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Candidate Questionnaire

Name: Jim Robey

Office Sought: State Senate

District: 13

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Have you previously held public office?

Yes
Howard County Executive

What is your Occupation?

Current - Howard County Executive
Former - Howard County Police Chief

What are the three key issues of your campaign, and why are they important to the business community?

Transportation and mass transit, affordable housing and health care. Road improvements and expanded transit are needed to prevent our roads from becoming more crowded than they already are; they are also needed to allow this area to continue to take advantage of the job growth opportunities we have now and the job growth that will occur in the next 5 years due to the federal Base Realignment and Closure activities at Fort George G. Meade. The availability of affordable housing has become a problem throughout our area, and this district is no exception. Similarly, the cost of health care is an issue everywhere.

The importance of these issues to the business community is clear: congested traffic means longer commuting times for employees, and more cost to deliver goods and services; the lack of affordable housing means that businesses are less attractive to potential employees; the high cost of health care affects the bottom line of every business that provides health insurance to its employees and makes it impossible for many employers to offer health insurance at all.

All of these issues relate to the ability of business to attract and retain good employees.

Why are you the best person to represent the people of your district?

My 8 years as county executive and 32 years in law enforcement provide me with the knowledge and the courage to do the right thing in Annapolis.

Fiscal Responsibility
Despite the temporary surplus resulting from robust economic expansion, funding of current state services and new accounting requirements impacting state retiree health insurance costs will consume all available state revenues. The State continues to have a long-term structural deficit.

Which of the following actions would you support to balance the state’s budget?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Contain state spending
Cut state spending
Avoid new unfunded or under-funded state spending mandates
Authorize slot machines
Increase taxes

Do you support any of the following measures to increase state revenue?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Income tax increase
Income tax increase on high wage earners
Corporate income tax increase
Sales tax increase
Broadening the sales tax base to include professional services
Regional sales tax increase for mass transit
Dedicating one cent of the existing sales tax to transportation and/or transit needs
Gas tax increase
No new spending mandates

Health Care Affordability
Health insurance costs are rising at levels nearly three times the overall rate of inflation. Employers and employees are increasingly unable or unwilling to purchase health insurance coverage as it is currently offered.

Which of the following steps do you support to make health care insurance more affordable and available?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Enact meaningful medical liability reform
Enact association health plan legislation
Reform the small group health plan
Enact a single-payer, government-run health care system
Review and repeal unnecessary health care mandates
Employers should contribute to HSAs and leave the health care decision to the individual
Tax employers who don’t offer health insurance, or whose plans don’t meet state requirements

Do you support expanding the “Wal-Mart bill” payroll tax to more employers in the future?

Yes.

Civil Liability Reform
Maryland’s fair and predictable laws governing tort liability are an essential part of Maryland’s business climate, and are important in business retention and attraction.

Which of the following do you support?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Support reforms to civil liability law that will help moderate medical liability insurance rates
Restore the cap on non-economic damage awards in latent disease and latent injury cases
Enact legislation to provide reasonable limits for appeal bonds
Make it easier for a person filing suit to receive punitive damages
Lower caps on non-economic damages.

Miscellaneous

Do you support indexing Maryland’s minimum wage to inflation?

Yes.

In 2004, Maryland de-coupled its state estate tax from the federal estate tax. Should this change be repealed to bring Maryland law back in line with the federal law?

Should the Governor be authorized to impose price controls when products are in short supply?

No.