Heather Brown's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Heather Brown has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Illinois 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring all health insurance plans in Illinois that offer full pregnancy benefits to also cover state-provided medically assisted reproductive treatments, including in vitro fertilization? | ||
| Though my belief is pro-life, we are run by Cook County. Our laws will never change in our State due to my belief. We are the minority. I do believe that there needs to be a limitation on how many one claims "rape or incest". These are rare cases that should have more social workers looking into it. I do not believe 13 year old's should be able to acquire without parental consent. This puts the children at risk of abusers taking them to clinics without consent. They claimed just 5 years ago that the smoking age had to be increased to 21 due to a "child's brain not being fully developed". When you have doctors and scientist coming in making sure your City agrees with this, how can they switch so quickly that a 13 year old knows what is best for them without parental consent. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I believe we need school Choice again. Right now our State is in an economical crisis as SNAP & TANF are not being used for our citizens. Our taxes have increased to the point that we cannot afford essential items. They will need to compartmentalize their priorities of our homeless and low income citizens vs illegal visitors applying and being granted more than the average citizens that are given strict restrictions. Our wealthy pay 40% in taxes while the average middle class pays 15% and our low class ranges from 11-13%. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| 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 nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| Our State has been plagued with death with the fentanyl that has been crossing our boarders. My own family has lost two people in the last year due to this awful drug. They claim "nonviolent" is "3 grams of fentanyl". 3 grams can kill 1,500 people! I call this a great concern for the wellbeing for our children as well as our citizens. | |||
| 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 of Illinois? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in Illinois? | ||
| When our Legislators have been declaring they awarded a "city" a grant to finish a project. Most cities do not receive the funds for 4-5 years later. They just want their name on paper saying they did something. Yet, in 4-5 years when the money is finally allowed to be distributed, the original draft for the projects have inflated so much that they can no longer afford the projects. They are not allowed to go out for bid, it has to stay as is from when it was documented. The grant incentives seem to be more of a political scheme than helpful to the people. As someone has seen this first hand with projects in the past, I think it needs to be allocated appropriately for fiscal year, not many years later. I wish we could guarantee an increase on minimum wages, but this would affect our small businesses. We need to do a better job overall on how the State spends their money to help lower paying jobs afford living in our State. I support organizations that have volunteers for "affordable housing projects". I do not believe we should simply hand out free money to people without a course on finance. Many people who do receive grants end up foreclosure for not knowing enough about spending. The homes are then picked up by companies or banks as people lose their homes. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in Illinois? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Illinois? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from Illinois high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| I believe that there are many people that would be an asset to our communities. Many children were brought here without a choice. Many people work at pay taxes. As long as they are not criminals, they should be allowed to attend higher education on merit. I do support many teachers receiving a higher salary. They have the most important jobs with our youth. I do believe the people that need to be looked into are the superintendent salaries and others on committees or board members that do not listen to their teachers concerns for the schools. They're not allowed to attend school board meetings and are not allowed a say in their own professions on how to better serve in their degree of specialty. We need to support higher education for our State. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Drilling is a minor producer in Illinois so I'm not sure why this would be a question for our State when we are known more for coal. Other states produce/have in the passed producers of a lot more. As a city that just released how many homes are currently being affected by lead pipes, I hope that the safety of drinking water would be a priority of all. Companies are already giving citizens incentives for going solar. I know with farmers, it is benefiting them as they cannot afford the land they use to profit off of. In turn they're now selling off land for renewable energy to save their farms. | |||
| Yes | a)Do you support limiting campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in Illinois? | ||
| I do support our Electoral College Vote in the Presidential races. For local, ranked choice has been our only option. In so many areas of our State we are almost 50-50 on many races. Though our State is run on just the inner City when the majority of the State does not feel the same. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, closing the boyfriend loophole)? | ||
| Yes | 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 Illinois? | ||
| I support our second Amendment. Our State already has one of the highest restricted accessibility to guns. Yet, it is so easy for people to get their hands on them due to the black market within our inner city. I do not know how they will ever combat this without fully supporting our police and processing criminals according to their crimes. We need good judges and attorney generals to keep our communities safe along side our police officers that risk their lives every day for us. As someone affected by domestic abuse in my past relationship, prior to marriage; I still believe in the right to bear arms. My past, he was able to acquire a weapon without purchasing from a store. Possibly if it was reported on many instances or even the threat as I had to deal with in the past from not just a private relationship but of citizens with mental health issues, their weapons should be removed from the home. We already have regulations that cover this in our courts for safety. It is good to share awareness to the abused of next course of action in order to protect themselves in the future. Stand your ground rules is ideal on private property. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in Illinois' anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Illinois' anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| c) Do you support greater efforts by Illinois' state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support increased social media regulations in Illinois? | ||
| Government already has their hand in the pockets of social media. | |||
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