Katherine Turner-Pearson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Katherine Turner-Pearson has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Texas State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| No one wants a woman to have an abortion, most importantly the woman herself does not WANT an abortion. What we all want is for every pregnancy to be a wanted, safe, and healthy pregnancy. If that occurs, then abortion won't be needed. But currently Texas leads the nation in women dying due to childbirth, so just being pregnant in Texas puts your life at risk, Our emphasis should be making pregnancy safe in Texas. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | c) In order to reduce property taxes, do you support increasing state sales taxes? | ||
| This is not really a good question for Texas, as we do not have a state income tax. And I do not support having one. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support partisan elections for judges? | ||
| We should create fair political districts. Not Republican or Democrat districts, but fair districts that represent the community. When people are disenfranchised, they resent their government and leaders, and that leads to anger and distrust with the government. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Texas? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| No | f) Should law enforcement officers be allowed to arrest individuals for fine-only misdemeanors? | ||
| No | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state income 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 requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Texas? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| To question a; the Texas Constitution requires a balanced budget, so it would be difficult to spend money to promote growth. To question b, Texas does not have a state income tax so this does not apply in Texas. To question c, that is a vague question, and it really all depends on what regulations you are talking about. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Texas? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Texas? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Texas high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Question a; I believe we need to put education standards back to the schools and districts. Question d; we are talking about in-state tuition, not free education. They are living in Texas, and graduated from Texas schools, so they should get in-state tuition. Colleges are not the immigration police, and should not have to spend money determining the legal status of Texas High School graduates. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Texas should be leading the world in wind and solar energy. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Gun laws are more complicated than can be discussed here. Some of our laws are good, but not enforced, and others are not strong enough. We need to stop the sale of semi-automatic weapons to people under 21 years of age, just like alcohol. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Texas' health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| Question c; if they have the means to pay for the insurance. Question e; vaccinations are for the public good, and there are too many different religions with too many differing views, to exempt all religious beliefs when the public health is in jeopardy. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Texas' anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Texas' anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Texas state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support expanding anti-discrimination laws to include hair textures and protective hairstyles? | ||
| No | e) Should state-licensed professionals be able to deny services based on their religious beliefs? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| We need to expand Medicaid and provide more health care coverage for Texans. Texas leads the county in the number of people without health coverage. During a pandemic this is more important than ever. Many people have died because they hesitated to go to the doctor because they lacked health insurance. Food insecurity is a major problem in Texas and in McLennan County, and more than half the children in our schools are food insecure. There is no reason for this in our state, and we must make sure no one in our state goes hungry. | |||
| Providing health care for all Texans, and this starts with the expansion of Medicaid. This would not cost us any more money as it is money we already paid to the federal government with our IRS taxes. We are just getting it sent back to Texas. When we don't accept it back, the money goes to another state. I want our money back! Let's get our tax money back and spent it on health care. |
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