Pennsylvania State Legislative Election 1998 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

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

1. Abortions should always be legally available.
- No Answer

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

3. Abortions should be legal only when pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered.
- X

4. Abortions should be legal only when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer

6. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and parental notification requirements.
- No Answer

7. Prohibit the late-term abortion procedure known as "partial-birth" abortion.
- X

8. Support "buffer zones" by requiring demonstrators to stay at least 15 feet away from abortion clinic doorways and driveways.
- No Answer

9. Other
- No Answer

10. Should Pennsylvania government funding be provided to clinics and medical facilities that provide abortion services?
- No

Affirmative Action

Indicate the principles you support (if any) concerning affirmative action. State government agencies should take race and sex into account in the following sectors:

1. College and university admissions
- Undecided

2. Public employment
- Undecided

3. State contracting
- Undecided

4. Other
- No Answer

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 felons.
- X

4. Expand the use of the death penalty for additional circumstances relating to murder.
- No Answer

5. Oppose the death penalty.
- No Answer

6. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X

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

8. Increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentences.
- No Answer

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

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

11. Strengthen penalties and sentences for sex offenders.
- X

12. Lower the limit defining drunk driving to .08 blood alcohol content.
- No Answer

13. Prosecute juveniles who commit murder or other serious violent crimes as adults.
- X

14. Other
- No Answer

Economy and Employment

Indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning the economy and employment.

1. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X

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 retrain displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X

5. Privatize state liquor stores.
- No Answer

6. Support market development for Pennsylvania exports by funding an export loan program through Small Business First.
- X

7. Expand legalized gambling in Pennsylvania (e.g. slot machines).
- No Answer

8. Support public financing of stadiums and sports arenas in Pennsylvania.
- No Answer

9. 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.
- X

2. Encourage private or corporate investment in public school programs.
- X

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

4. Favor charter schools where independent groups receive state authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- No Answer

5. Support sex education programs which stress abstinence.
- X

6. Support sex education programs which stress safe sexual practices.
- No Answer

7. Increase state funds for school construction and facility maintenance.
- X

8. Increase state funds for hiring of additional teachers.
- X

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

10. Support the Links-to-Learn initiative, which purchases computers for schools and provides computer training for teachers.
- X

11. Restructure Philadelphia's school district, creating multiple districts with elected school boards.
- No Answer

12. Require teachers to continue their professional development and re-certify every five years.
- X

13. Allow schools the option of requiring school uniforms.
- X

14. Support a state achievement test and establish proficiency levels to measure student achievement.
- X

15. Limit the number of students per classroom in all public elementary schools.
- X

16. Support the current law requiring the state to provide 50 percent of local school districts' funding.
- X

17. Require mandatory full-day kindergarten.
- No Answer

18. Support legislation limiting teachers' ability to strike.
- No Answer

19. Other
- No Answer

Environment & Energy

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

1. Require the use of cleaner burning fuels in order to prevent 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 the state to fully compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses on privately owned land.
- No Answer

5. Provide funding for recycling programs in Pennsylvania.
- X

6. Request added flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environmental regulations.
- X

7. Suspend participation in unfunded, federally mandated environmental protection legislation.
- X

8. Oppose siting additional low-level radioactive waste facilities in Pennsylvania.
- No Answer

9. Reduce the amount of municipal waste imported into Pennsylvania.
- X

10. Protecting consumers during the electricity deregulation process should be a top state priority.
- X

11. Other
- No Answer

12. State environmental regulations should not be stricter than federal law.
- No Answer

Government Reform

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

1. Do you support amending the Pennsylvania Constitution to limit the number of terms of State Senators and Representatives?
- Yes

2. Do you support the current law which limits the number of terms that the Governor can serve? (Limited to 2, 4-year terms)
- Yes

3. Do you support current limits on corporate contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes

Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?

1. Individual
- Yes

2. PAC
- Yes

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

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

5. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- No

6. Would you vote to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring an annual balanced federal budget?
- Yes

7. Other
- No Answer

Gun

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

1. Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
- No Answer

2. Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
- No Answer

3. Maintain state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
- X

4. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
- No Answer

5. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms by law-abiding citizens.
- No Answer

6. Favor allowing citizens to carry concealed firearms.
- No Answer

7. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks with firearms.
- No Answer

8. Allow urban areas to enact stricter gun control regulations than the rest of the state.
- No Answer

9. Other
- No Answer

Health

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

1. Provide tax incentives to small businesses who 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.
- No Answer

3. Expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides uninsured children with health care.
- X

4. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- X

5. Use state funds to continue some Medicaid coverage for legal immigrants.
- No Answer

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

7. Guaranteeing medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- X

8. Provide certain clinical public health services through local community providers rather than through state-run health centers.
- X

9. Other
- No Answer

Social

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

1. Increase state funding for programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
- No Answer

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

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

4. Deny or suspend state-issued permits and licenses to parents who are delinquent in paying court-ordered child support.
- X

5. Favor banning smoking in public places.
- X

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

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

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

9. Other
- No Answer

10. Do you believe that the Pennsylvania government should include sexual orientation in Pennsylvania's anti-discrimination laws?
- No Answer

11. Do you believe that the Pennsylvania government should recognize same-sex marriages?
- No

State Budget

Indicate the funding levels you will support for the following general categories. Select one level only.

1. Agriculture
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase

3. Education (Higher)
- Slightly Increase

4. Environment
- Maintain Status

5. Health care
- Slightly Increase

6. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status

7. Transportation infrastructure (highways, roads, bridges)
- Slightly Increase

8. Welfare
- Greatly Decrease

9. Other
- Economic Development -- Greatly Increase

State Taxes

Indicate the tax levels you will support. Select one level only.

1. Alcohol Taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Capital gains taxes
- Greatly Decrease

3. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

4. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Increase

5. Gas taxes
- Slightly Decrease

6. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease

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

8. Property taxes
- Greatly Decrease

9. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

10. Other
- No Answer

11. Do you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- Undecided

Welfare

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

1. Require that welfare recipients sign a contract that identifies the individual steps they will take to become self-sufficient.
- X

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

3. Provide tax incentives to businesses who hire welfare recipients.
- X

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

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

6. Allow welfare recipients to remain eligible for benefits while saving money for education, starting a business, or buying a home.
- No Answer

7. Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- X

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

9. Extend state-funded welfare benefits for legal immigrants.
- No Answer

10. 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.
- 1. Creating a more favorable business climate, specifically the increase in grants and loans for small businesses, as well as the repeal of cumbersome regulations and the decrease in certain tax levels (i.e. capital stock and franchise, PIR, CNI).2. Increasing the State's commitment to basic and higher education through more equitable and increased funding (which will in turn lower Property Taxes), and continued commitment to technology initiatives in the classroom.