On Tuesday, February 8th, Progressive States Network hosted a national conference call for legislators and advocates from around the country on messaging and framing around several key policies that can Rebuild Prosperity, including transparency, progressive revenue generation, and economic development.
Speakers included:
On Wednesday, January 19th at 3pm ET, Progressive States Network hosted a national conference call for legislators and advocates from around the country about fighting back against misguided efforts to enact voter identification legislation.
Speakers included:
On December 16, 2010, Progressive States Network hosted a webinar on utilizing accountability as a tool for economic growth and recovery.
We were pleased to hold this webinar with Good Jobs First, which recently released three new tools concerning economic development transparency. The first is a report called Show Us the Subsidies, which rates the states on their online reporting systems about subsidy recipients and performance measures. The second is Accountable USA, a set of web pages profiling each state's subsidy practices along with case studies of large/controversial deals and other features. The third is Subsidy Tracker, the first database to combine subsidy recipient information from different states into a single national search engine.
We were also privileged to be joined by Maine State Representative Diane Russell and Deirdre Cummings, Legislative Director at MASSPIRG, who discussed specific campaigns and legislative successes.
Dealing with the aftermath of the recession and continued revenue shortfalls, states cannot afford to hand out enormous subsidies or award lavish contracts with nothing to show in return. To make sure that taxpayer dollars are being used in the best public interest, states must implement stronger accountability measures.
For more resources on the subject, please visit:
Good Jobs First – AccountableUSA
Good Jobs First – Show Us The Subsidies
Good Jobs First – Subsidy Tracker
Progressive States Action – Corporate Transparency in State Budgets
Progressive States Network – Budget Transparency Advances Across the Country
U.S. PIRG – Following the Money: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data
Below are recent Stateside Dispatch articles that PSN released about transparency and accountability.
We also had the opportunity to cover these topics at our 2010 Legislative Leadership Retreat. You can find presentations and resources from that Retreat workshop under the heading "Fostering Transparency and Accountability as Tools for Economic Recovery" at www.progressivestates.org/retreat2010/materials.
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) sponsored a webinar to discuss positive state and local policies and legislation that effectively integrate immigrant workers and residents. The webinar was co-sponsored by ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, the National Immigration Law Center, and Progressive States Network, and took place on December 15, 2010.
Presenters on the webinar included:
View an archived version of the webinar here:
