Kendra Biegalski's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Kendra Biegalski has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Georgia 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? | ||
| I do not believe this issue will ever be settled unless or until the SCOTUS adequately defines "personhood", i.e., at what age is a genetically distinct human being considered a person with Constitutional rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Until then, there will always be one side that argues that a fetus is not a person and therefore deserves no Constitutional rights and another side who argues the opposite. Planned Parenthood was created by Margaret Sanger, who was a well known racist and eugenicist. She advocated for reducing minority and disabled populations through abortion. Abortion causes far more death in America every year than gun violence. If we truly care about minority communities, than we should create legislation that supports families. However, there may be medically necessary abortions to save the life of a mother or when a fetus is not viable, and this decision should be made by the family in consultation with their doctor. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the legalization of gambling on sporting events in Georgia? | ||
| Regarding balancing the state budget, I do not forsee the costs of social programs being affected. I think there may be small changes made to such programs, such as who is eligible and what qualifies as acceptable purchases. I believe Georgia should eventually remove the state income tax and move to a Fair Tax model, although it will take time to convince other legislators towards that direction. "Wealthy" Georgians already pay a "wealth tax" via their property taxes. Because home assessments have increased significantly due to inflation, property taxes collected are at all time highs in the Atlanta metro area. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| Because of the fentanyl crisis, illegal drugs have become very dangerous. One fentanyl-laced pill can kill. If there is no deterrent for selling such dangerous goods, then why even have a law against it? We either care about the health and well-being of Georgians or we facilitate illicit, dangerous drugs flowing uncontrollably into our neighborhoods. | |||
| No | 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 Georgia? | ||
| No | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in Georgia? | ||
| To encourage job and economic growth in Georgia, we need to foster an environment where small-businesses can flourish as well as create a skilled, educated work force. Regulations should not be onerous, and currently they are for small farmers. To create skilled laborers who can earn living wages, we need to encourage the pursuit of trades at the high-school level for non-college track students. Due to inflation, housing costs have increased substantially. To reduce the costs of housing, we should reduce the state gas tax which will reduce the cost of transporting construction goods and materials as well as protect the housing market from large, predatory investment firms that have limitless cash. This will increase housing supply and thus reduce costs. Caps on property tax increases should be made at 10% per year if the current referendum does not pass. Caps should also be available for those on fixed incomes due to retirement and disability as well as for military veterans. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in Georgia? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Georgia? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from Georgia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| Common Core is terrible. I advocate using effective, time-tested pedagogies. Schools work better from the bottom-up, not from top-down models. This is why unconventional education is so popular: charter schools, university-model schools, private schools, and home schools. Students and families can pick and choose the best educational model to fit their child and their family. I am a huge advocate of school choice and the new school voucher program. This program does not remove funding from public schools, but it reduces class sizes and therefore facilitates better educational environments for the students left in failing schools. Immigration is one of the top issues I hear about from Georgians. Our nation and our state have a finite supply of money and resources. We must first take care of our own citizens. In many cases, the needs of Americans are being passed over at the national level for those of immigrants. Legal immigration is not the issue, and we welcome legal immigrants to start the process to naturalized citizenship. Our federal government is failing in performing any vetting of immigrants or enforcing our Southern border making every city and town a border town and straining local resources everywhere. | |||
| 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? | ||
| As a nuclear engineer, I have the expertise to assert that solar and wind are not cost-effective methods of power generation without generous government subsidies, nor can they generate power in a reliable way. Due to the exponential growth of AI and the data farms needed to support it, our energy needs will grow as dramatically. We need to build reliable base load energy plants such as nuclear, natural gas, and clean coal. China's schedule of building coal and nuclear plants outpaces any other country. They clearly see the need for more power, and if we do not keep up, China will dominate the geo-political world. | |||
| 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 Georgia? | ||
| Most countries of the world require IDs for voting. The majority of Americans support IDs for voting. The charge that it is somehow "racist" to ask for an ID while voting is a canard. No one in good conscience calls all liquor store owners, bank tellers, and airport security personnel "racist" just because they want you to show an ID to procure their goods or services. | |||
| 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 Georgia? | ||
| Yes | d) Should teachers be allowed to carry firearms in the classroom, provided they register for and pass a safety evaluation? | ||
| We already have many gun-control laws in Georgia to restrict the purchase of guns by age, criminal record, mental health status, and substance abuse. According to a 2016 study by the DOJ, only 0.8% of guns used in crimes were purchased at gun shows with the majority coming from theft or the "underground market". However, we need to educate gun owners to keep their guns stored safely so that minors in their homes do not have access. We also need to investigate and address the underlying issues causing school shootings. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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)? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Our healthcare system in America is broken and profits from a largely chronically ill population. Most chronic diseases can resolve through changes in lifestyle. We need to educate Georgians on the benefits of limiting processed foods and consuming whole-foods. Georgians also need to have access to these foods as well as to clean water and air. Our life expectancy is decreasing, not increasing due to lax laws that allow thousands of chemicals banned in other countries to be present in our food and water. One reason why pharmaceutical costs are so exorbitant in America is we are only one of two countries in the world that allow these companies to directly market to consumers. We are charged more for the same prescriptions found in other countries. Kickbacks to insurance companies and doctors as well as donations to universities and professional societies also increase pharmaceutical costs. | |||
| No | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in Georgia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Georgia's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support greater efforts by Georgia's state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| There is a very precarious balance between the Bill of Rights "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech" and anti-discrimination laws based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Thankfully, the free market in Georgia allows for many options for people of different gender identities or sexual orientation to procure services and employment without problem. And, if there are issues, these may be resolved fairly through the judicial system. | |||
| My top policy priority is reducing the gas tax in Georgia. There are 35 states with gas taxes lower than Georgia, and if this was lowered it would help reduce peoples' personal transportation costs across the board, but also reduce costs of every item requiring transportation using diesel engines: food at grocery stores, big box store items, and even construction materials. This would then be passed on to consumer as reduced costs in transportation, groceries, clothing, furniture, and even home construction and have wide-reaching effects of helping Georgians' cost of living. In traditional supply chain economics, supply can be increased by providing more of that item or decreasing the demand. Sadly, home buyers are finding that they must compete with large investment companies which have almost limitless cash reserves to buy a limited supply of homes that are at a historically high price-to-median salary ratio. According to an article from Georgia Tech, these large investment firms disproportionately affect black and low-income communities (https://news.gatech.edu/news/2023/08/07/investors-force-black-families-out-home-ownership-new-research-shows). The state legislature could theoretically provide laws to reign in such predatory business practices. If large investment firms were not afforded access to the single family home market in Georgia, it would increase supply and reduce the costs making it easier and more affordable for first time home buyers to achieve the American Dream of private homeownership. I would also like to see greater homestead exemptions or caps on property taxes offered to retired seniors, disabled, or military veterans living on fixed incomes. No one should have to give up their home due to onerous property taxes, but especially these persons. One way to pay for these programs is to go through the state budget and trim the pork. All governments as large as our state has inefficiencies and unnecessary costs. I am a very detail-oriented person, and I am happy to work with the Ways and Means to trim down and streamline state operations. Also, our state has a $16 billion budget surplus that could be used to offset costs of these programs; however I'd prefer to find the funding through the latter means. |
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