Rick Hillenbrand's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- State House (WV) - District 88, Republican
On The Ballot: Running, Republican for State House (WV) - District 88
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.
West Virginia State Legislative Election 2024 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds (e.g. Medicaid) for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| a- I believe life begins at conception; however, I fully support WV 2022 HB302 which is the law in WV and protects unborn children in West Virginia except in cases when the mother?s life is in danger, or instances of rape and incest that are reported to law enforcement in a timely manner. Any abortion performed must be done so in a hospital within eight weeks for adults and 14 weeks for minors. I think the use of government assistance (funds) for the exceptions permitted under WV law is acceptable. | |||
| Yes | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support limiting state government spending on social programs (e.g. SNAP, TANF)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to promote economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs in your state? | ||
| a - WV has a balanced budget requirement. Thus, just like most households, the WV Legislature and Executive needs to have the courage to make difficult decisions at times, and forgo some of the "nice to haves" in order to fund the "need to haves." When cutting government spending, it is not limited to social programs, it is across the board. b - I think cutting income taxes while keeping the budget balanced IS good government. I also think that certain WV taxes (such as personal property taxes on businesses) do inhibit economic growth, and that is why I supported cutting personal property taxes in WV. c - I think taxation should be "fair;" neither excessively targeting the wealthy, nor giving the less well to do a free ride. Personally, I would rather we had a Value Added Tax similar to some European countries which taxed people based on what they spend. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for violent crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| b - All too often we find young teenagers committing violent and heinous crimes. Juvenile competency is a serious issue nationwide, we canNOT automatically assume because of a date on a calendar that one day a person is not competent, yet the next day, because they crossed some age threshold they are suddenly competent. I'm proud of the fact that I was the Lead Sponsor on WV 2024 HB5520 was passed into law that addresses Juvenile competency in response to requests from County Prosecutors who were being hamstrung by the old law. e - Selling drugs can be considered a "non-violent" crime. For that reason, I think that in some cases, mandatory minimum sentences should be established. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector (e.g. for business or the environment)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support adjusting unemployment benefits for inflation? | ||
| c - Increasing minimum wage has been demonstrated time and time again to be a cause of an inflation spiral. I.e., As a simplified example: you increase workers minimum wage, the cost of the product goes up, the people find their increased wages actually has less buying power, so they seek another increase in wages. Let capitalism work. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in West Virginia? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from West Virginia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state governments allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| No | a)Do you support limiting campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the use of an independent or bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in West Virginia? | ||
| a - It never works, people find ways to get around the limitations. b - Trick question. Redistricting in WV is done by the Legislature, and both parties have a voice in the effort, albeit the majority party has a louder voice. c - Absolutely!! - Only bona fide US citizens should be permitted to vote in US elections. d - The problem with automatic voter registration is that there is no companion automatic voter removal when a voter moves out of state. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, closing the boyfriend loophole)? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the right to concealed carry in West Virginia? | ||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die (e.g. those with a terminal illness) through euthanasia? | |||
| No | d) Do you support mandating vaccinations (e.g. for school or employment)? | ||
| No | e) Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support government-sponsored healthcare excluding treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone therapy and surgery? | ||
| a - Sadly, this is a necessity at this time. | |||
| No | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by West Virginia's state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| There are lots of issues that need attention. Please see my web site for the full list of my priorities and accomplishments. https://www.rick4wv88.com/ Top priorities: 1 - Fire and EMS funding 2 - Teacher funding 3 - Broadband access For fire and EMS and teacher funding, we continue to run a budgetary surplus, so that is the first source of funding. For Broadband, we already have lots of federal RDOF, ARPA and BEAD funding, now we need to hold those who have been awarded the contracts accountable. |
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