Joy Garratt's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- State House (NM) - District 29, Democratic
On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for State House (NM) - District 29
Key
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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.
New Mexico 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? | ||
| Reproductive health care, including the extremely difficult decision to have an abortion, is deeply personal. Such decisions should be made by a woman in consultation with her medical team, family and faith and should not involve the government. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support eliminating the state tax on Social Security benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support tax credits to promote the purchase of electric vehicles? | ||
| I have to see actual legislation concerning each of these areas. Past proposals varied a great deal. For example, Social Security benefits: Will we actually be able to do this at the present time when we have to make up a deficit in revenue? Will those in the lowest income brackets actually receive any benefit, or will this benefit those in the highest income brackets only? Also, NM reduced from 8.2% to 4.9% the tax on the highest incomes. Is this truly fair? We will have to see the revenue situation in January. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| f) 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 New Mexico? | ||
| e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | |||
| f) Do you support the legalization of recreational marijuana? | |||
| I am studying the issues of mandatory minimum sentences--what mandatory sentence would actually be proposed? The "devil is in the details." I voted for the legalization of recreational marijuana as expressed in the final composite House/Senate bill in 2019. I will be reviewing proposals on this as they are publicized and asking hard questions. | |||
| 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 New Mexico? | ||
| 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? | ||
| In the 2021 Legislative Session we must address the budget deficit, but we must do targeted, effective support for our small businesses in particular. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in New Mexico? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in New Mexico? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from New Mexico high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Many of the immigrants described in "D" have lived in New Mexico since toddler-hood. DACA classified individuals are some of our finest teachers, doctors, nurses and public servants in the state. Permitting those high school graduates to replicate the success of our DACA professionals is a win-win for our state (and their families pay taxes, I would add). | |||
| 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? | ||
| Clean water, air, water and soil are irreplaceable natural resources. They must be protected for posterity. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| My sixth grade students had a deep discussion about "D" and demonstrated a lost of maturity. Their elder siblings in the process of getting drivers' licenses had to do a hands-on course in driving, take a written test and then take a driving test at DMV. Responsible gun owners--and all but the smallest minority are responsible--know the value of taking basic courses. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through New Mexico's health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | |||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| I will be asking constituents to weigh in on "Death with Dignity" legislation. Deeply moral people advocate both for and against this, and the Albuquerque Journal supported it in an editorial. Some express fears that estranged family members would misrepresent the wishes of those who are undergoing challenging health situations; others have seen family members go through excruciating pain and quality of life issues and want them to have that choice. I cannot take a position on this at this moment. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New Mexico's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New Mexico's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by New Mexico state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of the phrase "In God We Trust" on all public buildings and license plates? | ||
| D: I am a person who deeply values my personal relationship with God and finds profound guidance for my life through prayer, meditation and study and reflection on holy scriptures. In other words, I do trust in God, and that faith is a foundation of my life. I do not believe, however, that we need this on our license plates and public buildings as New Mexicans have diverse religious beliefs, including some not believing in God. Out of respect for each and every New Mexican, we do not need inscriptions. | |||
| I am a consumer advocate and will be sponsoring legislation to ensure that contract renewals, particularly those that are online, require adequate notification of consumers. I will again sponsor or co-sponsor legislation on transparency in publicizing capital outlay distributions; slight revisions to HB20 "Grown Your Own Teachers Act;" provisions of the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit; and work on broadband expansion, road expansion and health care initiatives (behavior health, protecting pre-existing conditions, and affordable health care). | |||
| Amending the "Grow Your Own Teachers Act" wills not require additional funding, although I will be vigilant about ensuring that existing funding is protected--this is a powerful conduit to expand our teaching force in NM. The consumer protection bills benefit New Mexicans and protect them from unwanted services--no funding necessary. Investing as much as possible in the expansion of Paseo Del Norte is a priority--the amount will depend on how much capital outlay we are able to obtain--due to the budget deficit I hope that we will still have some! |
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