Jim Haadsma
DemocraticQ1 Scientific and technical expertise can inform decisions related to healthcare, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and emerging technologies. What role, if any, should scientific evidence and expert input play in your policymaking process, and how would you communicate scientific uncertainty or evolving evidence to the public?
“Scientific evidence and expert input is imperative to legislators making informed decisions about many bills which come before the Michigan House and Michigan Senate. I would continue to rely on expert input in my legislative role, as I did for 6 years when serving in the MI House previously, and as I have and continue to do in my 42 years of Michigan law practice.
In relation to scientific uncertainty and evolving evidence, I would explain to constituents that a first hypothesis failed, and that a new one must be considered, as I have done in relation to my public communication about the build-out of data centers.”
KEYWORDS: Scientific; expert; hypothesis
Q2 Government research funding supports universities, medical centers, and technology development across Michigan and the nation. What role, if any, should the federal government play in supporting scientific research and innovation, and what outcomes would you prioritize when evaluating those investments?
“The Michigan legislature must invest more robustly in Michigan higher education funding to advance medical and technological outcomes beneficial to Michiganders. If I were on a MI House Budget Committee, I would prioritize such funding in relation in making Michigan appropriations, using the budget tool as a way to improve Michigan life.”
KEYWORDS: higher education; budget; invest
Q3 Michigan farmers face challenges including shifting weather patterns, localized droughts, fluctuating input costs, and global market pressures. What policies or investments, if any, would you support to help farmers remain productive and economically competitive, and what role could scientific research and innovation play in those efforts?
“Although I haven’t previously served on the MI House Agricultural Committee, I am attuned to the plight of Michigan agricultural businesses and workers, especially given the effects of federal tariff policy and climate change on the agricultural economy.
I would continue to come to the rescue of certain agricultural sectors, as I did in my second session in the MI House in context of the Michigan tart cherry industry.
I would prioritize Michigan agriculture in the budget process; buttress MSU Extension programs (I served on an MSU Extension advisory board for the 8 years I served as a Calhoun County commissioner); and support Future Famers of America with state funding impetus.”
KEYWORDS: tariff; climate change; Extension
Q4 Michigan communities continue to face challenges related to aging water infrastructure, contamination concerns such as PFAS, and long-term protection of the Great Lakes. What policies or investments, if any, would you support to improve drinking water safety and water infrastructure in Michigan?
“Were I elected I would prioritize protection of the Great Lakes, from a better defense to invasive carp entering Lake Michigan to more successfully protecting wetlands (a backbone of the Great Lakes watershed).
I would invest in PFAS remediation and regulation.
I would support a much-needed infusion of state budget dollars to chore up water infrastructure, sorely needed given examples like the flooding in Sanford and Midland in 2020, and given the Flint water crisis from 2015 forward.”
KEYWORDS: invasive carp; wetlands; flooding
Q5 Many communities face shortages in healthcare providers and limited access to specialty care. What policies, if any, do you support to address this daily challenge and do you envision emerging technologies playing a role?
“The Michigan legislature needs to do more to keep local and rural hospitals open; tackle the healthcare workforce shortage so that more doctors and nurses are incentivized to practice in Michigan, especially in our most needy rural communities like Sturgis; and fight back against the pending miasma of tens of thousands of Michiganders becoming medically uninsured given the upcoming Medicaid coverage cessations associated with the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s effectuation after this year’s Election Day.
I do envision emerging technologies playing a role in some of Michigan’s health care challenges responses, but mostly I expect proper budget appropriations to such responses as the vital part of health care challenges responses.”
KEYWORDS: rural hospitals; Medicaid coverage; budget appropriations
Q9 Rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and large-scale data centers are increasing demand for energy and water infrastructure. What policies, if any, would you support to balance technological growth with infrastructure reliability and environmental sustainability?
“I would now support skyscraper-high guardrails for Michigan AI data centers, given what we know now in relation to what we didn’t know 2 and 3 years ago. Data centers shouldn’t be tax-incentivized and must pay their own freight; data centers must pay their market share of water and electricity requirements; data centers must control their noise (see news on a noisy data center in Dowagiac); and the State of Michigan must prioritize local control in relation to the siting of data centers in a community.”
KEYWORDS: guardrails; noise; local control