Colorado State Legislative Election 1996 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning abortion.

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

2. Abortions should be legally available when the procedure is completed within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- X

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

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

Affirmative Action/Civil Rights

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding affirmative action and civil rights in Colorado.

1. The Colorado government should prosecute cases of discrimination in the public and private sectors.
- X

2. The Colorado government should provide no affirmative action programs.
- No Answer

3. Specific, adjustable percentages of contracts for state work should be awarded to minority or woman-owned businesses.
- No Answer

4. Do you believe that the Colorado government should recognize same-sex marriages?
- No

5. Do you believe that sexual orientation should be added to Colorado's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

Children & Families

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding children & family issues in Colorado.

1. Increase state funding for programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
- X

2. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- No Answer

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

4. Provide state tax credits to parents for child care expenses.
- X

Crime

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) to address crime in Colorado.

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

2. Expand and promote "community policing" programs.
- No Answer

3. Support "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve their full sentences with no chance of parole.
- X

4. Expand the use of the death penalty for additional circumstances relating to murder.
- X

5. Oppose the death penalty.
- No Answer

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

7. Require mandatory life sentences for third-time, violent felons.
- No Answer

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

9. Increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentence.
- X

10. Decriminalize the possession and private use of certain illegal drugs such as marijuana.
- No Answer

11. Strengthen penalties and sentences associated with drug-related crimes.
- No Answer

12. Implement chain gangs in which prison inmates work together in chained work groups.
- No Answer

13. Implement stricter restrictions on living conditions of state prison inmates (e.g. no weight rooms, smoking, or frivolous lawsuits).
- No Answer

Crime (Juvenile)

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) to address juvenile crime in Colorado.

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

2. Provide state funding for military-style "boot-camps" for juvenile first-time felons.
- No Answer

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

4. Support state government funding of programs for at-risk youth such as guaranteed college loans and job training and placement.
- No Answer

5. Allow courts to hold parents accountable for a minor child who commits a crime.
- No Answer

6. Support the Youth Offender System, which rehabilitates juveniles convicted as adults as an alternative to a prison term.
- No Answer

Economic Development

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning Colorado's economic development.

1. Increase state funds for improving the state's transportation system, including major roadways, railways and airports.
- X

2. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for expanding, start-up, or relocating businesses.
- X

3. Expand legalized gambling (e.g. casino gambling, slot machines or video gambling).
- No Answer

4. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- X

5. Remove state government controls or caps from wages, prices, rents, profits, production and interest rates.
- No Answer

6. Support limits on cash damages in lawsuits against businesses and professionals for product liability or malpractice.
- X

7. Increase state funding for programs to re-train unemployed workers.
- X

8. Remove businesses that no longer qualify from Colorado's enterprise zone tax-credit program.
- No Answer

9. Require areas applying for zone designation in Colorado's enterprise zone tax-credit program to list economic goals, such as job creation.
- No Answer

10. Provide tax credits to employers who create jobs that pay better than average local wage and produce goods that are primarily exported out of state.
- No Answer

11. Should Colorado enact a minimum wage law which would raise the state minimum wage above the federally-mandated level?
- No

12. Do you support the legalization of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) to be grown as an agricultural cash crop?
- Yes

Education

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding Colorado's education system.

1. Increase state funds for professional development and salaries of public school faculty.
- X

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

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

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

5. Support continuation of charter schools where teachers and other professionals receive state authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- X

6. Support the continuation of state-wide achievement standards for all state public schools.
- X

7. Emphasize local control of education as long as the school district meets state health and safety standards.
- X

8. Support sex education programs which stress abstinence.
- No Answer

9. Support sex education programs which stress safe sexual practices.
- X

10. Provide state funding for programs which increase Colorado's students access to the Internet and other telecommunications networks.
- X

11. Increase state funds for higher education.
- X

12. Increase state funds for school-to-work programs so students are trained in a skill and placed in a job immediately following graduation.
- No Answer

13. Implement alternative schools for students who are expelled or suspended from regular schools.
- X

Environment

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning Colorado's environment and natural resources.

1. Enact tougher environmental standards to encourage the sale of cleaner burning fuels throughout Colorado.
- No Answer

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

3. Require a cost/benefit analysis be completed on the economic impact of proposed environmental regulations before they are implemented.
- X

4. Require the state to reimburse citizens when state-sponsored environmental regulations limit the use of privately owned land.
- No Answer

5. Continue to provide funding for recycling programs in Colorado.
- X

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

7. Suspend Colorado's participation in unfunded, federally mandated environmental protection legislation.
- No Answer

8. Maintain minimum environmental quality as mandated by current federal regulations.
- No Answer

9. Require the state to develop a protection plan for endangered animals in Colorado.
- No Answer

10. Require Envirotest, Colorado's centralized auto emissions testing company, to become more user-friendly or lose funding.
- X

Government Reform

Do you support the current laws which limit the terms of the following Colorado officials?

1. State Senators (8 years)
- Yes

2. State Representatives (8 years)
- Yes

3. Governors (two 4-year terms)
- Yes

4. Do you support amending the U.S. Constitution to require an annual balanced federal budget?
- Yes

5. Do you support requiring limits on individual contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes

6. Do you support requiring limits on PAC contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes

7. Do you support requiring limits on corporate contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes

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

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

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

11. Do you support imposing limits on gifts from lobbyists to legislators?
- Yes

12. Do you support requiring corporations to report expenditures on lobbying?
- Yes

Gun

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

1. Support expanding the nationwide federal ban on the public sale of assault weapons to include all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
- No Answer

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

3. Maintain all state registration procedures and state restrictions on possessing firearms.
- No Answer

4. Ease state procedures and restrictions on the purchase and registration of firearms.
- X

5. Repeal all state bans and measures that restrict law-abiding citizens from obtaining firearms.
- No Answer

6. Continue to allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms.
- X

Health Care

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) concerning Colorado's health care system.

1. Expand state funding for pre-natal and infant care programs available in the state, including immunizations.
- X

2. Provide tax incentives to assist small businesses in providing health care to their employees.
- X

3. Ensure that Colorado citizens have access to basic health care, through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- No Answer

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

5. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X

6. Create incentives that increase the supply and retention of health professionals in rural areas and inner cities.
- X

7. Provide state financial assistance to seniors who wish to remain at home as an alternative to a nursing home.
- X

8. Allow non-profit health insurers, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, to receive surplus money from for-profit organizations to help fund technological advances.
- No Answer

9. Do you believe that terminally ill individuals should have the right to end their lives?
- Yes

State Budget

Indicate what changes you support (if any) concerning levels of funding for the following categories. Select one option only.

1. Abortion
- Maintain Status

2. Affirmative Action
- Slightly Decrease

3. Agriculture
- Slightly Increase

4. AIDS Programs
- Maintain Status

5. Education
- Greatly Increase

6. Environment
- Maintain Status

7. Health care
- Maintain Status

8. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status

9. Welfare
- Maintain Status

State Taxes

Please indicate the changes you support (if any) concerning Colorado's tax levels. Select one option only.

1. Alcohol Taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Business Taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Capital gains taxes
- Slightly Decrease

4. Income Taxes (incomes less than $75,000)
- Maintain Status

5. Income Taxes (incomes greater than $75,000)
- Maintain Status

6. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

7. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

8. State Fees
- Maintain Status

9. Do you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- Yes

Welfare

Please indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding Colorado's welfare system.

1. Provide child care services to welfare recipients who work or attend school.
- X

2. Allow welfare recipients to work and still receive state-funded health care and child care (if needed) until they become self-sufficient.
- X

3. Require that able-bodied welfare recipients receive job training, attend school, or work in order to receive welfare benefits.
- X

4. Require that unwed mothers under the age of 18 attend school and live with a parent or guardian (if possible) to receive welfare benefits.
- No Answer

5. Limit the welfare benefits given to recipients if they have additional children.
- No Answer

6. Provide two-parent families living in poverty the same welfare benefits as one-parent families.
- No Answer

7. Eliminate government-funded welfare and advocate privately-funded assistance to people in need.
- No Answer

8. Impose a two-year limit on welfare benefits for recipients who are able to work.
- X

Legislative Priorities

Explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected to the Colorado General Assembly. If any of your priorities will require additional government funding, explain how you intend to obtain the additional funding.
- No Answer