Reports of the Legislative Committees

1996 United Methodist General Conference

The committee recommended concurrence:

• Amending Social Principles ¶73D on "Poverty," adding concern about low wages;
• Lifting up the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling in an amendment to the current resolution on gambling;
• Asking Congress to eliminate tax provisions penalizing legally married couples;
• Highlighting economic development in Puerto Rico and opposing elimination of Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code;
• Recognizing the work of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund;
• Amending Social Principles ¶73D on "Consumption" and ¶73F on "Migrant Workers";
• Pointing out the relationship between the world economy and sustainability of the environment;
• Calling for a rebirth of compassion, including service to persons in need and advocacy for just public policies;
• Presenting a statement of shared principles of welfare reform;
• Calling on candidates for political office to avoid "political mudslinging";
• Adding all persons' "right to a job" to Social Principles ¶73C;
• Urging continued use of the resources from the Study on Homosexuality;
• Reaffirming the first sentence of Social Principles ¶71C;
• Inserting in Social Principles 71C a statement indicating that ceremonies celebrating homosexual unions "shall not be conducted in our churches";
• Supporting restitution to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma for the Sand Creek Massacre; returning the Ft. Reno, Oklahoma lands to those tribes; supporting economic development efforts for Native Americans;

The committee recommended referral:

• To the General Board of Church and Society, petitions urging "human intervention" rather than military, supporting actions on tobacco by the Federal Drug Administration, urging reworking of the "Status of Women" resolution because of "obsolete data," adding new text to the introductory paragraph of Social Principles ¶71;
• To the General Board of Global Ministries, a petition urging support for the prison ministry of Western North Carolina Conference and urging a National Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries office.

General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn