James Byrd's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
Wyoming State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| A government has no position in the decision. It should be made my the woman, her doctor/medical consult, and her minister/religious consult. Period. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing the state gas tax? | ||
| Combining state agencies, cutting or substantially reducing funding to cities and towns, collapsing the number of school districts and re-organizing funding models. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| Yes | f) Should state National Guard members only be called up once war is formally declared by the U.S. Congress? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | 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 in Wyoming? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| WY needs a general review of it's sentence guidelines. We put way to many people in jail for non-violent and petty offences. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Wyoming? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| No | h) Do you support compensating ranchers for livestock lost to wolves? | ||
| min wage: 10.00/hr all regulations need to be revisited regularly to insure that they are working to improve rather than degrade. They should have "sun-set" clauses which force action to renew. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Wyoming? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Wyoming? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Wyoming high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| immigrants who fulfill all requirements for residency and pay taxes yes, should get in-state advantages. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Global markets have decided that carbon based energy is no longer acceptable. WY should have been the leader in new generation technologies. Instead, chose to protect a shrinking market and now is paying the fiscal and economic consequences. WY second largest employment and revenue generation sector is tourism. That requires WY residents and business not just be good stewards but the gold standard model stewards of the environment to keep this industry viable. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | |||
| d) if we can not come up with a better plan that what we have now. For the safety of law enforcement they need to know what they are dealing with on every call. It will have to happen in some way. This "free-for-all" sales mentality can not continue. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Wyoming's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Wyoming's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Wyoming's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| c) Do you support greater efforts by Wyoming state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | |||
| C) is to vague. Gap meaning what? | |||
| Keep WY education in the national top ten. Re-think how education dollars are spent with focus on reducing administration and increasing classroom monies. Fix the short term budget disaster created by the majority party. Create sustainable long term revenue streams that do not include individual tax increases, or non prepared food taxes. | |||
| The budget crisis. Emergency short term revenue. Long term business diversity that is not related to the energy market Find a new non-thermal use for COAL. |
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