasing criminal penalties.”

We have been working with Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-District 18) and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to garner support for SB 6, the Texas Privacy Act. As your CWA State Director, I personally met with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to express the desire of the CWA of Texas members to see the Texas Privacy Act passed in order to provide protection for women and girls in public restrooms and changing facilities.  I was invited to testify on behalf of this bill and will convey the pressing need to protect women from predators in public facilities. Click here for more information on this bill.

Church Security Protection Act

House Bill 421, “Relating to the exemption from application of the Private Security Act of certain persons who provide security services on a volunteer basis at a place of religious worship.”

Another bill that CWA of Texas is placing a great deal of focus on and support for is HB 421, authored by Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-District 115). This bill is called the Church Security Protection Act and would allow church parishioners to provide volunteer security services for their congregation without obtaining a professional security guard commission or letter of authority from the Texas Private Security Board. Under current state statute, if parishioners organize to provide security services and they have not jumped through the necessary hoops, they stand in violation of the law. With the current societal push toward targeting places of worship, we need to stand strong for this bill in order for churches to be able to protect their congregations without burdensome government regulations and interference. Click here for more information on this bill.

Action Items:

1. Contact your State Senator and ask them to please support and co-sponsor SB 415 (Dismemberment Abortion Ban) and SB 6 (Texas Privacy Act).
2. Contact your State Representative and ask them to please support and co-sponsor HB 421 (Church Security Protection Act).
3. Forward this e-alert to friends and family and ask them to pray and take action.

It is vital that you both call and email your legislators concerning these bills as they need to hear a loud and definite stance from us on this. Click here to find out who your senator or representative is and how to contact them.  Put in your address under “Who Represents Me?”

Prayer Items:

• Pray for SB 415 to be passed out of committee and sent to the Senate floor for a vote. Pray for the success of this bill all the way to the Governor’s desk for signing.
• Pray that SB 6 and HB 421 will get assigned to a committee and be given a hearing so our voices can be heard on these issues.

In His service,

Dana Hodges
State Director
CWA of Texas
[email protected]
tx.cwfa.org

State Director featured in the Citizen Profiles section of the Empower Texans publication.

Great News!  At a press conference on Thursday at our state Capitol in Austin, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-District 18) alongside Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick, announced the filing of Senate Bill 6, called the Women’s Privacy Act. The State of Texas has a duty to protect the privacy, safety and dignity of all Texans, especially when they are in government buildings. This law ensures commonsense–men and boys should not be in girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.

This bill needs your support!  Please contact your state senator today to express your support for this outstanding legislation!

Some Texas school districts, at the encouragement of the Obama administration and its local cohorts, are ignoring commonsense and adopting policies that force boys and girls to shower together, stay together on school trips, and use the same locker rooms and bathrooms. Two Texas school boards recently implemented such policies and practices behind closed doors, without a vote from the school board or input from parents. This is not acceptable and demonstrates the great need for the state to enact legislation to stop this.

The privacy of school children needs to be protected!

Pertaining to private businesses, this bill plainly states that the government “may not adopt or enforce an order, ordinance, or other measure that relates to the designation or use of a private entity’s bathroom or changing facility or that requires or prohibits the entity from adopting a policy on the designation or use of the entity’s bathroom…”.  If private businesses want to allow unsafe environments for their patrons, we will speak to this by refusing to spend our money at their businesses. Private business owners should never be forced to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs by being compelled by a governmental entity to create genderless bathrooms in their place of business. So you can see this bill will have zero impact on private business. There is no valid argument that this will have any effect on the economy within the state of Texas.

Please support this outstanding legislation!

Please Pray.  God’s Word is clear. There is no question regarding a clear designation of gender. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)  Pray for your senator by name.  Ask the Lord to give him/her wisdom and conviction in this matter.

We are greatly encouraged knowing you are interceding on behalf of our state.

Take Action! Though it is unknown how soon this bill will go to the senate floor for a vote, senators need to hear from us now as to the position of their constituents as this issue heats up.

1. Thank Sen. Lois Kolkhorst for filling SB 6. Thank her for recognizing that there is a need for this commonsense legislation in the state of Texas.  Contact her office at 512-463-0118 or email.
2. Contact your Senator and ask him/her to co-sign SB and vote YES when it goes to the floor for a vote. Click here to find out who your senator is and how to contact him/her. Simply scroll down the right side of the page to “Who Represents Me?” and plug in your address.
3. Contact your like-minded friend and family and ask them to pray and act on this important issue.

Watch for updates on this bill.  We will keep you informed on our activities on this bill and when it gets closer to a vote.

Please prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation to CWA of Texas.  Our leadership team will incur expenses traveling to Austin to advocate for this bill and testify on behalf of the bill during the legislative hearing. Your donation of any amount will help offset those expenses and is greatly appreciated. You can mail your check to PO Box 1386, Orange, TX, 77631 or donate now by donating online at tx.cwfa.org.

Thank you for being a part of this hugely important work in our state!

The action item at a Concerned Women for America (CWA) Prayer/Action Chapter is not always a policy-related action; sometimes it is an action that has a very personal impact.  For the last nine years, the CWA Prayer/Action Chapter at the First Baptist Church in Post, Texas, has been reaching out at Christmas time to make a difference in the life of a family in their small community.  The Chapter adopts a family and provides their Christmas for them.  This year the Chapter delivered Christmas to a single mom with three little children (3, 2 and 1 years old).  Clothes, toys, children’s furniture, rugs, toiletries and food were provided to the family.  The members of the Chapter coordinate the activity, and the members of the church provide all of the gifts for the family’s Christmas. The generosity of the people of First Baptist Church Post is pretty amazing!  When everything is delivered a few days before Christmas, the smiles and tears say all that is needed to be said!  Merry Christmas to all!

Read and share!

Austin, TX – Concerned Women for America State Director Dana Hodges responds to a recent Texas Association of Business (TAB) press release which was in opposition to a potential safety and privacy bill in the Texas Legislature:

“Is money more important than personal safety and liberties? The Texas Association of Business (TAB) now appears to place profit over the safety of women and children. This week, TAB released a ‘study’ which purports that the State of Texas stands to potentially lose revenue if legislation is passed that would protect each citizen’s religious liberties and provide protection for women and children in public bathrooms and locker room facilities. However, their study seems to be based on supposition and lacking in real dollars-and-cents data.

TAB is swimming against the tide of public opinion on this. Proof can be found in the fact that the City of Houston, which has a majority liberal population, voted just last year by a margin of 61 percent to defeat an ordinance that would have forced genderless bathrooms to be the norm. Clearly public opinion in the state is on the side of keeping gendered public bathroom facilities as they have been for decades.

TAB must have also failed to notice the numerous cases, almost weekly, of sexual predators utilizing public bathrooms and locker rooms to harm women and children. This is fast becoming an epidemic.

As the leader of the state’s largest women’s public policy advocacy group, I am constantly being asked by mothers and grandmothers to fight for legislation that will protect their privacy, and I intend to do just that. It is time for the Texas Association of Business to listen to the women of Texas when we say “NO!” to men in women’s restrooms.”

Click here to find out all about it and and view brochure.  Please print and distribute freely.

Click here to view press release.

Dear CWA of Texas Friend,

 As Election Day approaches, do you have questions?  How will you decide?

Did you know that the 2016 Republican National Party platform says this on Page 24: “We respect the states’ authority and flexibility to exclude abortion providers from federal programs such as Medicaid and other health care and family planning programs so long as they continue to perform or refer for elective abortions or sell the body parts of aborted children.”

Did you know that the 2016 Democratic National Party platform says this on Page 34: “We will fight Republican efforts to roll back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights, and stand up for Planned Parenthood.”

Did you know that the 2016 Democratic National Party platform says this on Page 46: “Democrats believe that LBGT rights are human rights and that American foreign policy should advance the ability of all persons to live with dignity, security, and respect, regardless of who they are or who they love.”

Did you know that the 2016 Republican National Party platform says this on Page 31: “Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society.”

No?  Then you need to read CWA’s 2016 Party Platform Comparison.  Fourteen issues are compared: Sanctity of Life; Gender; Education; Freedom of Religion; National Sovereignty; Israel; Military; Immigration; Gun Control; Health Care; Fiscal Responsibility; Environment; Criminal Justice and Anti-Trafficking; and Election and Campaign Laws.  You and your friends should see first-hand the differences in the beliefs of each party before you vote.  Excerpts from 58 pages of Republican beliefs and 51 pages of Democratic beliefs have been condensed to seven to give you a glimpse of the heart of the two parties.

You can access this today on our website under “2016 Party Platform Comparison is Now Available!”  Click here to request printed copies.

Please first and foremost pray.  Pray for our great state and country.  May the Christians earnestly seek the Lord before November 8.

Please take action today.

1. Ask your church if you can hand them out as people exit the sanctuary. Or, put them on an information table.  Yes, it is legal for churches to distribute this.  It will not affect their tax status because it presents information from both parties in a nonpartisan way.  After getting approval, contact us to let us know how many you would like.

2. Donate to Concerned Women for America of Texas. Your gift will help put this comparison in the hands of hundreds of voters before November 8.  Your gift in any amount will educate the electorate.  Please send your tax-deductible donations to the address below, or, donate online through our website now!  Simply click on “DONATE TO YOUR STATE.”

Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity.

Blessings!

Ann Hettinger
State Director
Concerned Women for America of Texas
P.O. Box 1746
Rockwall, TX 75087

[email protected]
tx.cwfa.org