Brian Kamerath's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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.
Brian Kamerath has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Utah Gubernatorial Election 2016 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Abortion is a private choice a perspective mother has every right to seek. I personally may not agree with all the reasons a woman may have for making that choice but her choice is hers to be accountable for as her own conscience may dictate. Government funds simply don't belong in personal choice matters because then the funding becomes a means of manipulating or propagandizing women based upon changing popular opinion. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Utah's budget.2) State Spending: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.
| No | a) Tapping into Utah's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Decreasing funding for public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Eliminate | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | 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 | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases? | ||
| I would rather legalize recreational and medical marijuana use along with prostitution and implement a consistent flat rate sales tax that replaces the income and business tax. We need to stop trying to manipulate the fair market and let the market demand grow or shrink business. Black Market Demands do more to hurt than help our budget. Beyond that my personal commitment is to job performance at half the going rate. The legislature bumped the Governor's salary to $150,000- I will do the job for $75,000. | |||
| Health insurance needs to run like car insurance. We've learned that in most circumstances simply throwing money at issues tends to make things worse instead of better. If I get purse string direction on how the returned half of my salary is spent it will be to ensure that every law enforcement officer obtains adequate body armor for their work- Dragon's skin body armor if that is what they want. | |||
| A sales tax really is the only "fair" tax we can implement because it is simply tied to individual consumption / burden on the economy. Revenue will grow or fall based upon our ability to keep government form hobbling business innovation and adaptation. | |||
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? | ||
| f) 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support requiring that crimes based on sexual identity/orientation be prosecuted as federal hate crimes? | ||
| d) is an item to be decided on a case by case basis. We initially aren't going to have all of the information available initially to make that assessment. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 control of some federal lands in Utah to the Utah state government? | ||
| d), e) & h) have a direct impact on people living in the Vernal area where oil field work has dried up. I would rather see such efforts come from private, NFP NGO's but we have to be ready to step in a be the appropriate transitional hand from time to time. i) simply increasing the minimum wage is patronizing. I'd rather see it indexed and automatically adjusted by inflation. That keeps it economically proportional to economic growth. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Utah high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| I'll give one exemption to my answer on f). The UEA and our Governor hurt a great many of our youth with the implementation of the common core changes. many of them missed learning vital principles the need to be successful in their careers. Kids currently attending college, caught in the middle of that implementation, need to be eligible for "free" math tutoring. They got a sucker punch I want to make sure is fixed. | |||
| 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 Utah's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| We need better education on the principles pigeon holed above. The questions are poorly contrived. Let's be honest- asphalt and concrete absorb and radiate heat more effectively than the so called "greenhouse gases." Our cities are their own micro-climates. New homes should be built to be more infrastructure independent. | |||
| 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? | ||
| National reciprocity for concealed carry permits- same as driver's licenses. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| I don't like d) but I see the need with friends going through what should be survivable cancer treatment. I'd prefer and better managed and adaptable NFP NGO with honest open reporting of funding. Health insurance simply must be restructured to operate more like car insurance. We'd all like to see health insurance competing for our business with the design to lower cost. Just like you don't use your car insurance every time go take your car in for routine maintenance health insurance shouldn't be needed for a simple doctor's visit. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Utah's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Utah's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Marriage is a religious rite protected by 1st Amendment right. No one religion, or group, has any right to demand another group conform religious rite to a voted opinion. | |||
| Medical Marijuana legalization. Health care reform- make health insurance perform more like car insurance. That should be a budgetary decrease. A School District audit and reformation- the plan here should be budgetary offsetting. Let's take a hard look at why Canyon's School District administration cost's more than Granite's and evaluate a more fluid use of our schools by consolidating operations into larger, county based school districts in Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, & Weber Counties. Kids are not getting more educational value through greater administration costs or teacher pay disparity. |
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.