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Martin O'Malley's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Key

Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.

Martin O'Malley has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

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Issue Positions

For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2016.

  • "Governor O'Malley earned NARAL's endorsement in 2010, and was honored by Planned Parenthood for his "his outstanding leadership in protecting and advancing reproductive rights in Maryland." O'Malley signed the Family Planning Works Act giving 35,000 low-income women access to free pregnancy counseling, contraception, and cancer and STI screenings." (martinomalley.com)
  • "More than 55 percent of the nation's projected deficit is a direct result of the Bush era tax cuts - tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the very wealthiest 3-percent of Americans. "A return to the Clinton-era tax rates for millionaires and billionaires is a fiscally responsible and necessary step to help put our country on solid footing for recovery. I commend President Obama for his leadership on this matter. What we need right now is to remain laser focused on creating jobs, not on protecting special interest tax breaks for the wealthiest 3-percent of Americans. "I urge Congress to come together and work to reduce the deficit in a balanced way that benefits all Americans." (votesmart.org)
  • "What the president is laying out in Ohio is that plan that actually expands opportunity. And what Mitt Romney would like us to return back to is a plan that concentrates wealth. And, oh, by the way, the side effects of concentrating wealth, especially through our tax code, is that you fuel deficits, you let your infrastructure crumble, and America for the first time ever educates less of our children in lesser ways, rather than actually expanding opportunity and doing the things that grow our economy in every generation. And that's the stark choice." (votesmart.org)
  • The Baltimore Sun ""Scaling back on mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and boosting programs to help prepare prisoners to return home will be major parts of a policy proposal O'Malley's campaign plans to roll out soon," The Register reported." (www.baltimoresun.com)
  • ""The most important investment the State can make is in our most precious resource -- our people -- this is the second year in a row the EARN Program has received funding from the Governor's budget. Working together, we're ensuring that our companies and workforce have what they need to compete and win in the New Economy." (votesmart.org)
  • "Over the last eight years, and throughout the Great Recession, Maryland has undertaken a number of efforts to strengthen and grow the State's middle class. In 2007, Governor O'Malley signed into law the nation's first living wage for State contracts. As part of the Administration's 2014 legislative agenda, Governor O'Malley and Lt. Governor Brown expanded prekindergarten for up to 1,600 Maryland children and through record investments, supported strategies to improve education in Maryland's number-one-in-the-nation public schools. To make college more affordable for more families, the Administration made strategic investments in Maryland's universities. In fact, Maryland has done more than any other state in the nation since 2007-08 to hold down the cost of college, according to College Board. And recognizing the importance of creating more family-sustaining jobs, Governor O'Malley signed the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Act into law, which is putting tens of thousands of Marylanders to work building roads, bridges, and transit projects in every corner of the State." (votesmart.org)
  • "Governor O'Malley made the tough decisions to close Bob Ehrlich's structural deficit while fighting to lower income taxes for Maryland families. Under Governor O'Malley's income tax restructuring plan, more than 85.8% of Maryland income tax payers are paying less income tax than they paid under the Ehrlich administration; and 45% of Maryland families are paying the same or less in combined income and sales tax." (votesmart.org)
  • "In the midst of the worst economic downturn in history, Governor O'Malley reformed Maryland's income tax. Today, 86% of Marylanders pay less in state income taxes than they did before Governor O'Malley took office." (martinomalley.com)
  • "Putting into action a recommendation from the STEM Task Force we established a couple years ago, our Education department is developing a new state STEM curriculum based on the Common Core Standards that will align our K-12 curricula with college requirements and the demands of our workforce. Through new Educator Effectiveness Academies we set up throughout our State, we've trained teachers and principals from every school in Maryland to teach the new Common Core curricula." (votesmart.org)
  • Washington Post "Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) took to social media on Monday to urge the U.S. Senate to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying the country needs to look beyond "smallball choices facing us on energy." (www.washingtonpost.com)
  • "Clean, renewable sources of energy represent one of the biggest economic opportunities in a century. And the threat of climate change is real and immediate. We must make better choices for a more secure and independent energy future-by limiting carbon emissions, setting renewable energy targets, driving innovation, seeding new industries, and creating good local jobs." (martinomalley.com)
  • "Governor O'Malley receieved the Climate Hero Award from the Climate Action Network. CCAN's Climate Leadership Award is presented annually to individuals and organizations in Maryland who have exhibited exceptional leadership in fighting global warming through clean, efficient energy." (votesmart.org)
  • "Reducing carbon emissions is a critical aspect of protecting the livelihood of our State as well as life itself. That's why we've also set energy goals to increase Maryland's in-state renewable generation to 20% by 2022, and to reduce Maryland's greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. In addition to the other progress we've made, we've also increased renewable energy generation by nearly 57% since 2007. And last year, over 8% of Maryland's generation came from renewable sources." (votesmart.org)
  • "Clean, renewable sources of energy represent one of the biggest economic opportunities in a century. And the threat of climate change is real and immediate. We must make better choices for a more secure and independent energy future-by limiting carbon emissions, setting renewable energy targets, driving innovation, seeding new industries, and creating good local jobs." (martinomalley.com)
  • "Governor O'Malley fought for and signed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, making Maryland one of only a handful of states that are taking decisive actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions--the primary cause of global warming." (votesmart.org)
  • "Governor O'Malley made broad, common-sense reforms to reduce gun violence, including implementing a handgun qualification license requiring fingerprint background checks, an assault weapons ban, and a magazine capacity limit." (martinomalley.com)
  • "Governor O'Malley signed legislation to reduce gun violence during the 2013 legislative session which implemented several common-sense gun violence measures, including fingerprint background checks, an assault weapons ban and a magazine limit." (votesmart.org)
  • ""Today more Marylanders have affordable, comprehensive health coverage through Maryland Health Connection thanks to the hard work of our team, led by Dr. Sharfstein, Isabel FitzGerald and Carolyn Quattrocki," said Governor O'Malley. "I also commend the hundreds of partners, navigators, brokers and carriers who are working to make our system successful and ultimately keep more Marylanders healthy." "The success of Maryland's second open enrollment period thus far is a testament to the hard work of the leadership and employees at the exchange and our partners," said Lt. Governor Brown. "With the newly upgraded website and more local outreach events, more than 136,000 residents were able to successfully and easily sign up for quality, affordable health coverage in a little over one month." (votesmart.org)
  • "Well, I think the perceptions of the Affordable Care Act will greatly change once the enrollment period comes to close by the end of March. By the end of March, you will see most states hitting their goals, you'll see our country having extended health care with more people. And all of those that have been scared and frightened that somehow something is going to happen to their health care will realize that those scare tactics were not true, that those were just falsehoods pedaled by the ideological right." (votesmart.org)
  • "Together, so that the children of New American immigrants, can realize their full potential,we passed the DREAM Act in Maryland." (votesmart.org)
  • "Governor O'Malley welcomed New Americans to Maryland. He passed the DREAM Act. He signed legislation granting undocumented workers drivers licenses to make Maryland roads safer, and stood up for the rights of unaccompanied children at the border - Maryland housed more unaccompanied minors per capita than any other state. He ordered the state to stop automatically honoring federal detention requests, and for the federal government to house children with their families." (martinomalley.com)
  • "Bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows will grow our economy, expand our tax base, create jobs and lift wages-benefiting our country as a whole. We must boldly advance comprehensive immigration reform, while also using executive action to its full authority to end unnecessary detentions and expand deferred action. As Americans, when refugee children arrive on our doorstep, we shouldn't turn them away-we should act like the generous, compassionate people we are." (martinomalley.com)
  • "And, to protect the dignity of every child's home--and ensure equal rights under the law for all Marylanders--we passed Marriage Equality." (votesmart.org)
  • "Governor O'Malley led the successful effort to pass marriage equality in the Maryland General Assembly. Then when the issue went to a statewide referendum, he led the campaign, helping Maryland become the first state in the nation ever to defend marriage equality at the ballot box." (martinomalley.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Rather than reducing Social Security benefits or privatizing them, we must expand benefits so all of our seniors can retire with dignity." (martinomalley.com)

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