Andy Mele'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.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Andy Mele has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Florida 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? | ||
| I do not like abortion. It is a tragedy. As a society, we should not be selectively executing our young, and yet I believe that it has to ba safe and available, and rare, especially for incest, rape, fetal alcohol or drug dependency situations, and other possible examples. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| Yes | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | c) Should tax be charged on online sales from retailers based outside Florida? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support charging bottled water companies an excise tax on water extraction? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| I support the elimination of Citizens United by Congress. I support the elimination fo dark-money PACS and their pernicious impact on elections. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | 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 Florida? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| In b) above, yes or no doesn't cover the question well enough. There could be case guidelines such that a minimum age, say 14, is established, and prosecution varies on a case by case basis. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 Florida? | ||
| 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Florida? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Florida? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Florida high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Florida pays $8,800 per student per year. Other states pay twice that, and more. We need to better by our children. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Florida is the Sunshine State. We have the most plentiful and free flows of accessible energy anywhere. It is criminal that we are not working harder to make true energy independence a reality. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Gun insurance should be added to the mix. Gun licenses should require renewal every 2 years, so that the authorities can look gun owners in the eye to gauge their fitness. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Florida'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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Florida's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Florida state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| d) Do you support expanding anti-discrimination laws to include hair textures and protective hairstyles? | |||
| Sorry, I have no idea what d) above is referring to... | |||
| Repeal the Bert Harris Act. Repeal the M-CORES Roads to Nowhere. End private prisons. Reduce inmate population via aging-out and reduced sentences for nonviolent crimes. Enforceable control of nutrient pollution. Repeal pre-emption bills. End corporate welfare. Return corporate taxes to previous levels. Raise the phosphate severance tax from $1.80/ton to $100 or $200. Increase "sin" taxes, e.g. tobacco and liquor. Increase gasoline taxes. Fracking ban signed into law, no loopholes. 100% solar power by 2050 Adopt Paris accord Adopt California emissions and fuel mileage limits. Teach climate change in schools taking state money K-12 Fund for coastal resiliency projects. | |||
| Top legislative priority is water quality. Thorough, enforceable limits on nutrient pollution and chlorophyll-a, as well as microcystins and other toxins produced by algae. Includes funding for FDEP to re-hire monitoring and enforcement staff, with budgets to do their jobs. I do not favor technological mitigation. It is expensive, not scaleable, and unproven. I favor prevention as the means to bring red tide events back to pre-development levels. I also support research into the impacts of red tides on long-term human health, as part of this package. Repeal Roads to Nowhere, reduce inmate populations, hike sin and gasoline taxes. |
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