Michigan House District 47 Choose 1
Duties: The Michigan House of Representatives shares responsibility with the Michigan Senate to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws.Qualifications: Representatives are elected in even-numbered years to 2-year terms. They must be at least 21 years of age and a registered voter in their district. There are 110 State House districts which are re-apportioned after each census.Term: 2 years
Biographical Information
EDUCATION: How do you evaluate Michigan’s current education system in terms of quality, funding, the teacher workforce and standardized testing? What changes, if any, would you propose or support?
Candidate has not yet responded.
ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?
Candidate has not yet responded.
ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?
Candidate has not yet responded.
IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?
Candidate has not yet responded.
Biographical Information
Website
http://justin47.com
Occupation / Current Position
Attorney/ N/A
Education
University of Dayton - B.A. in Political Science (2011); University of Dayton School of Law - Juris Doctor (2015)
Qualifications and Experience
Former criminal defense attorney, former partner in law firm, former assistant prosecutor
EDUCATION: How do you evaluate Michigan’s current education system in terms of quality, funding, the teacher workforce and standardized testing? What changes, if any, would you propose or support?
Michigan's current education system is poor in terms of quality and standardized testing as evidenced by our ranking of 45th in the nation. I would support changing our education system back to phonics-based learning and merit-based learning. Essentially using the Mississippi educational model, which has received national recognition. To my knowledge, funding is not a issue. Money has been thrown at the problem previously, but test scores and reading comprehension continues to decline.
ECONOMY: What policy initiatives do you support for residents to earn a living wage and address the overall question of affordability across Michigan?
Tax cuts to individuals would help address the affordability issue. The State government has a spending problem (like most other governments). There is plenty of waste, fraud, and abuse that can be trimmed out of the state budget. Additionally, if we reduce the bureaucracy, less taxes are needed to fund the government. In other words, less government equals less taxes. Additionally, we need a moratorium on data centers. These data centers will pollute our waters and drive up energy costs. We need a moratorium to prevent families from being squeezed out of their homes due to energy costs and poisonous water.
ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY: How would you approach ensuring energy reliability, consumer affordability, and environmental protection in Michigan?
As mentioned above, I would push for a moratorium on data centers. Data centers poison waters, drive up energy costs, and create instability in the electrical grid. So they affect the affordability of homes, damage farm land, consume a lot of electricity, and poison the environment. A moratorium would end this potential threat. Moreover, DTE should not be a "regulated monopoly." Their "monopoly" should be broken up. More energy companies should be allowed into the state. Competition amongst the energy companies will drive prices down.
IMMIGRATION: What is your position on due process, First Amendment, and Fourth Amendment rights for all Michigan residents, including noncitizens, and what changes, if any, would you support?
I believe in constitutional adherence. Citizens and non-citizens are already afforded 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment rights. As such, I would not support any changes. However, there is a distinction between criminal proceedings, civil actions, and administrative proceedings. People are supposed to be afforded their 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment rights in criminal proceedings. If they are denied those rights, there are remedies that a court may impose, up to and including a dismissal with prejudice. I have represented both citizens and non-citizens in criminal cases. Immigration courts are different than criminal courts.