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The US Senate’s failure last year to pass comprehensive clean energy reform means that state legislation is our only chance to create sustainable, green jobs that remain in the United States. For the 2011 legislative session, progressive state legislators can incentivize the demand for...
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With the failure of the DREAM Act in the US Senate in December 2010, it is likely that any and all developments in immigration policy will occur at the state level. As anti-immigrant efforts in the states become more and more extremist, an increasing number of members of state legislatures are...
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The current crusade against “voter fraud” in the states is just a thinly-veiled right-wing excuse to suppress the votes of low-income, elderly, and minority constituencies. Voter registration modernization would prevent actual fraud more effectively than Voter ID bills, and would also...
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At the end of 2010, the Federal Communications Commission approved rules intended to preserve open access to the Internet. The order provoked criticism from consumer groups and advocacy organizations who argued that the rules did not go far enough. With this discontent at the federal level,...
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This week, New York Governor David Paterson signed the Wage Theft Protection Act into law, ending a long grassroots and legislative campaign to address the myriad ways workers are routinely cheated out of a fair day's pay by their employers, all in direct conflict with federal and state wage and...
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The precarious economic and fiscal circumstances states confront merit a more detailed and scrupulous review of spending on economic development subsidies. Near double-digit unemployment, massive revenue shortfalls, and a slow recovery continue to batter state budgets and dim growth prospects. ...
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Thanks to a bill introduced by State Representative Mike Foley, Ohio will go ahead with a popular program that supports renewable and advanced energy projects. The program, the Advanced Energy Fund, was set to expire by the end of this year but was extended for an additional three years. The Fund...
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This week, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson in Virginia became the first judge in any courtroom to issue a ruling declaring part of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Despite being preceded by two rulings in similar lawsuits that fully rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments and declared...
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As new leadership prepares to take control of the House of Representatives in January, families who are still suffering through the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression will get the chance to see whether conservatives are serious about creating jobs, or whether they...
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During a special legislative session, New York state officials again have the opportunity to pioneer an energy efficiency policy that guarantees payment for retrofits for 1 million homes and businesses without touching the state budget. The proposed legislation guarantees the creation and...
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The morning after Election Day, conservative candidates across the country woke up to find themselves the beneficiaries of an historic national wave of voter anger over the state of the economy and record unemployment. Yet in the first few weeks after this clear voter statement of frustration over...
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While the anti-immigrant rhetoric of this fall's campaigns may point to more shortsighted state proposals in 2011, states and municipalities have already begun expanding educational access for undocumented students to attend state universities and community colleges. These state and local efforts...
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