James Rich - Freedom Voter Guide

Party:

Other

District:

6

Office:

State House or Assembly

https://move.forwardwith.us/

Survey Responses:

S = Support
O = Oppose
NR = No Response

Life	S	O	NR
1. Protecting Life: Protecting the right to life of an unborn baby with a beating heart.	X
2. Taxpayer Funded Abortion: Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund organizations that provide abortion.	X
3. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Allowing voluntary physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.		X

Candidate's Comments:

I believe in the sanctity of life and the ability to make choices. In cases where the ability to choose has been robbed, such as rape or incest, abortion may be an appropriate action. Abortion may also be considered when competent medical professionals determine that the life of the mother or child is severely at risk. Even in these cases, thoughtful consideration is required. Life is most precious, and even in the above cases the right decision may not always be clear cut.

First Amendment	S	O	NR
4. Conscience Rights for Professionals: Prohibiting the government from denying required licensure or certification to individuals because of their religious or political beliefs.		X
5. Conscience Rights for Faith-Based Organizations: Exempting faith-based organizations (e.g. adoption/foster care providers, private schools) from regulations that cause them to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.	X
6. Prohibiting De-Banking/Insuring Based on Beliefs: Prohibiting financial institutions from shutting a customer’s bank account or canceling their insurance because of their religious or political views.	X

Candidate's Comments:

If a license or certification involves acts that are contrary to a person's religious beliefs, then the relevant area of operation of that license or certification would also involve acts that are contrary to that person's religious beliefs. Because of this, requiring licenses or certifications without exception does not trample on the freedom of religion.

Family	S	O	NR
7. Protecting Kids from Social Media: Requiring platforms to by default prevent underage accounts without parental permission, preserve parents' authority when access is allowed, and remove addictive design features and data exploitation from underage accounts.	X
8(a). Parental Rights: Allowing parents to obtain professional counseling for a child struggling with gender confusion to help the child find comfort with his or her biological sex.	X
8(b). Parental Rights: Protecting parents from losing custody of their child solely because they treat their child consistent with his or her biological sex.	X

Education	S	O	NR
9. School Choice: Allowing the use of tax credits, vouchers, and/or education savings accounts to cover the cost of children attending the school of their parents’ choice, including private religious schools.		X
10. Free Speech at School: Protecting teachers and students from being forced to refer to a person by inaccurate pronouns that do not align with the person’s sex.	X
11. School Healthcare Disclosure to Parents: Requiring schools to inform parents of any mental, physical, or emotional health information and treatment that a child is receiving at school.	X
12. Transparency in School Curriculum & Activities: Giving parents access to the curriculum, presentations, and activities that their children are learning in school and allowing them to opt their children out of school extra-curricular activities, presentations, or specific lessons to which the parents object.	X

Candidate's Comments:

Because there are organizations that purport to be schools but in reality offer little to no education, government funded education, whether tax credits, vouchers, it savings accounts, should not be used for absolutely any school a parent might choose. However, a religious school should not be automatically disqualified solely because it is a religious school. When we address someone, we should refer to them in the way they want to be referred and not the way we want to refer to them. However, writing this behavior into law is overreach.

Health and Welfare	S	O	NR
13. Medical Rights of Conscience: Protecting health care workers from losing their jobs if they decline to participate in a procedure or treatment that violates their personal beliefs and conscience.	X
14. Women’s Privacy: Preventing males who identify as female from entering sex-separated spaces intended for females, such as showers, locker rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, women’s shelters, prisons, etc.	X
15. Protecting Pregnancy Centers: Ensuring pregnancy centers that provide life-affirming support to women and their families are not targeted or penalized by government officials.	X

Candidate's Comments:

In the education process required for becoming a health care worker, such future workers would encounter any procedures that may run contrary to their religious beliefs and at that time decline to participate in them. They would then be unqualified for that procedure and thus not required to perform it - one cannot be required to perform a procedure that one is unqualified for. If an entire medical field is contrary to a person's religious beliefs why would they pursue employment in that field? The question does not seem to present an actionable issue. Preventing men who identify as women from entering sex separated facilities is appropriate only if the reverse is also true, that women who identify as men are likewise prohibited. However, it is with determining if any laws need to be legislated as existing public indecency laws are likely already adequate.