KALAMAZOO, MI -- Four candidates are hoping to represent the 63rd District in the Michigan House of Representatives.

The four candidates, Republican Matt Hall, Democrat Jennifer Aniano, Green Party candidate John Anthony La Pietra and Libertarian Ronald Hawkins, are vying for the seat.

The 63rd district includes the eastern half of Kalamazoo County along with portions of southern and central Calhoun County, including the city of Marshall.

This year, MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund to provide candidate information and other voting resources to our readers. Each candidate was asked to answer a series of questions about their policy stances.

Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigan's county and local races will be available at Vote411.org.

Hall is a self-employed attorney, according to his questionnaire response. He holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from Western Michigan University and a Juris Doctor degree in advanced constitutional advocacy from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He is a former West Michigan liaison for the Michigan Attorney General's Office and has worked in the private sector to combat propulsion systems manufacturing, his response said.

Hall beat out incumbent David Maturen for the Republican nomination during the Aug. 7 primary election.

Aniano is a teacher with bachelor's degrees in journalism and history, she said in her response. She also holds a Masters of Education and serves as the vice president for the Kalamazoo Education Association for Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Anthony La Pietra said he works as an attorney specializing in election law, constitutional and civil rights and freedom of information. He holds a bachelor's degree in public administration and is a graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He has 10 years of experience as an attorney.

Hawkins did not fill out the questionnaire.

1. PRIORITIES: What are your top three state legislative priorities and how would you address them?

HALL

1. Lower auto insurance rates. Michigan has the highest auto insurance rates in the country. I support lowering auto insurance rates by providing more plans and more choices for consumers and cracking down on fraud.

2. Continue strengthening our economy. We can further grow our economy and expand job opportunities by promoting skilled trades training, cutting taxes, supporting a quality education, and eliminating/modernizing overburdensome regulations.

3. Rebuild our infrastructure. We should dedicate our fuel tax money toward rebuilding our roads and ensure our water infrastructure provides clean drinking water.

ANIANO

Education Labor Infrastructure

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

#1]Strengthen government BY the People, boost Social Justice & Grassroots Democracy, help Michigan rise from DEAD LAST in integrity/accountability (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18427/michigan-gets-f-grade-2015-state-integrity-investigation) by learning from best practices & improving on them to serve People of all parties (or none).

#2]Make long-term Sustainability a major policy goal in fields ranging from roads to energy to water.

#3]Apply other Green Values: Ecological Wisdom, Non-Violence; Community-Based Economics, Decentralization, Feminism, Personal/Global Responsibility, Respect for Diversity.

2. EDUCATION: What measures do you support/propose to achieve improved educational outcomes and accessibility for Michigan students from early childhood through post-secondary education?

HALL

1. Not enough elementary school students are proficient readers. Early literacy programs must be made a priority.

2. Repeal common core. More control and decision making authority should be returned to local school boards.

3. State accountability and funding systems should be changed to focus on subject matter mastery and a student should be encouraged to move at his or her personalized pace.

4. Vocational, career, and technical education in our state must become a higher priority and receive additional support.

ANIANO

School funding must be increased and equitable. Skilled trades should be a part of the curriculum for graduation. Testing needs to be reduced. We should focus on closing the opportunity gap, not the achievement gap. Two- year degree programs and certification programs should be free or heavily subsidized. The cost of four-year degrees must go down.

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

SOCIAL JUSTICE/Give all students high-quality critical education meeting their needs/interests. Tuition-free college, erase student debt.

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, DECENTRALIZATION/Give local people more say in how public $$ are spent to educate their kids as good learners/citizens. Student/parent control of student data. Strong public oversight of any public $$ for charters/privatization.

COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS/State, Federal gov't help overcome varying local ability to fund education, reach fairness/equality.

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY/Fund community-targeted programs, not cookie-cutter teach-to-test approaches.

3. ECONOMY: What policies do you support to increase jobs and help Michigan residents improve their economic positions

HALL

1. Help hardworking taxpayers by improving skilled trades training opportunities and cutting taxes, so people can keep more of the money they have earned.

2. I support cutting overburdensome government regulations and mandates that kill job creation.

3. I support repairing Michigan's crumbling infrastructure. Taxpayer dollars spent on repairing roads, bridges, and other infrastructure projects must be spent responsibly and contractors must be held accountable. Road tax money must be dedicated to repairing our roads. Public/private partnerships should be encouraged to repair our state's infrastructure.

ANIANO

I believe this starts with ending right-to-work. Giving power back to the every day workers in Michigan will ensure a better economy.

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

ECOLOGICAL WISDOM, SUSTAINABILITY/Green New Deal creating jobs for 100% fully renewable energy production, sustainable use by 2030; real jobs program hiring for needed public works. There'll be no economy or jobs if we don't end the fossil-fuel economy & reverse climate change.

SOCIAL JUSTICE/Living wage ($15/hr a starting point); equal pay for comparable work; index expensing of top compensation to average worker pay.

COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS: Gov't is for ensuring general welfare; make stimulus efforts bottom-up, with local oversight/accountability.

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY: End discrimination, stop wasting talent.

4. ELECTIONS: What state policies do you support regarding campaign funding and voting rights?

HALL

I support requiring photo identification to vote.

ANIANO

Everyone eligible to vote should easily be able to do so. We need to do a better job of giving voting access to our elderly, disabled, and poor.

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL JUSTICE: Empower & enable all voters to vote (no caging out); all votes count; only voters to replace elected officials.

Robust rights of recall/referendum/initiative; END REFERENDUM-PROOFING.

Non-partisan redistricting (or PR); END GERRYMANDERS.

Fair access for candidates of any party (or none) to the ballot & public financing/forums.

Stronger FOIA/open-meeting laws, tougher conflict of interest definition & limits; disclose public officials' finances & gifts to them.

CITIZEN REVIEW/CONTROL BOARDS for all government enforcement actions. (I take no PAC $$, max $100 from citizens.)

5. ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: What actions or policies do you support to protect Michigan's water, air and land for current and future generations, while meeting the state's energy needs? Explain how those actions or policies would affect the future of Enbridge Pipeline 5.

HALL

Environmental regulations should be based on scientific evidence and not politics. I support science based, reasonable environmental regulations.

ANIANO

I support protecting our Great Lakes and easing into renewable energies. I understand the necessities of pipelines; however, I believe we need to protect our Great Lakes. There have been too many oil disasters in recent history for the people of Michigan not to want to protect our most precious resource. We are the gatekeepers of the Great Lakes and we need to behave as such.

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

FULLY SUSTAINABLE energy production & use by 2030; drop all-of-the-above plans which allow nuclear/fracking.

PROGRESSIVE UTILITY RATES to boost conservation, cut consumption, reduce stress on infrastructure & "need" for extracting energy.

BAN FRACKING; leave fossil fuels in the ground.

CLEAN, FRESH WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT; Michigan must protect Great Lakes (esp. from more pipeline spills, like Enbridge in Kalamazoo River; SHUT DOWN LINE 5) & ensure sustainability.

NEW/WIDER ROADS DON'T CURE CONGESTION (http://wp.me/a4Avdc-1m); focus on maintenance, guaranteed durability.

See GPMI platform: http://wp.me/a4Avdc-2f

6. JUSTICE: What policies will you pursue to promote social and racial justice in our state?

HALL

1. I will continue to advocate for the sanctity of life. I will support legislation aimed at reducing the number of abortions occurring in our state.

2. I support reforming Michigan's civil asset forfeiture laws to require a criminal conviction before the government can sieze a person's assets. A person is entitled to due process under the law before his or her property is taken away by the government.

ANIANO

We have to first look at sentencing and how this practice is utilized across the state. We also have to make sure all public employees are aware of social justice, racial justice, and the systemic issues that plague our state.

ANTHONY LA PIETRA

Some government agencies have an inspector general or other ombudsperson. Most often, they watch how public money is spent. But we also need to watch how elected officials use power entrusted to them by the people to bring justice FOR THE PEOPLE. We need independent citizen oversight of county prosecutors, sheriffs, courts, the Attorney General's office. I will take seriously any credible claim of abuse of power, whether against a race or class or on any other basis. And I will work to end abuses, and empower and protect citizens who make such claims, so our state will have justice we can trust - FOR THE PEOPLE.

All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidate and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters, except for necessary cut if a reply exceeded character limitations. Spelling and grammar were not corrected. Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should NOT be considered as an endorsement. The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties.