LuAnn Poti's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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LuAnn Poti has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Hawaii State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| No | 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? | |||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| d) if the pregnancy is a threat to the life of the mother, the mother's life must be saved. But sometimes, it is not specifically the pregnancy, but other health concerns that are the threat to the mother's life - in these cases the mother should still be able to seek treatment to save her own life, but does not always need to have an abortion as part of the process. | |||
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 Hawaii's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Hawaii'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 | ||
| In spending, the goal is always to maintain or decrease spending while still providing necessary services. This can be done by finding and eliminating redundancies and failing projects (like the Hawaii Health Connector). Inflated and indulgent budget items (like the estimated $45,000 Governor Abercrombie's official portrait is expected to cost tax-payers - as reported by Civil Beat 9/14/2014) happen all the time in government. Considering law makers are stewards of the money entrusted to them by taxpayers, they must be savvy and responsible with said funds. | |||
| Government must learn to live within its means - the same way private citizens are expected to. | |||
| Finding and cutting out wasteful spending and redundancies with a full audit will stabilize our budget. Eliminate "Use It Or Lose It" budgeting - state departments use their full budget because if they don't, their budget will be reduced. If a department sees they might have money left over by the end of the fiscal year, they will spend the money on items they would have otherwise done without. We need to have buy in from all stakeholders and spenders about being smart with the funds entrusted. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| Yes | 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? | ||
| 4b) I further support candidates for office being required to meet campaign spending limits. Some of the amounts spent campaigning are obscene. Governor Abercrombie spent over $5,000,000 in the 2014 primary election (as documented by Campaign Spending Commission reports (https://nc.csc.hawaii.gov/CFSPublic/ReportDetail.php?RNO=CC10529). I also support term limits for state legislators. | |||
| 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 legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support requiring labels on foods that have been genetically engineered or contain genetically modified ingredients? | ||
| a) Generally, instead of capital punishment I would like to see the criminal be required to live a life of labor and servitude to pay debts to society with literal work while incarcerated for life. That being said, if the criminal is a legitimate threat to further lives as in the case of terrorists or serial killers, then capital punishment should be a RARE option to protect further lives from brutal, inhumane deaths. d) This should be handled case-by-case. e) This should be handled case-by-case. | |||
| a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | |||
| c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | |||
| d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | |||
| e) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | |||
| All of these items need to be looked at case-by-case, pertaining to specific proposals and after diligent research has been done on each item. If anyone has a specific proposal or bill they would like to know where I stand on, please call my cell phone - the number is in the bio information. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Hawaii high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| b) & c) Either option must be thoroughly reviewed and researched before re-working the entire teacher pay & promotion structure again. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | 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 Hawaii's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | |||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| c) Hawaii has very low gun violence - therefore I support continuing to leave the discretion of concealed carry permits with the county's Chief of Police. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | |||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | |||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
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