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Though the state legislature opted against proposals that would have generated revenue, closed or reduced certain corporate tax breaks, or created a more common-sense and effective budget process by allowing voters to re-consider the legislative super-majority required to pass revenue increases,...
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Last week, the Connecticut Senate approved landmark legislation (SB 913) to establish paid sick leave as a vital economic and health security measure. The bill is now before the House of Representatives, where it enjoys strong support. Governor Daniel Malloy has advocated the legislation...
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After multiple attempts in the past four legislative sessions, large telecommunications providers have finally succeeded at preventing municipalities from facilitating community broadband services in North Carolina. Despite expressing concerns that industry-supported legislation would result in...
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Last week, lawmakers in Maine enacted the first significant pro-worker law to come out of this year’s session. The Work-Sharing Bill, LD 269, creates a program that will help save thousands of jobs in future economic downturns. It passed with unanimous support in both legislative chambers...
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This month, the Oregon Legislature unanimously approved a bill to provide increased transparency of state spending on economic development subsidies. The legislation, HB2825, would require the Department of Administrative Services to publish detailed information regarding the amount, purpose, and...
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As another round of state legislatures begin to wrap up their 2011 sessions and a flurry of positive action on immigration continues to gain momentum, it is becoming increasingly clear that anti-immigrant bills have failed to gain much traction at all in state legislatures across the nation. Even...
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Last weekend, members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, local clergy and labor leaders were joined by Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor to protest attacks on workers’ rights in Ohio similar to those that have sprung up in numerous states this year. The town-hall style gathering in...
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As the middle class remains under sustained attack in state legislatures, media attention is increasingly turning to the corporate interests orchestrating a national spread of industry-written bills seeking to weaken state economies, strip workers of their rights, suppress voter turnout, and...
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As dozens of publicly traded companies consider shareholder resolutions to increase corporate accountability around political spending, one, in particular, is helping to lead the way. News Corporation, the media company owned by Rupert Murdoch whose holdings including Fox Broadcasting Company,...
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On Tuesday, President Obama reiterated his hope for comprehensive immigration reform in a speech delivered in El Paso, Texas. Yet while federal reform remains stalled, many states have continued to push forward with advancing common sense approaches to immigration policy. In just the last few days...
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Several states have seen lawmakers take a cynical and economically-damaging approach to revenue shortfalls by slashing unemployment insurance (UI) for those hit hardest by the downturn. Driven by flawed right-wing ideology, Florida legislators recently approved an extreme measure that not only...
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At the same time that unemployment remains at historic highs, creeping back up to nine percent last month as more Americans who had given up looking for work return to the job market, corporations are lobbying hard in Washington, DC for free trade deals that will make it easier for them to send...
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