Denise Wooten's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for State House (TX) - District 63
Key
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This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Texas State Legislative Election 2022 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? | ||
| Reproductive rights should fundamentally belong to women and their healthcare providers. While I would want complete choice at least until the gestational age of fetal viability or in case of medical jeopardy for mother or fetus, I realize we may not achieve that goal immediately. But, at minimum, pregnancies from rape, incest, or sex trafficking should not be restricted. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) Do you support raising taxes on any income or on any entity, to promote economic growth? | ||
| Raising taxes usually has a negative effect on economic growth, so that would not be the reason to raise taxes. I would, however, support raising taxes by removing loopholes for corporations or the extremely wealthy in order to provide better human services and training and education opportunities to those who are disadvantaged. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| For question b, each individual's situation when under the age of majority should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine if they should be tried as an adult. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Texas? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| For question a, state gov't spending on education and training to equip people to be productive workers will indeed benefit the economy, not to mention people's well-being. For question b, de-regulation of some industries in the private sector, such as those that directly impact the quality and quantity of people's lives, could be deleterious. | |||
| Yes | 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's high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| The founders, pilgrims, and settlers were all "illegal" immigrants who took the land from Native Americans, so it would be hypocritical to deny any immigrant the opportunity to improve his/her life through education. Immigrants have formed the backbone of the economy in Texas by cheerfully performing the labor that most do not relish. | |||
| 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 state government regulation of the energy grid in Texas? | ||
| Absolutely, the state government of Texas should take responsibility for insuring clean energy in abundance for Texans. Further, protection of water and soil resources should be a priority for the state of Texas. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the regulation of campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| No | e) Do you support limiting local counties' ability to expand voting options in state and local elections in Texas? | ||
| f) 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Gun violence in Texas has increased while regulation has become more lax and permissive. This is unconscionable to fail to pass sensible and safe legislation to protect victims of mass shootings, accidents, murders, suicides, and domestic violence. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a government-run (single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for All? | ||
| Yes | c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | d) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave opportunities? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support lowering the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| For question b, affordable health care does not have to a single-payer system under complete government control. Rather, we could expand the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, plus have incentives for people to train to become health-care providers to extend access, and have reasonable limitations on profit-taking by hospitals and insurance and pharmaceutical companies. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Texas's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Texas's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Texas's state government in closing gender, racial and other wage gaps? | ||
| No | d) Do ou support requiring transgender athletes to compete intramural and interscholastic sports that match their sex assigned at birth in Texas? | ||
| For question d, each transgender athlete's situation should be reviewed by an independent medical panel of subject-matter experts to determine appropriate classification for the purpose of sports. This SHOULD NOT be a political decision rendered by those catering to their base for votes and money. | |||
| According to census data, Texas is approximately 45th out of 50 states in per-capita expenditure on human services, which includes healthcare, education, welfare for the disadvantaged or disabled, and civic infrastructure to support communities. Given that Texas has the second-highest GDP and would rank in the top ten economies in the world, why is the state's wealth not benefitting the majority of Texans in provision of basic human services that enrich competencies and lives? It is a moral imperative to use resources to benefit ALL Texans, not just the wealthy. | |||
| My top legislative priority would be to buttress the public education system through much better funding. Funding could be obtained through the "Rainy Day Fund" and/or legislative appropriations. Further, if we remove some of the tax loopholes for corporations and the ultra-wealthy, we would have more money to benefit in lower socioeconomic levels by providing quality education and training. Educators need better pay, special education services should be expanded, vocational training should be amped up in high school, and the state should guarantee at least one year of community college tuition-free. Let's equip people to be productive. |
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