New York State Legislative Election 2000 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning abortion.

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer

2. Abortions should always be legally available.
- X

3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer

4. Abortions should be legal when pregnancy results from incest, rape or the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and notification requirements as decided by each state government.
- No Answer

6. Prohibit the dilation and extraction procedure, also known as "partial-birth" abortion.
- No Answer

7. Support "buffer zones" at abortion clinics by requiring demonstrators to remain a certain distance from doorways and driveways.
- No Answer

8. Prohibit public funding for abortions and organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer

9. Other
- No Answer

Budget and Tax

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels you will support for the following general categories.

1. Education (Higher)
- Maintain Funding Status

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase Funding

3. Environment
- Slightly Increase Funding

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase Funding

5. Law enforcement
- Maintain Funding Status

6. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase Funding

7. Welfare
- Slightly Increase Funding

8. Other
- Slightly Increase Funding

State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels you will support.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Capital gains taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

4. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status

5. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status

6. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Maintain Status

7. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status

8. Inheritance taxes
- Maintain Status

9. Property taxes
- Maintain Status

10. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

11. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status

12. Other
- No Answer

13. Should Internet sales be taxed?
- Undecided

14. Do you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- No

15. Would you support returning any operating surplus to New York taxpayers?
- Yes

16. Would you support placing any operating surplus into a "rainy day" fund?
- Yes

17. Do you support eliminating the Gross Tax Receipts, a tax on energy-related utility bills, for homeowners?
- Undecided

18. Do you support taxing Internet sales of cigarettes originating from reservations?
- Undecided

Crime

Indicate which principles you support (if any) to address crime.

1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- X

2. Support contracting with private sector firms to build and/or manage state prisons.
- No Answer

3. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- X

4. Support the use of the death penalty in New York.
- X

5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- No Answer

6. Inform communities when a convicted sex offender moves into the community.
- X

7. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X

8. Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer

9. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- X

10. Lower the blood alcohol content limit defining drunk driving.
- No Answer

11. Prosecute as adults, youths accused of a felony.
- No Answer

12. Increase penalties for crimes committed on school grounds.
- No Answer

13. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, or disability be prosecuted as hate crimes.
- X

14. Support programs that provide job training and placement services for at-risk youth.
- X

15. Ban the use of racial profiling by law enforcement officers.
- No Answer

16. Reform the Rockefeller drug laws, which impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders, to give judges more discretion in determining sentences.
- No Answer

17. Create drug courts where judges could refer nonviolent, drug-addicted defendants guilty of misdemeanors to drug treatment programs rather than prison.
- No Answer

18. Other
- No Answer

Education

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

1. Increase state funds for professional development of public school teachers and administrators.
- No Answer

2. Encourage private or corporate investment in public school programs.
- No Answer

3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious).
- No Answer

4. Support charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- No Answer

5. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X

6. Increase state funds for hiring additional teachers.
- No Answer

7. Endorse teacher-led voluntary prayer in public schools.
- No Answer

8. Support posting the Ten Commandments in public schools.
- No Answer

9. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer

10. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- No Answer

11. Support teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- No Answer

12. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- No Answer

13. Other
- No Answer

Employment and Affirmative Action

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning employment.

1. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- No Answer

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- No Answer

3. Support limits on cash damages in lawsuits against businesses and professionals for product liability or malpractice.
- No Answer

4. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X

5. Increase the state minimum wage.
- X

6. Other
- No Answer

Affirmative Action: Which of the following state agencies should take race and sex into account when making employment decisions?

1. College and university admissions
- Undecided

2. Public employment
- Undecided

3. State contracting
- Undecided

4. Other
- No Answer

Environment & Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X

2. Support "self-audit" legislation which creates incentives for industries to audit themselves and clean up pollution.
- X

3. Require a cost/benefit analysis to determine the economic impact of proposed environmental regulations before they are implemented.
- No Answer

4. Require states to fully compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses on privately owned land.
- No Answer

5. Support funding for recycling programs in New York.
- X

6. Request added flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environmental regulations.
- No Answer

7. Suspend participation in un-funded, federally-mandated environmental protection legislation.
- No Answer

8. Provide state funds to supplement federal Superfund cleanup efforts at toxic chemical sites in New York.
- X

9. Allocate a portion of the Transportation Bond Act funds to construct a new subway line.
- X

10. Allocate a portion of the Transportation Bond Act funds to construct a new interstate highway from Binghamton to the Hudson Valley.
- No Answer

11. Provide state funds to hire a full-time public recycling coordinator.
- No Answer

12. Expand the five-cent deposit on carbonated beverage containers to include water, fruit juice, and sports drink containers.
- X

13. Other
- X

14. Should state environmental regulations be stricter than federal law?
- Yes

Government Reform

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding government reform.

1. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York Governors?
- No

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York State Senators and Representatives?
- No

3. Individual
- Yes

4. PAC
- Yes

5. Corporate
- Yes

6. Political Parties
- Yes

7. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

8. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- Yes

9. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- Yes

10. Do you support voting on-line?
- No

11. Do you support on-line voter registration?
- No

12. Do you support providing state funds to broadcast New York Legislative sessions on television?
- Undecided

13. Do you support banning unregulated soft money campaign contributions to political parties and political organizations?
- Yes

14. Do you support amending the New York Constitution to make it gender neutral?
- Yes

15. Other
- No Answer

Gun

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning gun issues.

1. Ban the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- X

2. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X

3. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

4. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer

6. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- X

7. Require background checks of gun buyers at gun shows.
- X

8. Require a license for gun possession.
- X

9. Lower the age for obtaining a gun permit from 21 to 18.
- No Answer

10. Discontinue requiring bullets and shell casings of new guns to be submitted to the state police for ballistics identification.
- No Answer

11. Other
- No Answer

Health

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health issues.

1. Provide tax incentives to small businesses that provide health care to their employees.
- X

2. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state funded care where necessary.
- X

3. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- No Answer

4. Use state funds to continue some Medicaid coverage for legal immigrants.
- X

5. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer

6. Support a patient's right to sue his or her HMO.
- X

7. Support a patient's right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied.
- X

8. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer

9. Use Medicaid funds to pay for background checks of state health care workers.
- X

10. Allow persons with disabilities to remain eligible for Medicaid while earning up to $45,000 a year.
- X

11. Other
- No Answer

Social

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.

1. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- X

2. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X

3. Deny or suspend state-issued permits and licenses to parents who are delinquent in paying court-ordered child support.
- No Answer

4. Increase state funding for Head Start in order to serve additional children and/or increase services from a half to a full day.
- X

5. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X

6. Support state funding of programs for at-risk youth such as guaranteed college loans, and job training and placement.
- X

7. Permit Indian casinos on non-tribal lands in New York.
- No Answer

8. Allow the State Legislature and local residents to have veto power over any off-reservation Indian casino compacts the governor signs.
- X

9. Legalize slot machines in casinos.
- No Answer

10. Raise the age limit from 16 to 18 for the Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) program, which allows parents to require counseling or drug treatment for their children.
- X

11. Other
- No Answer

12. Should physician-assisted suicide be legally available in New York?
- No

13. Should New York include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

14. Should New York recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes

15. Should New York restrict marriage to a relationship only between a man and a woman?
- No

Welfare and Poverty

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare.

1. Maintain current time limits on welfare benefits.
- No Answer

2. Maintain the requirement that able-bodied recipients work in order to receive benefits.
- X

3. Increase employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X

4. Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire welfare recipients.
- X

5. Provide child care for welfare recipients who work.
- X

6. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X

7. Allow welfare recipients to remain eligible for benefits while saving money for education, starting a business, or buying a home.
- X

8. Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- No Answer

9. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer

10. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer

11. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to expand state services to include the working poor.
- X

12. Other
- No Answer

Legislative Priorities

Please explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected. Please explain how you would obtain any additional government funding needed to implement these priorities.
- No Answer