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Bill Burlison's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Bill Burlison has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

What is the Political Courage Test?
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.

Missouri State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test

The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.

a) Abortions should always be illegal.
b) Abortions should always be legal.
c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
X d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
X e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
I am personally opposed to abortion, but a woman has a constitutional right to choose. But taxpayer funds should not pay for abortions.

State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.

Slightly Increase a) Education (Higher)
Slightly Increase b) Education (K-12)
Maintain Status c) Emergency preparedness
Maintain Status d) Environment
Slightly Increase e) Health care
Maintain Status f) Law enforcement
Slightly Increase g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Slightly Increase h) Welfare
Slightly Increase a) Alcohol taxes
Slightly Increase b) Cigarette taxes
Slightly Increase c) Corporate taxes
Maintain Status d) Gasoline taxes
Maintain Status e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Slightly Increase f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Maintain Status g) Property taxes
Maintain Status h) Sales taxes
Maintain Status i) Vehicle taxes
Yes 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
No 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
Yes 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Our public debt + current budgets must be paid for by once again requiring our multimillionares + bullionares to pay their fair share of taxes.
our multimillionaires and billionaires must once again be required to pay their fair share of income taxes
Our multimillionaires and billionaires must once again be required to pay their fair share of income taxes.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?

Yes a) Do you support the current limit of terms for Missouri governors?
No b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Missouri state senators and representatives?
Yes 1) Individual
Yes 2) PAC
Yes 3) Corporate
Yes 4) Political Parties
Yes d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
Yes e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
Undecided f) Should Missouri participate in the federal REAL ID program?
No g) Should voters be required to show photo identification before voting?
No h) Should voters be required to show proof of citizenship before voting?
No i) Do you support a constitutional amendment prohibiting state judges in Missouri from ordering tax increases?
No j) Should the composition of the Appellate Judicial Commission, the body responsible for selecting appellate court judge nominees, be altered?
k) If yes, how would you alter the composition of the Commission? Please use forty (40) words or less.
There should be a system of Public financing of political campaigns

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

X a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
X b) Support the death penalty in Missouri.
c) Allow the use of the death penalty in cases involving the rape of a minor under the age of 12.
X d) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
f) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
X g) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
X h) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws.
i) Support hate crime legislation.
j) Other or expanded principles

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
X c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
X j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Missouri to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
Increases must be paid for and within budget.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market.
b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
X e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
X f) Include sexual orientation in Missouri's anti-discrimination laws.
X g) Include gender identity in Missouri's anti-discrimination laws.
h) Increase the state minimum wage.
i) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
X j) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
X k) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
l) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
m) Other or expanded principles

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

X a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
X b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc).
c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops.
d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
e) Support funding for improvements to Missouri's power generating and transmission facilities.
f) Support funding for open space preservation.
X g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
X h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
i) Other or expanded principles

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

Yes a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
Yes b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
Yes c) Should a license be required for gun possession?
No d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
Yes e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
f) Other or expanded principles

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

X a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
b) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
X e) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
X f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Missouri.
g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
h) Other or expanded principles

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

Undecided a) Should Missouri recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
Undecided b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
Yes c) Should Missouri provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
Yes d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
No e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
Yes f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
No g) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
No h) Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions?
No i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
Yes j) Should Missouri continue affirmative action programs?
Yes k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
Undecided l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
No m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
n) Other or expanded principles
Public financing for political campaigns. This would help in removing big business, special interest lobbyists from control of our government. We need to update our Constitution. Jefferson and Madison said this should be done every generation (19 years at that time). But we have now gone 219 years. Our Constitution lacks the requirement for a balanced budget. The result: Our current deep recession. The electoral college must be eliminated so our popular vote elects the president. The college denied the presidency to America's most popular man in 1824 (Jackson) and in 2000 selected the most incompetent president in our history.

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