Name: Joel Briscoe

Age: 54 years old

Office seeking: state House of Representatives, District 25

Lives: close to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City

Occupation: retired teacher who works with the Davis Education Association, a teachers union

Political experience: incumbent state representative after having been appointed to position to finish the term of Christine Johnson after she moved out of Utah

Party: Democrat

Joel Briscoe lives close to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, but the Democratic legislator said in an interview he holds the same values of many of his constituents in the Snyderville Basin.

A key part of his platform is combating sprawl, a stand that will likely be appreciated by many of the people who live in the Basin. Over the past 20 years, the Basin has grown tremendously, driving much of the population growth of Summit County since the early 1990s.

Briscoe said he is interested in shepherding along some sort of mass transit linking Summit County and the Salt Lake Valley, long an idea that has intrigued local leaders but one that remains unrealized.

He said the Statehouse has spent lots of money building roads instead of pursuing a mass transit system into Summit County. If that occurs someday, he said, traffic could be cut in the Basin and on Interstate 80 between Summit County and the Salt Lake Valley.

Briscoe acknowledged he is unsure such a mass transit system would be funded, however.

Meanwhile, Briscoe said he wants Park City to become a demonstration city for a technology that fuels electricity-powered vehicles through embedding electrical circuits inside the road. Park City proper is not inside District 25 of the House of Representatives.

“I love Summit County. I think I represent one of the best districts in the state,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe said he wants state-funded tourism promotions increased and said the state’s alcohol laws should be relaxed. He said he wants alcohol regulators to issue additional licenses to serve alcohol.

“We’re holding back economic development,” he said about the number of licenses that are available.

Other issues important to Briscoe include capping political donations and ensuring the Legislature’s budgeting process is transparent to regular Utahns.