Mass Alliance sent me its 2012 candidate questionnaire on June 28, 2012.

The text that is in blocks is the text of the questionnaire.

My answers and comments are outside of the blocks in italics.

My campaign responds to all questionnaires and publishes all answers sent.

MASS ALLIANCE 2012 QUESTIONNAIRE

Date :  July 15, 2012

Candidate:   Lee Scott Laugenour

Party:  Green-Rainbow

District: 4th Berkshire (State Rep)

Address: PO Box 612 / Lenox MA  01240-0612

Web Site: www.scottlaugenour.org

Email: hq@scottlaugenour.org

Phone Number (campaign) 413 551 9222

Campaign Manager:     Kalin Jordan  

Phone: 413 551 9222

Please return your completed questionnaire by: July 15

1. Revenue

While the current budget deficit is partially a result of the national recession, state policy has played a major role. In the 1990’s, the Massachusetts state government passed over $3 billion dollars in tax cuts, which disproportionately went to the wealthiest taxpayers. These tax cuts have meant chronic underfunding of public systems. The Coalition for Our Communities (ourcommunities.org) is working actively to increase revenue to invest in our communities.

a. The state income tax is the major source of funding for state programs and services.

Would you support raising the income tax from 5.25% to 5.95% (its rate in the 1990s) while increasing the personal exemption to hold down increases for low and middle income families? (This change would bring in more than $600 million in new revenue.)

Not Yet.  First, I would need to know specifically what exemption amount this question presumes.  I already am on record as supporting a progressive income tax that would exempt the first $46,000 in wage and investment income.  The tax for wage and investment income above the exemption would be 8.3%.  This would bring in an additional $1.5 billion.  It is also important when discussing taxes to discuss the budget and the value that taxpayers get from their taxes, such as public health insurance and education that do not bankrupt them.  Please visit my web site for more discussion on fair taxes and budgets.)

 

Will you oppose efforts to lower the income tax rate?

Yes, although I support significantly increasing the exemption so that those making less than $90,000 pay a net lower tax rate.

Will you support an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution to allow for a graduated income tax?

Yes

Massachusetts taxes different kinds of income differently. Would you support   raising the tax rate for investment income (short and long term capital gains and dividends and interest), which are primarily earned by the wealthiest taxpayers from 5.25% to 8.95% if we included an exemption for low and middle income seniors? (This change would bring in more than $600 million in new  revenue.)

Not yet.  First, the question posits no specific exemption amount.  I also believe that wage and investment income should be taxed in the same progressive manner.  As already indicated, I support exempting the first $46,000 of individual wage and investment income, and then taxing any wage or investment income above that amount at a rate of 8.3%.  This will raise an additional $1.5 billion in revenue.

b. The Commonwealth spends billions of dollars in tax breaks, credits, and exemptions for corporations. While these tax breaks were designed to create jobs, they have delivered far less than they promised and there is no mechanism for accountability for those promises.

Would you support cutting and/or capping these tax breaks?

Yes, depending on the results of a cost-benefit analysis of the kind presumed in the next question.

Would you support the state collecting and publicly disclosing the information about the benefits actually provided by corporations receiving tax credits?

Yes

Would  you support capping the state’s Film Tax Credit?

Yes, depending on the results of a cost-benefit analysis of the kind presumed in the previous question.

c. Will you support a resolution calling on Massachusetts’ Congressional delegation to vote to reduce the federal military budget 25% and use the savings for jobs, housing, education, healthcare, and aid to the states?

Yes.  My campaign partnered with Massachusetts Peace Action to collect signatures to place the Budget 4 All Question on the ballot in the 4th Berkshire District.  I signed the petition.  We expect that we have collected enough signatures for this to be on the ballot.

d. What changes would you propose to the Massachusetts tax code to make it fairer?

In addition to the progressive income tax that I outlined in my answers I would support legislation allowing localities to implement progressive property tax policies.  Current legislation prevents municipal governments from introducing progressive property tax rates.

I would require that any significant change in taxes and fees be accompanied by an independent analysis measuring to what degree the new tax or fee would tilt the tax structure in a progressive, regressive, or fairness-neutral direction.

2. Health Care

The Commonwealth leads the nation with just over 93.7% insured. Yet there are key challenges moving forward – including funding and controlling costs – that threaten our progress and limit access to affordable and quality care.  

a. Would you support restoration of full dental benefits for Mass Health recipients (currently only cleanings and extractions are covered)?

Yes

b. Will you support legal immigrants living in Massachusetts having the same access to subsidized healthcare as other Massachusetts residents, as outlined in the recent Supreme Judicial Court decision?

Yes

c. Would you support legislation creating a single payer health insurance system in Massachusetts that guarantees access, is publicly administered, and lowers the cost of health care?  

 

Yes.  I am ardent and vocal on this issue, having lived in democracies where voters are vigilant in protecting their medicare and in holding their elected officials accountable for its quality.

d. Reforms to the payment systems for health care providers are designed to control health care costs. Will you work to ensure that such reforms protect funding for:

Reproductive health services?

Yes

Mental health services?

Yes

e. The state personal care attendant (PCA) program operated by MassHealth provides home care services to seniors and persons with disabilities who need assistance with activities of daily living.  However, state funding for this program is uncertain and PCAs receive low wages and no health insurance. Will you support full funding for the PCA program in the state budget and other efforts to both expand access to this program and to stabilize and grow the PCA workforce

Yes

3. Housing

a. In the last ten years, while the need for affordable housing has increased, funds for affordable housing have been significantly reduced. Would you support restoring or increasing funding:

To repair existing public housing?

Yes    

To create new units of affordable housing including low-income housing?

Yes

To fund the Mass. Rental Voucher Program (MRVP)?

I need to know more about the program, how successful it is, and what alternatives for better service exist before answering this question.

b. Would you oppose efforts to tear down structurally sound public housing?

Yes

c. Will you oppose efforts to weaken or eliminate the comprehensive Permit Statute, Chapter 40B, which encourages the development of affordable and mixed income housing in communities that currently have less than 10% affordable housing?

Yes. As a voter, I voted against Question 2 on the 2010 ballot in order to protect Chapter 40B.

4. Welfare

a. At the State House, proposals are often put forward to restrict access to cash assistance and related benefits for very low-income families and individuals. Do you support finding other ways of balancing the budget and retaining the safety net for low income families and individuals?

Yes

b. Low-to-moderate income families face substantial barriers to building their assets – such as a car to drive to work or modest savings – necessary to achieve financial stability and break the cycle of poverty. However, many transitional assistance and education programs are restricted to those with few or no financial assets, making it harder for recipients to gain employment and creating disincentives to saving.    

Do you support increasing asset limits so that families and individuals do not have to become completely destitute in order to receive small amounts of assistance?

Yes

Do you support allowing licensed drivers in households receiving transitional assistance to own a reliable vehicle to get to work, school, and medical appointments?

Yes.  I also support funding the expansion of public transportation.

Do you support allowing transitional assistance recipients to save up to $10,000     received from personal injury settlements or other third party sources to be used for debt reduction, job training, transportation, and/or housing?

I need more information about current policy and how it can be improved.

Do you support allowing parents to use education and training to meet their work activity requirement for more than just 12 months so that they can secure family-supporting jobs?

Yes

5. Jobs and Economic Development

a. If workers in Massachusetts make the decision to unionize, would you be willing to publicly support a union-organizing drive and discourage management from fighting their decision?

Yes. I support the right for workers to decide whether to unionize, I would publicly call upon management to be neutral, I would publicly declare my own personal neutrality.

b. Would you speak for and join workers in their struggles on a picket line or in a strike for better working conditions, wages and benefits?

Yes

c. An ongoing trend in health care has been to shift increased costs to workers by raising co-pays and deductibles and the percentage state workers pay for their health insurance. Would you oppose a further increase in the rate state workers pay for their health insurance and oppose attempts to raise co-pays and deductibles?

Yes  

d. The Commonwealth has increasingly privatized state services as a way to save money. Real savings remain elusive, but it is clear that private sector workers providing these services are paid less.

Would you oppose privatization of state services when it cuts workers’ salaries and benefits and denies them union representation?

My answer would depend on knowing the particular service that is being considered either for transition to the private sector or to the public sector.

Would you support responsible contractor rules that require private contractors performing public work, including service industries like security and food service, to pay prevailing wages?

Yes

e. State legislators currently receive a cost of living increase to their salary based on the consumer price index. Would you support indexing the minimum wage in the same way, so it keeps up with the cost of living?

Yes.

f. Would you support raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour, a level closer to an actual living wage?

I am supportive of a meaningful miminum wage and of developing a living wage social contract.  I would need more information and background research before committing to a specific amount for a minimum wage.

g. Unemployment Insurance helps protect families and the state economy in times of economic downturn.

Would you oppose efforts to lengthen the amount of time employees must work before they qualify for unemployment insurance?

Yes

Would you oppose efforts to shorten the maximum number of weeks of benefits (30 weeks) unemployed workers can receive?

Yes

Would you support increased enforcement efforts of employers to prevent them from     misclassifying workers as independent contractors and avoiding paying into the Trust Fund?

Yes, in conjunction reforms that relieve the burdens related to health care and social benefits that disproportionately impact small employers.

h. Nearly one million workers in Massachusetts are not allowed to even a single day off from work to care for themselves or a sick family member.  Would you support legislation providing workers in Massachusetts with the right to earn up to 56 hours of protected paid sick time to take care of their own health or that of a family member?

DEPENDS  (The practice in the US with benefits legislation such as sick time has been to mandate that businesses absorb the cost.  Not all workers benefit because small employers are usually exempted.  I believe it is time to begin shifting such benefits into a public social security program, such as what is seen in successful social democracies around the world.   I would rather introduce legislation for a publicly administered sick day fund in Massachusetts.  Please read a blog I wrote a couple years ago on paternity leave benefits.)

6. Civil Rights and Immigration

a. In its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the fundamental constitutional right to privacy includes a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. Under Roe, abortions can be banned after viability, except when a woman’s life or health is at risk. Massachusetts currently has such a ban after 24 weeks.

Do you support a woman’s fundamental right to choose an abortion as set out in Roe v. Wade?

Yes

Do you oppose attempts to undermine this right, for example: requiring every woman seeking an abortion to delay and get state-scripted “counseling” first; barring abortion coverage in private health insurance; or banning Medicaid or other public funding for low-income women’s abortion care?

Yes

Do you oppose attempts to impose bans on abortions prior to viability?

Yes

b. Massachusetts currently has three unconstitutional abortion and contraception statutes that could jeopardize women’s health and well-being if they were ever enforced again. These include: a pre-Roe v. Wade ban on all abortions, a hospitalization requirement for abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy, and a ban on contraceptive sales to unmarried people. Would you support legislation that would repeal these provisions?

Yes

c. In Massachusetts, women under the age of eighteen seeking an abortion are required to obtain the consent of a parent or to get a waiver by a judge. While most teenagers involve their parents – even in states without laws mandating parental involvement – many cannot. The result is almost always a delay that increases both the cost of the abortion and the physical and emotional risk to the teenager.

The Minors Counseling bill would make the age of consent sixteen and allow a teenager who needs consent to obtain it from a parent, a legal guardian, foster parent or family member over the age of 25, or to seek counseling from a “licensed medical professional” about her options. Will you support the Minors Counseling bill?

Yes

d. Would you oppose placing on the ballot any constitutional amendment that would ban or impair marriage rights for same-sex couples?

Yes

e. Do you oppose the death penalty?

Yes

f. Civil rights protections have been extended to transgender people in the areas of employment, housing and credit. However, protections in public accommodations have not yet been established for gender identity, leaving transgender people vulnerable to discrimination in venues which are open to the general public, such as grocery stores, banks, public transportation and other establishments where daily life is conducted. Will you support legislation to extend non-discrimination protections in public accommodations to transgender individuals just as the current law protects against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc?

Yes

g. A college education is essential to earning a good living in today’s economy. Would you support allowing children, who have graduated from a Massachusetts high school but who are undocumented immigrants, access to in-state tuition rates at the state’s public colleges and universities?

Yes

h. The federal “Secure Communities”  policy calls for local and state law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law, leading to the deportation of immigrants who have not be convicted of any crime. Would you oppose the implementation of “Secure Communities” in Massachusetts?

Yes

7. Environment

a. If we fail to reduce global warming pollution significantly, many scientists predict that our climate in Massachusetts will resemble that of South Carolina’s by the years 2070-2099 along with a sea level rise in 10-24 inches. Coastal areas, including parts of Boston, will experience significant shoreline changes and permanent flooding. Would you support decreasing global warming pollution by:

Supporting significant increases in the deployment of clean renewable and alternative energy development, such that Massachusetts is on pace to reach Al Gore’s 100% renewable energy

goal by 2020 (including Cape Wind), by supporting legislation which would simplify the processes of permitting and construction of alternative energy facilities?

Yes

Opposing all new and/or additional uses and public subsidies for coal in any form,     including coal gas, liquefied coal, and so-called “clean coal”?

Yes

Oppose all increases in incineration of trash or any type of municipal solid waste. Incineration would include pyrolisis, plasma, gasification, and so-called “waste to energy?”

Yes

Supporting incentives for the most efficient vehicles and reduced vehicle use such as mileage

based insurance and increased excise taxes for “gas guzzler” autos?

Yes  

b. Toxic chemicals have become widespread in our air, water, food, schools, workplaces, household products, and ultimately, our bodies. Most people have over 100 chemicals in their bodies that interact with each other creating unpredictable damage. “An Act for a Competitive Economy Through Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals” is an example of legislation that would create a program to replace some of the worst toxic chemicals with safer alternatives where feasible. Do you support legislation that requires replacement of high hazard toxics with

existing alternatives?

Yes

c. The collection and recycling or disposal of electronic products, computer products, and cathode ray tubes in TV’s and computer monitors are an increasing burden and portion of cities’ and towns’ solid waste management budgets. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements require manufacturers to be financially responsible for these costs, thus giving the manufacturer a financial incentive to make the products less toxic and more recyclable and saving cities and towns that financial burden. 24 states already have EPR laws. Would you support legislation that would require producer financial responsibility for e-waste and would you support legislation to require EPR for other household hazardous products?  

       

Yes

d. The Bottle Bill, the State’s nickel deposit on beverage containers, encourages recycling and decreases litter. However, about one-third of beverage containers (including water, teas, sports drinks, and other non-carbonated beverages) are not covered. Currently covered beverages have an 80% recycling rate, but non-covered beverages have only a 22% recycling rate. Will you actively support updating the bottle bill to include these beverages?

Yes

e. Will you support both long-term and short-term funding solutions for the MBTA and the State’s other Regional Transit Authorities, which would enable them to maintain service levels with only reasonable fare increases? For more information

Yes.  I serve on the board of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority and am an ardent supporter, advocate, and user of public transportation.  I have voted against fare hikes and have partnered with other groups to promote increased use of public transportation.  Here is my latest report to the Town of Lenox.

8. Education & Child Care

       

a. Quality child care and early education are a proven investment in our children’s future. Do you support increased state funding to:

Make high quality early education and care available to all working families?

Yes

Increase rates to raise the wages of early educators?

I am an ardent support of strong high-quality public education systems that are financed by fair progressive taxes.  I will need to understand the current formula and see specific proposals before answering this question.

Expand pre-school and after-school programs?

Yes      

b. State-funded child care providers receive minimal wages and few, if any, benefits.  Would you support giving these child care providers the right to organize a union and receive compensation for professional development?

Yes

c. Adequate resources are needed for students to achieve state education standards as laid out in the curriculum frameworks. Specifically, in order to help students achieve state standards, will you support additional resources targeted to:

Early childhood (pre-kindergarten) Education and Full-Day Kindergarten

Yes

Lowering class sizes (K-3)

Yes

Special Education funding

Yes

Healthy Schools–funding for renovation/replacement of school buildings

Yes

Establishing a state minimum salary for teachers

I would need to see a specific proposal.  Cost of living varies widely in the state.

Remedial and after school programs

Yes

Technology (adequate materials, technology and library Staff)

Yes

Mentors for new teachers

Yes

d. Will you support and advocate for legislation that will 1) conduct a study to determine what resources are necessary and adequate to provide the programs and services students and schools need to meet the Commonwealth’s education standards and 2) support and advocate for legislation to raise the foundation budget to provide adequate funding to recruit and retain teachers, reduce class sizes and provide early education in the public schools to better prepare students to meet the state standards and help narrow the achievement gap?

Yes

e. When the state underfunds public higher education, the only way colleges can continue offering courses and programs is to increase tuition and fees. Will you support increasing funding for higher education including a plan that establishes a stable and predictable funding stream/formula for higher education institutions?

Yes

f. Do you support collective bargaining rights for all public school teachers and support personnel, including employees in charter schools and chronically underperforming schools?

Yes. My incumbent opponent voted to allow collective bargaining rights to be revoked in underperforming schools.  (An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap)

g. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education recently adopted a new comprehensive evaluation system designed to improve the quality of instruction in our schools accomplished as a result of a collaborative process involving dozens of education stake holders.

Will you oppose a ballot question that circumvents this collaborative process?

Yes

Would you oppose legislative efforts that undermine the collective bargaining process over school personnel decisions?

Yes

h. Do you support revisions to the anti-bullying law that would:

Require schools to report data on bullying incidents to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education?

Yes

Require that schools’ anti-bullying plans include enumerated categories of students more vulnerable to bullying, such as those bullied because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity?

Yes

i. Young people need good information in order to be able to make healthy choices about sex and relationships. Do you support legislation to require public schools that teach sexual health education to provide age appropriate, medically accurate, information that is inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including abstinence and the effective use contraceptives?    

                                 

Yes

9. Voting Rights

a. Every year, some citizens arrive at the polls only to discover they are unable to vote. Would you support Election Day Registration legislation allowing eligible citizens to register and vote on the day of an election, as they can in eight other states, including New Hampshire and Maine?

Yes

b. Do you oppose legislation to require voters to show government-issue photo IDs in order to vote?

Yes