Chet Billi's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Chet Billi has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Montana State Legislative Election 2016 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| For me, this issue is a matter of prioritizing principles. The innocent person's right to life supersedes all other rights and comforts; an unborn child is the epitome of innocence. Scientific evidence supports the notion of life at conception. Rape is a terrible thing and incest can lead to birth defects. But is the answer to deny an innocent being their life? I feel very strongly for rape victims, but for me, a woman's comfort does not take precedence over every innocent human's right to life. | |||
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.3) State Taxes: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.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Small business taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Property taxes | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Protecting the environment is important; it does not require millions of dollars to accomplish. Personal responsibility leaves forests much cleaner than any government program could. Competition in the health insurance market is what drives prices down. Government insurance is grossly inefficient. Welfare has destroyed the American family by eliminating the need for a breadwinner. As a result, children grow up without fathers which is arguably the greatest contributor to our rising crime levels. Welfare is unsustainable, a tax burden that working families should NOT be shouldered with. We have to have more thorough means of qualifying people for welfare. | |||
| Taxes should only be utilized to fund the very few services offered by the state which cannot be met in the private sector. Taxes should not be used to redistribute wealth. That's called stealing. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction? | ||
| I oppose the death penalty because I cannot support the government having power over life and death. I believe marijuana should be fully decriminalized, the government should not protect you from your own choices. | |||
| No | a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| No | g) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | h) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| No | i) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | j) Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them? | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support transferring the control over some federal land to the Montanan state government? | ||
| The minimum wage is an assault on the young and/or unskilled segment of the workforce. There are jobs where a more experienced person or a better educated person is preferable. The only weapon that young and unskilled people have to compete for those jobs is the ability to offer their services for a lower price. The minimum wage takes that away from them and as a result, we have less people entering the workforce and millions more actually dropping out. You don't help poor people by raising the price of their labor. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| No | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Montana high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| While I think it�s appropriate to fun K-12 public education, I do not believe in subsidizing higher education. The main beneficiary of higher education is the student. Students who attend college overwhelmingly belong to the upper or middle income earning groups; either their parents currently are, or they will be once they graduate. However, everybody pays for that education through their taxes. So what you have, in essence, is lower income earners paying for part of the education for higher income earners. That�s a very regressive system, especially when only 25% of graduates find a job in their field. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Montana's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| Fringe environmental concerns must be tempered by economic realities. Ticketing people for throwing their beer can into the woods is reasonable; shutting down industries and putting thousands of people out of work is not. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Given that the individual is entitled to his own life, the right to defend that life is an inherent right. Denying citizens the tools to effectively defend their lives and the lives of their loved ones is grossly illegitimate. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| The government should not be involved in anything the private sector can handle. All that does is mess up the markets which raises prices and creates an unreliable state of service. | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Same-sex marriage is not an issue of support or opposition, because it doesn't exist. If it did, it would just be called "marriage". The argument is whether or not the government should change the definition. I don't believe a proper role of government is changing definitions for political expediency. I don't support the enumeration of any demographic in anti-discrimination laws. Enumeration of demographics is inherently discriminatory. The only statute we should have is one that says "there will be no discrimination." That's all you need. | |||
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