Kerry Babb's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Kerry Babb has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Florida State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | |||
| b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | |||
| c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | |||
| d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | |||
| e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | |||
| h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | |||
| I can't comment on the legality of abortion as I have opinions about what should or shouldn't be "legal" or "moral". I would have to lean more toward Pro-choice, but would have conflicting answers on the questions posed due to the issues I mentioned of legality vs morality and governments involvement. | |||
1) State Spending:Using the key, indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.2) State Taxes:Using the key,indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.3) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Florida's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| g) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | |||
| i) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| j) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| Yes | a) Tapping into Florida's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| No | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Most of the budget problems that have to do with health care, welfare and education would be helped a great deal by concentrating on putting people back to work. We need to find more ways to create jobs in the state. As an example, we can give the higher education category as much funding for students as we want to, but if there are no jobs available after graduation whats the point. With that said I don't see anything wrong with increasing funding slightly while working on the bigger problem of jobs simultaneously. | |||
| We always seem to attempt to cut the budget in the wrong places, hence my reasons for the no answers. Cutting unnecessary state positions is something that needs to be looked at, not the vital employees that help insure the public safety. The Medicaid issue is not as complex as the state currently would have everyone believe, however they always want to cut benefits and reimbursement as an answer to fixing the problem. Again putting people back to work will solve a lot of the current Medicaid issues. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | b) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support mandatory drug testing for state employees? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | c) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| No | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | g) Do you support Florida's current "Stand Your Ground" law? | ||
| I support a "Stand Your Ground Law" but believe this one needs to be looked at and possibly refined. As for answer e) if the explicit photos are deemed to be harassment or unwanted then a punishment should be required. In this case the question is to broad the same as d) there may need to be an establishment of the age of the minor i.e. 7 or 17. There is a difference. As for answer f) only in emergency type cases. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support expanded gambling in Florida? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | |||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | |||
| No | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Florida high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| For answer b) I do not support merit pay for teachers as the education system stands now. There are a lot of changes in the entire education system that need to be made first to make a merit system fair for the teachers. e) I have supported funding in the past, but if the public system is going to be improved as it needs to be then we need that money for them. On g) if the students were brought here by their parents as a minor illegally they should be eligible. It's not their fault. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Florida's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Yes | e) Should doctors be prohibited from asking patients about gun ownership? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | |||
| No | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding Medicaid eligibility in Florida with federal funds as provided through the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| On e) We need to consider that part of the AHCA but not all of it. On f) all cases are different the question is too general. | |||
| a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | |||
| b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | |||
| c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| I don't believe the government should legislate social issues. | |||
| My top three priorities are jobs, health care, and education. We need to find a way to bring more jobs to the state, one way would be by looking at the companies that are already here and see why it is effective for them to stay in Florida, education in this state needs reform it consistently ranks among the lowest in the nation. We need to give the teachers the tools they need to do their job and support them. As for the medicaid and health care issues, I don't have enough words left to state my easy fixes. |
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