| Full Name: | John Zerwas |
|---|---|
| Office: | State House (TX) - District 28, Republican |
| First Elected: | 11/07/2006 |
| Last Elected: | 11/06/2012 |
| Next Election: | 2014 |
| Gender: | Male |
|---|---|
| Family: | Wife: Cindy; 4 Children: John Jr., Joseph, Brandon, Sherry |
| Birth Date: | 03/24/1955 |
| Home City: | Rosenberg, TX |
| Religion: | Church of Christ |
What is the Political Courage Test?
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion. | |
| a) Abortions should always be illegal. | |
| b) Abortions should always be legal. | |
| c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy. | |
| X | d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape. |
| X | e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered. |
| X | f) Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions. |
| X | g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors. |
| h) Other or expanded principles | |
State Budget: Indicate the funding levels (#1-6) you will support for the following general categories. Select one level per category. | |
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (Higher) |
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) |
| Slightly Increase | c) Emergency preparedness |
| Maintain Status | d) Environment |
| Maintain Status | e) Health care |
| Slightly Increase | f) Law enforcement |
| Slightly Increase | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure |
| Slightly Decrease | h) Welfare |
| i) Other or expanded categories | |
State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels (#1-6) you will support. Select one level per tax. | |
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes |
| Eliminate | b) Capital gains taxes |
| Maintain Status | c) Cigarette taxes |
| Eliminate | d) Corporate taxes |
| Maintain Status | e) Gasoline taxes |
| Greatly Increase | f) Sales taxes |
| Maintain Status | g) Vehicle taxes |
| h) Other or expanded categories | |
| No | i) Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? |
| No | j) Should accounts such as a rainy day fund be used to balance the state budget? |
| No | k) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? |
| l) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform. | |
| No | a) Do you support limiting the number of terms for Texas governors? |
| No | b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for Texas state senators and representatives? |
c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates? | |
| No | 1) Individual |
| No | 2) PAC |
| Yes | 3) Corporate |
| No | 4) Political Parties |
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? |
| No | e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns? |
| Yes | f) Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes? |
| Yes | g) Do you support prohibiting media exit polling of voters until all polling locations in Texas are closed? |
| No | h) Should Texas recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? |
| No | i) Should the governor, rather than local authorities, be in charge of ordering emergency evacuations? |
| j) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime. | |
| a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff. | |
| X | b) Support the death penalty in Texas. |
| X | c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released. |
| X | d) End parole for repeat violent offenders. |
| e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. | |
| f) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. | |
| X | g) Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes. |
| X | h) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. |
| i) Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes. | |
| X | j) Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth. |
| X | k) Increase state funding for state and local emergency agencies to prevent or respond to terrorism. |
| X | l) Strengthen sex-offender laws. |
| X | m) Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine). |
| n) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education. | |
| a) Support national standards and testing of public school students. | |
| X | b) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school. |
| X | c) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school. |
| d) Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure). | |
| X | e) Increase funds for hiring additional teachers. |
| X | f) Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay. |
| X | g) Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools. |
| h) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams. | |
| X | i) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. |
| X | j) Increase funding for Head Start programs. |
| X | k) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. |
| l) Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods. | |
| X | m) Support abstinence-only sexual education programs. |
| n) Allow undocumented immigrant high school graduates to pay in-state tuition at Texas public universities. | |
| o) Support Texas' school funding equalization system (share-the-wealth). | |
| p) How would you propose to reform Texas' school funding system? Please use forty (40) words or less. | |
I support reforming our tax system by moving away from property and business taxes and using an expanded sales tax. |
|
| q) Other or expanded principles | |
I support state rather than federal testing standards in public schools and support teaching sex education only with the consent of a child's parent or guardian. |
|
Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment. | |
| X | a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that retrain displaced workers and teach skills needed in todays job market. |
| X | b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion. |
| X | c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses. |
| X | d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families. |
| e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | |
| f) Include sexual orientation in Texas' anti-discrimination laws. | |
| g) Increase the state minimum wage. | |
| h) Other or expanded principles | |
Affirmative Action: Should race, ethnicity or gender be taken into account in state agencies decisions on: | |
| No | a) Public employment |
| No | b) State college and university admissions |
| No | c) State contracting |
| d) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy. | |
| X | a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology. |
| X | b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil). |
| X | c) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned. |
| d) Increase funding for improvements to Texas' power generating and transmission facilities. | |
| e) Support funding for open space preservation. | |
| f) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | |
| g) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns. | |
| a) Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns. | |
| X | b) Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns. |
| X | c) Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns. |
| X | d) Allow citizens to carry concealed guns. |
| e) Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows. | |
| f) Require a license for gun possession. | |
| g) Other or expanded principles | |
I strongly support the protection of 2nd Amendment rights. |
|
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health. | |
| a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary. | |
| b) Texas should continue to use the private contractor Accenture to process Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) applications. | |
| c) Transfer current Medicaid recipients into managed care programs. | |
| X | d) Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. |
| e) Support patients' right to sue their HMOs. | |
| f) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government. | |
| g) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Texas. | |
| h) Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | |
| i) Other or expanded principles | |
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare. | |
| X | a) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. |
| X | b) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. |
| c) Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work. | |
| X | d) Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations. |
| e) Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor. | |
| X | f) Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients. |
| g) Eliminate government-funded welfare programs. | |
| h) Other or expanded principles | |
| Please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding. | |
One Common Ground, Philipsburg, MT 59858 Hotline: 888-Vote-Smart (888-868-3762)
All content © 1992 - 2013 Project Vote Smart unless otherwise attributed - Privacy Policy - Legislative demographic data provided by Aristotle International, Inc. Mobile Version
Abortion Issues
Legislative Priorities