Amy Paschal's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- State House (CO) - District 18, Democratic
Key
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Amy Paschal has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Colorado State Legislative Election 2024 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 (e.g. Medicaid) for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| Medical providers allowed by Medicaid and other public funding should be chosen based on their medical competence not based on political agendas. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support limiting state government spending on social programs (e.g. SNAP, TANF)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to promote economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs in your state? | ||
| Yes | d) Would you support a constitutional amendment to repeal or limit the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (known as TABOR)? | ||
| TABOR is a complex set of very restrictive tax policies founded on the notion that government spending should be contained as much as possible. At the same time, our citizens expect government at all levels to provide quality services including infrastructure, schools, and police. Because TABOR makes it so difficult to make much needed investments, over 80% of counties and 98% of school districts have deTABORed. It's time to consider some deTABORing at the state level. At the very least, Colorado should adopt a graduated income tax. Our flat income tax combined with a naturally regressive sales tax make Colorado a state with regressive income tax policies, meaning the lower income folks pay more taxes than the wealthy on a percentage basis. History shows that regressive tax policies don't cause wealth to "trickle down" and, in my opinion, aren't reflective of a civilized and caring society. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for violent 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| The law should allow a person accused of a violent crime who is under the age of 18 and above a minimum age of at least 13 to be considered for trial as an adult depending upon the circumstances of the case. Prosecution should have the option to try as an adult. It should not be mandatory. Enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police reduces trust in the police and inhibits witnesses from cooperating with police. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector (e.g. for business or the environment)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Colorado? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in Colorado? | ||
| Regarding regulations on the private sector, I'm always open to removing or modifying ineffective or overburdensome regulations. I am also supportive of streamlining processes for efficiency. However, I don't stand under the generic "reduce regulations" banner. I don't find that meaningful. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in Colorado? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Colorado? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from Colorado high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| I support adopting education standards that Colorado educators believe will be effective, whether that comes from the federal education standard or not. While I don't support cutting off charter schools completely from funding, I do support increasing their level of accountability. Further, in order to support any school with tax payer dollars, I believe it must adopt a curriculum reflective of the subject matter experts, not based on political or religious agendas. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state governments allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| I support the Colorado goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2040. This means we must increase our renewable energy capacity and reliability while refraining from making further investments in oil and gas UNLESS deemed necessary to sustain our needs while we work toward 100% renewable. The pace of our transition must be determined by our ability to keep energy prices affordable for consumers and provide a just transition for oil & gas workers and oil & gas dependent communities. | |||
| Yes | a)Do you support limiting campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the use of an independent or bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in Colorado? | ||
| Colorado already has limits on campaign contributions from corporations, unions and individuals. Dark money (aka "soft side") spending is where we need more reform. Colorado already requires some form of ID for voting. Most voters don't realize this because they vote by mail. However, they have all shown an ID at some point to vote this way. Based on my experience working in the polls, the vast, vast majority of voters already show a government-issued photo identification in the form of a Colorado driver's license or a military ID. However, I support having other options available such as a college photo ID or a birth certificate. I believe ranked choice voting can be effective in the right circumstances such as in primaries and in non-partisan races, especially if there is a large pool of candidates. I do not support initiative 131 because combining primaries takes even more power away from minority parties. The initiative also will cost tax payer and election department resources with a short timeframe for implementation. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, closing the boyfriend loophole)? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the right to concealed carry in Colorado? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support levying a 6.5% excise tax on the manufacture and sale of firearms and ammunition to be imposed on firearms dealers, manufacturers, and ammunition vendors? | ||
| I support every American's constitutional right to own firearms for protection and sport. However, given how many people die every year from gunfire, through intent, accident and suicide, SAFETY must be paramount. Guns must be kept out of the hand of criminals and those with mental illness who are a danger to others. Military grade weapons, aka guns and gun accessories manufactured for to fire as many bullets as possible in a short amount of time, (ie kill as many people as possible) do not have a place in civilian society. Their danger far exceeds any sporting or self-defense benefit. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| Yes | c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die (e.g. those with a terminal illness) through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support mandating vaccinations (e.g. for school or employment)? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| Any vaccine mandates must include vetted medical and religious exceptions. I do support expanding paid family leave and medical benefits but the question is who should pay for them? I believe this is too much of a financial burden for small businesses. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in Colorado's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Colorado's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Colorado's state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support removing the provision in the Colorado state Constitution banning same-sex marriage? | ||
| As your state house representative my priorities will be: 1. Affordability (housing, education, healthcare, daily goods) 2. Homelessness and associated crime 3. Infrastructure including roads, public transportation and clean energy 4. Wild fire safety I believe affordable housing is our most economic critical issue right now in District 18 and statewide. A sufficient supply of affordable housing for working class folks such as teachers, police, firefighters, and healthcare professionals is crucial for a healthy, robust economy. El Paso county and Colorado currently have a severe shortage of such housing driving up costs. The best way to bring housing costs down is to increase supply of housing affordable by working class folks. Increasing that supply will require state, county and municipal governments to work together. I support a multi-pronged approach including financial incentives for developers, administrative process simplification, construction defects tort reform which properly balances consumer rights against the skyrocketing costs of construction insurance, and rental reform around short-term rentals and corporations that hold large inventories of single-family homes for rent. In El Paso county, we have capacity at homeless shelters. However, we don't have sufficient wrap-around programs to assist homeless people in addressing the problems that caused them to be homeless in the first place and getting them off the street permanently. We need to invest in infrastructure, public transportation, clean energy, and wildfire mitigation and response programs. Not all of these initiatives require additional funding, but for those that do, possible funding sources aside from the general fund are: - Tax incentives. - Use of the unprecedented levels of federal funding available for housing and infrastructure. We must ensure Colorado is taking full advantage of these funds. - Enterprise funds which are except from TABOR limitations. - Referring tax increases to voters for very targeted purposes. - Pursuit of creative, targeted revenue measures, similar to the legislation on oil and gas fees last year that created both regulatory certainty for the industry as well as funding for transit infrastructure. - Reformation of TABOR including the introduction of a graduated income tax. |
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