Ben Marcus' 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.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Ben Marcus has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Florida 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? | ||
| This is an issue of personal liberty. Government should not be able to dictate what someone does with their body. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Should tax be charged on online sales from retailers based outside Florida? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support charging bottled water companies an excise tax on water extraction? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| 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 Florida? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Questions b and c are more complicated than a simple yes or no. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| 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 Florida? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Question c is more complicated than just yes or no. | |||
| a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Florida? | |||
| b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Florida? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Florida high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Questions a and b are more complicated than just yes or no. | |||
| 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? | ||
| d) 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? | ||
| d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | |||
| Question d is more complicated than just yes or no. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Florida's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Florida 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? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Fully funding public schools, establishing a funding stream for urgent infrastructure projects and getting special interests out of public policy debates are the three central planks to this campaign. | |||
| My top legislative priority is the fund the mandate from the state for school districts to provide mental health care access to every student in Florida. I agree 100% with the idea but it's nearly impossible to implement without additional funding and active assistance from the state to recruit mental health professionals to the state, specifically high need areas like Jacksonville. I would work to cut corporate tax refunds and use a relatively small portion of the potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of savings to fund this effort. |
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