Jedediah Hinkle's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- State House (MT) - District 67, Republican
On The Ballot: Running, Republican for State House (MT) - District 67
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.
Jedediah Hinkle did not provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2022 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
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.
Montana State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| For B) I have a close friend who was born out of a situation of rape. She was put up for adoption and is one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever known. She contacted her birth mother years later and thanked her for giving her life. She is also a grandma now with a wonderful family. Every life is valuable and precious even when a little life is created under tragic circumstances. The child should not suffer for the wrongs of another. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support establishing a state sales tax in order to reduce personal property taxes? | ||
| A) It all depends. I generally do Not support reducing current state employee salaries as they have come to rely on that income level. I would rather focus on vacancy savings, or amending contracts/wage levels going forward for employees hired into the future. That way a job applicant knows what pay level they'll be signing onto. C) I generally do not support implementing a sales tax over concern of triple taxing. However I would only consider implementing a sales tax if the property tax or income tax were completely removed and the Constitution amended to not allow for three taxes. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| B) Not sure what "indirect" means in this context. E) To want to register to vote or to not desire to register to vote should be free to every individual to decide. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Montana? | ||
| e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | |||
| No | f) Do you support the legalization of recreational marijuana? | ||
| B) Depends on the age and crime. If they are 15 years of age or higher then probably. E) Completely depends on what the "minimum" sentence is. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Montana? | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| E) Completely depends on what rate of increase is being proposed. If it is a rate of increase that will hurt small business and cause them to close, then no. G) If these businesses were negatively impacted do to a government mandate or law, then yes. If they were impacted by other factors not related to government, then I am not in favor of bailouts. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Montana? | ||
| b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Montana? | |||
| No | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Montana high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| A) I am not in favor of a one size fits all approach if that is what the question is asking. C) Depends on the present budget estimates and what pay level teachers are currently receiving. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | |||
| A) I don't think any energy should be subsidized, fossil fuels or renewable. B) Government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions ultimately leads to a carbon tax to which I am opposed. C) Not sure what these "initiatives" are. I would rather local governments work on drinking water needs, however I may support state funding depending on what the initiatives are. Clean drinking water is a good benefit for residents of Montana, but like I said, local governments should be the first to address this issue. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | |||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| C) A better option would be to have professional trained security stationed at schools. | |||
| a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | |||
| No | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Montana's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| 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: | |||
| No | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| c) Do you support greater efforts by Montana state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | |||
| No | d) Do you support the creation of Indigenous Peoples Day in Montana? | ||
| C) Pay level should never be granted based on a persons gender. It should be granted based on part time or full time work, experience level, or type of work performed. In multiple past employments, women have earned more than I have for the exact same work. To make a blanket statement that men make more than women without considering all the factors is a mistake. There are many factors that play into wages and gender. D) Not if it replaces Columbus Day. | |||
| Fiscal Responsibility- I believe in less spending and smaller government that provides for basic government services that all Montanan's benefit from. When government becomes too bloated it spends a lot of money that the majority of Montanan's are paying into but receive no benefit from. The more that is spent the more pressure there will be to raise taxes to which I am opposed. Montana is over 40% dependent on federal government for its financial needs. This weakens Montana's financial strength. | |||
| My top priority is to dramatically slow the increase in property taxes. We cannot stop local bonds and levy's but we can slow the rate of property taxes based on your home's increasing value. My idea will not take state funding. I am also looking to continue my work on public lands and access to lands funded by taxpayer dollars. Lastly, I would like to work on Montana's welfare system to where recipients are able to work off the system, while still being able to support their financial needs. Unfortunately this section doesn't allow "enough words" to explain my plan. |
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