Joshua Sorensen's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Joshua Sorensen has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Utah 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds (e.g. Medicaid) for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support limiting state government spending on social programs (e.g. SNAP, TANF)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to promote economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs in your state? | ||
| Income tax should be a flat rate paid by all. There needs to be a curtailing of tax shelters; everyone pays their part. I have no problem with a standardized deduction to reduce the burden on the poor, but beyond that, everyone should pay the same rate. Further, Utah uses income tax to support education expenditures. I am opposed to attempts at reducing that funding. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for violent crimes? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| 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)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage in Utah? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in Utah? | ||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in Utah? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Utah? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from Utah high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the removal of a constitutional feature that limits the spending of state income taxes to only public and higher education? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in Utah? | ||
| Ranked choice voting is a good thing, only if completely transparent. Each step of the voting needs to be completely transparent, allowing the voters to see support for third party candidates. Unfortunately, Utah's tests, as well as ranked choice as used in other states, have NOT been transparent. | |||
| 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 Utah? | ||
| Gun ownership, possession, and carry are guaranteed by the US Constitution. We absolutely cannot violate rights as laid out in the Constitution. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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)? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| While I feel it is the duty of all residents that can take a vaccine to take them to protect those that cannot take them. I think that government mandate is the wrong way to go about it. I do feel that the government providing the vaccines at no cost is a good measure to encourage vaccine use. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in Utah's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Utah's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Utah's state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the prohibition of transgender individuals from using bathrooms that do not correspond to their sex assigned at birth? | ||
| Ultimately, the creation of more family, handicapped, uni-sex bathrooms solves this issue. | |||
| Affordable Housing - The Wasatch Front has become unaffordable for many of our citizens. Encouraging the construction of low income housing and statewide legalization of "mother-in-law" apartments will assist in lowering housing costs. Education - Utah has great education. We need to protect our education funding and institutions to maintain the quality education that our State should be proud of. Rights - We must protect individual Constitutional and Civil Rights, particularly privacy rights. We need to close the loopholes used by government to skirt the laws. |
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