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Fair Share Ruling: A Setback for Maryland, Not for Other States
Thursday, July 20, 2006In Today's Dispatch:Rewarding-WorkNext Steps After Court Strikes Down Maryland Health Care Law Strengthening-CommunitiesRewarding-WorkResearch-Roundup
Next Steps After Court Strikes Down Maryland Health Care LawYesterday, a federal judge overturned Maryland's Fair Share Health Care law, which had required large employers such as Wal-Mart to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care for employees or pay the equivalent in fees to the state. The judge in his decision argued that the federal ERISA (Employment Retirement Security Act) law preempted the Maryland law. The decision is no doubt a setback for Maryland advocates seeking to hold irresponsible employers like Wal-Mart accountable for providing health care to their employees, rather than just dumping the costs on taxpayers. However, advocates should not see this one court decision as definitive for a number of reasons:
Look for more discussion in Monday's Dispatch on models that states are pursuing to expand coverage for the uninsured and hold employers accountable for their share of health care costs.
Vouchers and the Myth of Private School SuperiorityTwo things happened this past week. Some in Congress proposed spending $100 million on vouchers for private schools as a supposed educational solution for low-income students. And a report released by researchers funded by Bush Department of Education emphasized why vouchers are no panacea for students, since, despite myths promoted by the rightwing, students in private schools perform no better than those in public schools.
The Bush administration obviously didn't like the message of the report and quietly released it on a Friday, a common tactic to bury news. In fact, anticipating release of the report, NCLB blog predicted the Friday release as fitting a pattern of the Bush administration trying to downplay studies that don't fit its denigration of public schools. The treatment of the private schools report was similar to how the Department of Education tried to bury an earlier report that found public school students outperformed students in charter schools and private schools when race and economic backgrounds are taken into consideration. Much to the frustration of the rightwing crowd trying to privatize public schools, there is just no strong evidence that vouchers deliver any real benefits for students. Which is why the school privatization ideologues aren't even trying to put vouchers on the ballot this year, since they know voters have been rejecting vouchers at the polls in recent votes. Instead, they are pushing deceptive gimmicks like the 65% solution. But the message for legislators and educational advocates should be simple-- enough with the gimmicks; let's talk about real reforms and the necessary funding to make sure all public schools succeed.
Progress on the Minimum WageAfter years of stagnating wages for working Americans and inaction by Congress, legislators and activists across the country are taking the lead in securing higher minimum wages on a state by state basis. They are achieving some outstanding results. Here's where the minimum wage fight stands in a number of states:
Child Poverty, Financial Service Affordability, Immigration Emergency Room Crisis Myths, and Changes in Child CareOne reason child poverty persists in the United States, as this EPI Snapshot highlights, is that our country does relatively little through spending and tax programs to ease poverty compared to all other developed nations. Check out the rather dramatic graph comparing efforts between nations. One of the nastiest facts of the marketplace is that lower-income families often pay much higher prices -- especially for financial services, mortgages and insurance -- than the prices paid by wealthier families for the same goods. The Brookings Institution details policies that can promote public-private partnerships to deliver lower cost prices to working families. A new study in the journal Health Affairs shows that communities with high levels of noncitizens do not have more crowding in emergency rooms, helping debunk the myth that immigration is the major cause of problems in our health care system. A new study by the Urban Institute outlines how subsidies for child care have increased as part of changes in welfare laws in recent years, while encouraging more collaboration between child care, Head Start, pre-kindergarten programs, and intervention programs for children with disabilities. Next Steps After Court Strikes Down Maryland Health Care LawRILA
v. Fielder: Maryland federal court decision striking down Fair Share
law Vouchers and the Myth of Private School SuperiorityNational Assessment of Educational Progress, Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling Progress on the Minimum WageAFL-CIO, Minimum Wage by State Eye on the RightThe day after we exposed how a New York developer named Howard Rich was personally steering roughly $4 million through a complicated network of non-profits to promote his hardline libertarian agenda, additional news breaks. One of the few groups that lacked a definitive money trail to Rich was Montanans in Action -- the shadowy organization promoting a takings measure, a TABOR-style spending cap, and a judicial recall initiative. Yesterday, the Montana press reported that a Montana attorney who gained access to Montanans in Action's financial records filed complaints alleging that the organization has violated Montana's campaign disclosure laws. The complaints also indicate that MIA, like its sister organizations in other states, is little more than a front organization for Howard Rich and his buddies. How surprising. Three Steps Forward1. RI: State Bans Predatory Lending Two Steps Back1. MA: Big Dig Privatization Causes Corruption, Safety Problems 2. CO: Legislator Under Fire Again for Forwarding Racist Emails Jobs & InternshipsProgressive States' policy department is hiring for new policy positions and is also looking for interns. For details, visit the Jobs & Internships Page. SuggestionsPlease shoot me an email at msinger@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features. Matt Singer | |||||||||||||||||
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