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Massachusetts

States Still Leading Feds on Minimum Wage

Nathan Newman on July 10, 2008 - 9:54am
With food and gas prices rising rapidly, low-wage workers can at least welcome an increase in the federal minium wage to $6.55 per hour scheduled to go into effect on July 24th.  Even better, a number of states will also be increasing their minimum wage rates even higher than the federal rate:

Mass. Health Care Reform One-Year Later: Clear Successes and Challenges Emerge

PSN on June 5, 2008 - 9:43am
Mass. Health Care Reform One-Year Later: Clear Successes and Challenges Emerge

Mass. Health Care Reform One-Year Later: Clear Successes and Challenges Emerge

Adam Thompson on June 5, 2008 - 8:35am
One year after implementation, Massachusetts new health care law has dramatically reduced its rate of the uninsured by half, increasing coverage in both the public and private sectors for 355,000 previously uninsured residents, a new Urban Institute study published in Health Affairs shows.  The state has improved access to coverage but rising costs are a key challenge as the state moves forward.

Eliminating Health Disparities, Achieving Equity

Adam Thompson on May 12, 2008 - 10:17am
In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the US health care system 37th in the world despite spending more than any other country.  In 2007, according to the US Census Bureau, the US ranked 42nd in life expectancy. If you are a person of color, a low-wage worker, non-English speaking, or live in a low-income community, the picture is much worse.  For instance, the life expectancy for African-Americans is 73.3 years, five years shorter than it is for whites.  For African-American men, it is 69.8 years, just above averages in Iran and Syria, but below Nicaragua and Morocco.

Tough Wage Enforcement Law Approved in Iowa Senate; Anti-Immigrant Measures Rejected

Nathan Newman on April 17, 2008 - 9:10am
The Iowa Senate on Tuesday approved SF 2416, a bill to sharply increase fines on employers violating Iowa state wage laws, crack down on the practice of misclassifying employees as "independent contractors" to evade those laws, and protect workers reporting violations from retaliation.  

Focus on Prescription Drug Reform

Adam Thompson on March 24, 2008 - 10:25am

$287 billion -- that is how much the U.S. spent on pharmaceuticals in 2007, representing a significant driver of health care costs.  While spending on hospital and physician care surpass spending on prescriptions, drugs still account for 14% of all health care expenditures. Combine this with polls that show 70% of Americans believe the drug industry puts profits ahead of people, and it's no wonder that in 2008, at least 540 bills and resolutions are being considered by states across the country to reduce prescription drug prices, ensure the quality of medications covered by public and private health plans, and reduce the undue influence of pharmaceutical industry marketing - which itself tops out at $30 billion each year.

California Health Care Reform - Momentum Stalled

Adam Thompson on January 31, 2008 - 10:55am
After more than a year of negotiation, compromise, and ample national attention, major health care reform in California was dealt a seemingly lethal blow on Monday.  The compromise health care measure,  ABX1 1, was rejected by the Senate Health Committee by a none-too-subtle 7 to 1 vote.  The reform, which resembled the 2006 Massachusetts law, was largely crafted by Speaker Nunez and the Governor after an earlier version was vetoed by Schwarzenegger in September.   Senate President Pro Tem Perata, while a participant in negotiations throughout, never came to fully back the latest measure. 

Dealing with the Foreclosure Crisis at the State Level

J. Mijin Cha on January 14, 2008 - 11:22am
The statistics are shocking. The current mortgage crisis is expected to result in the foreclosure of 3 million homes. In Stockton, CA, one in every 27 homes has been hit by the foreclosure crisis. And, Countryside, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, just released figures showing that foreclosures and late payments rose in December to the highest on record. Calls to helplines by homeowners facing foreclosure have skyrocketed.  As a corollary, local animal shelters are seeing a sharp increase in intake due to owners having to surrender family pets when they lose their homes.

California Upholds Free Speech Access to Malls for Labor Boycotts

Nathan Newman on January 3, 2008 - 9:57am
On December 24th, the California Supreme Court gave a major Christmas present for labor rights, affirming that under California law, union members in a mall could distribute handbills calling for a consumer boycott of one of the mall's tenants. The decision, Fashion Valley Mall v. NLRB, built on an earlier state high court decision in 1980 that deemed malls to be a "public forum" where the public had free speech rights. The recent decision extended that principle to active labor boycotts -- a critical tool for labor to get its message out to consumers.

States Call for Moratorium on Home Foreclosures

J. Mijin Cha on January 3, 2008 - 9:57am

Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration's proposal for fixing the subprime lending crisis is an industry-led deal that involves completely voluntary actions to fix the current crisis and will ultimately help only a few of the millions of people who have either lost or are in danger of losing their homes.  With absolute failure at the federal level, it is again up to states to step in.  In two recent editorial pieces, the executive directors of the Progressive States Network and the Drum Major Institute called on New York Governor Spitzer to impose a six-month moratorium on foreclosures to stop the rapidly increasing rate of home loss, a policy all governors should enact. A moratorium would give lenders incentive to restructure loans on fair terms and fight back against the Wall-street backed predatory lenders.