MSA-VT 2016 Candidate Questionnaire Response ID:58 Data
1. Contact Information First Name Dave Last Name Sharpe Email Address
[email protected] Phone Number 802-453-2754 Office you are seeking State Representative Legislative District Addison-4 Political Party Democratic
Top Priorities 1. As an elected official, what are your top priorities for the upcoming biennium? Improving Special Education Improving Career and Technical Education Increasing the number of Vermont students that seek education beyond high school
Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program 2. As an elected official, will you support efforts to create a statewide family and medical leave insurance program in Vermont? Yes Comments:
Water Quality 3. As an elected official, will you work on strategies that go beyond Act 64 to address water quality in Vermont? Yes Comments: 4. The number of dairy farms in Vermont have steadily declined from more than 11,000 in the 1940’s to less than 900 today and have seen a roughly 15% decline over the past 5 years. What is your perspective on the future of dairy agriculture in Vermont? The national dairy monopoly has made dairy farming in Vermont very difficult, consequently Vermont farms must diversify and move in the direction of healthy natural foods and value added products. The state
should help this transition.
Dr. Dynasaur 5. Last year, the Vermont legislature approved financing to study the impact of expanding Vermont’s existing Dr. Dynasaur program up to age 26 and removing income limits. The results of this study are due in January. As an elected official, if the study comes back showing savings for Vermont families, will you support efforts to expand Dr. Dynasaur? I need more information Comments: At this time I think that the better course of action in health care is to move to providing primary care for all Vermonters. As the information becomes clearer I will support the best path toward universal health care and lower health care costs.
Increased Broadband Access 6. As an elected official, will you prioritize expanding broadband access to every town in Vermont? Yes Comments:
Retirement Security 7. People with access to employer-sponsored retirement plans are nearly 15 times more likely to save for retirement. 45% of Vermont private sector workers are not covered by a workplace retirement plan. Almost 72% of workers in small companies have no retirement plan available; an additional 9 percent have a company-sponsored plan, but do not participate. In Vermont, small businesses represent 96.3% of all employers and employ 59.7% of the private-sector labor force. As an elected official, will you support efforts to provide a state-authorized retirement option for Vermonters who do not have access to an employer provided plan? Yes Comments:
Legalization of Marijuana 8. As an elected official, will you support the legalization and commercialization of marijuana? Yes Comments:
Child Care 9. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Financing High Quality Affordable Child Care is expected to release its findings in November. As an elected official, will you work to increase access to affordable, high quality child care in Vermont? I need more information Comments:
Debt-Free Higher Education 10. As an elected official, will you support efforts to create a debt-free pathway to post-secondary education for all Vermonters? Yes Comments:
Property Taxes 11. Please summarize your perspective and position on property taxes and education financing. We need to create larger more efficient school districts which are able to deliver better educational opportunities to our Vermont children at a cost taxpayers can afford. I believe, with larger school districts, we can reshape special education in a way that provides better education to students and saves money at the same time using best special education practices.
Minimum Wage 12. As an elected official, will you support an increase to the minimum wage? Yes Comments:
Permitting 13. Do you believe it is important to address inefficiencies and complexities in the permitting process to make it easier for Vermont small businesses to grow, if all current environmental standards remain in tact? Yes Comments:
2. Thank You! Thank you for filling out our questionnaire. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch:
[email protected] Confirmation Email Oct 24, 2016 12:19:14 Success: Email Sent to:
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