Meet the Candidate

ZIMMERMAN, DAVE

Running For:

REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

District:

99

Political Affiliation:

REP

Age:

67

Occupation:

State Representative

Biographical Info: (click to expand)

Why are you running for office? (click to expand)

Survey

Response Legend

YYes
NNo
UUndecided
−Declined to Respond / Position Unknown / Unclear
*Comment
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Should education funding be available directly to families through a grant, scholarship, or education savings account so that parents can send their children to the school of their choice, including religious schools?	Y*	This is very important. 1. Some schools are failing, these families need options 2. All options should be available to parents. One size does not fit all 3. I live in a school district where 40% of school age children do not attend public school. It is time to quit talking about a fair formula and implement one. 4. Home school, hybrid home school, private schools, private Christian school, cyber school, etc etc have grown by leaps and bounds during and since covid. 5. The Pa. Dept. of Ed. is out of control. Unions are about teachers and administrators and no longer about the students. Mandates coming out of DOE are out of control and many Superintendents are simply excepting and buying into the non-sense. 6. The time is here for vouchers.
2. Should marijuana be legalized and sold commercially for recreational use?	N*	1. No, this should never be made legal. Just look at legal states, the problems and cost it brings far out weigh any tax revenues. 2. Marijuana wrecks families and messes up kids. 3. Business owners are very concerned about employees operating equipment and driving while under the influence of Marijuana. 4. This has the potential of driving up insurance costs. This has the potential of driving up health costs.
3. Should the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act be amended to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," which would require public schools and other public facilities to open up restrooms and locker rooms to members of the opposite sex?	N*	No, absolutely "no"!!! Our children have a difficult enough time simply growing up and finding their place in life. Thowing this into the mix is confusing, creates anxieties and goes against God's plan. God made male and female and that was not a mistake. Children dealing with confusion over gender, left alone grow out of the confusion as they go through puberty. Parents need to affirm children in their biological gender.
4. Should Pennsylvania enter into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which would include a new carbon tax on electricity producers?	N*	No, surrounding states will benefit more then Pennsylvania if our state joins RGGI. The hard reality is that agriculture can be the solution to carbon. Everything that is green and growing uses carbon. Young trees need high volumes of carbon. Warm season grasses have deep roots which store up carbon. During growing season carbon can be almost depleted while winter month carbon levels are higher. We look at all the wrong places for fixes.
5. Should increases in state government spending be limited to the rate of inflation plus population growth?	Y*	Every fiscal year's budget should not spend more then we will realistically bring in. In addition each budget should excellerate the pay down rate of our State debt. Currently we are on an unsustainable path.
6. Should state taxpayer funding be allowed for elective abortions?	N*	We should use zero tax payer dollars for abortions. Also we should pass some common sense legislation in Pennsylvania. Currently abortions are legal up until 24 weeks. We should pass a heartbeat bill as a bare minimum.
7. Should all voters be required to show identification before voting?	Y*	We broke election law as we knew it in 2019 and lost the trust of most Pennsylvanians in election integrity. After many attempts we have fixed nothing since we broke it. Now we are heading into a presidential election. Voter identification is one fix that seems very simple, most would agree with it and it would restore some trust in the system.
8. Should striking union members have access to unemployment compensation?	N*	If Unions decide to strike they should take the risks that go with that. It is not fair to have striking employees receive unemployment while the business owners need to absorb the cost of a strike.
9. Should public schools be prohibited from allowing males who identify as females to compete in girls’ sports?	Y*	This is completely unfair to biological females. Females need to be compete with females. Males need to compete with males. This really becomes a issue of common sense. School administrators know better. Now they need to do better.
10. Should schools have to post curriculum online for review by parents and taxpayers?	Y*	Yes, children belong to the parents or guardians. Schools are funded by taxpayers. Schools should absolutely post curriculum online. The buck stops with elected school board members. Superintendents, Solicitors, etc. are all hired and can be fired. Schools boards need to demand this.
11. Should funding for public and state-related universities follow the student rather than go directly to the institution?	Y*	Funding students instead of the universities will create competition and be a much more fair system for taxpayers.