Benjamin Smith's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Benjamin Smith has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
South Carolina State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | 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? | ||
| I do not support defunding Planned Parenthood because they are an asset to low-income families with their provision of general healthcare and cancer screenings, along with many other services. I would be open to discussion of removing public funding for abortions if we also seek affordable access to healthcare, prenatal and postpartum care, childcare, and equal pay for women. Pro-life/pro-choice is a political game and the solution is not making abortions a crime or putting undue stress on women. We need a comprehensive system that supports mothers (especially single mothers) to help make life a choice. | |||
| 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? | ||
| We have a budget surplus of over $700 million this year. I would not support an income tax increase during years of surplus. If we as a state are struggling to balance the budget, the first steps we need to take is to cut out unnecessary pork-barrel spending, look for ways that we can accomplish the same goals for less, and only as a very last resort increase taxes. | |||
| 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 limiting disaster declarations to 15 days unless approved by the legislature? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | 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 South Carolina? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Yes | f) Should threatening harm against someone based on their race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin be considered a felony? | ||
| No | g) Do you support citizen's arrests? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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 South Carolina? | ||
| 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in South Carolina? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in South Carolina? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from South Carolina high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support prohibiting offshore drilling off the coast of South Carolina? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through South Carolina's health care programs? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in South Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in South Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by South Carolina state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support local governments having the authority, without review by state authorities, to remove certain memorials or monuments from public property? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| We need to address domestic abuse and sex trafficking in South Carolina, and we also need to end child marriages in our state. | |||
| We need to fully fund our schools and pay out teachers a living wage. We also need to declare a state minimum wage of $9.25 that increases annually until we reach a living wage. If legislators are unwilling to use the funds from our budget surplus to fund these efforts, I propose making marijuana legal and taxing it to pay for these initiatives. We would save money in our criminal justice system, free up non-violent offenders, and generate millions of dollars of tax revenue solely by decriminalizing marijuana and regulating/taxing the distribution. |
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