http://www.progressivestates.org/dispatch Thursday, June 7, 2007NY: Increasing Funds for Legal Services for the PoorEVENT: 2007 Legislative Season Review
Progressive States Network and the Center for American Progress are hosting an event in Washington, D.C. on Thusday June 14th at 9am where legislators will discuss recent progressive gains in their states. In Today's Dispatch:
NY: Increasing Funds for Legal Services for the Poor
Under Spitzer's proposal, the additional funds would come from banks required to pay a higher interest rate on funds deposited in special accounts that lawyers use to temporarily hold money deposited by clients. The New York State Interest on Lawyer Account Fund (IOLA), pools together this interest income, which is forwarded to the IOLA Fund and granted to legal services programs. All 50 states have similar programs to provide funds for legal services. Currently, banks in New York pay an average interest of 0.5 percent on the funds, far less than they pay to comparable accounts with savings for other purposes. Under Spitzer's proposal, banks would be required to pay a more competitive rate of around 2.7 percent-- increasing funding for legal services from $13 million currently to as much as $65 million. Spitzer's proposal has wide support, including Chase bank, which will voluntarily implemented the regulations even before the effective date. Florida --the first state back in 1981 to use interest on lawyer accounts to fund legal services -- was also the first state in 2004 to require banks to offer competitive interest rates on those accounts. The resulting revenue from those accounts rose from $22.7 million in fiscal year 2004-05 up to $67.3 million by the following year. While many caution that even these increases leave many legal needs of the poor unmet, these new banking rules on IOLA accounts are a step in the right direction.
Illinois Limits School Subcontracting to Protect Employees
Corporate interests have seen privatizing public education as a potential goldmine for years. While the public has overwhelmingly rejected vouchers and most other for-profit education schemes, many cash-strapped communities have been tempted to subcontract out support services, such as food services, bus drivers and custodians, which has often meant trying to save money by chopping the wages and benefits of the lowest-paid workers in the school system. Instead, HB 1347 requires that:
The Illinois law adds to laws across the states that are increasingly demanding that public contracting benefit both the public and the employees effected by those contracting decisions.
MA to Make Post-High School Education Universal
Gov. Patrick's proposal comes at a time when we are seeing few gains in access to and enrollment in higher education. An annual report on education in the United States - Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education - found only 8 states improved enrollment in education or training beyond high school and only 1 state improved the affordability of higher education. An even more sobering fact is that 43 states "flunked" with regard to college affordability. As the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education details, most jobs increasingly require more than a high school degree but not always the training of a traditional college. Making community college more affordable is a critical component to improve local economic job training for all high school graduates. Research RoundupResearch Roundup
With passage of the federal minimum wage, the Economic Policy Institute has released a new study showing where state minimum wage rates will remain higher than the new federal rate in coming years. Good Jobs First has created the Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch, a state-by-state database detailing the billion dollar plus in government subsidies received by the company, including 39 deals totaling $200 million just in the last three years. Multiple reports in Wisconsin have highlighted corporate abuse of loopholes with the state doing little to track the problem, so the Center on Wisconsin Strategy has released a a policy report calling for the state to enact corporate tax and subsidy disclosure legislation to better inform the public and policymakers on how to reform the tax system. In The Challenges of Change, CLASP highlights that one out of five children have immigrant parents, yet despite the need for help in integrating into American life, these immigrant children are far less likely to participate in pre-school and other non-parental child care programs, highlighting the need for greater outreach and coordination with immigrant communities on early childhood programs. The Bell Policy Center in Colorado has released a report detailing the need for increased insurance regulation in the small-group health insurance market in order to increase health coverage, research that supports strong implementation of the just signed HB 1355 by Colorado Governor Ritter that bars insurance companies from raising premium rates on small businesses based on the health status of workers. Highlighting the problem of states without an income tax, a Washington State Budget and Policy Center study explains that while that state has relatively lower overall tax rates than most other states, low income individuals actually pay a higher share of their income in taxes than in any other state. Please email us leads on good research at research@progressivestates.org Department of Corrections
On Monday, a typo indicated that Minnesota's renewable energy mandate would require 25% renewable energy by 2020; instead we meant that the state would require that "by 2025 all utilities in the state get a quarter of their energy from renewable sources and that, by 2020, the largest state utility achieve 30% renewable energy, with 25% coming from wind power." ResourcesNY: Increasing Funds for Legal Services for the Poor
New York Governor's Office, New State Regulations to Increase Funding for Civil Legal Assistance to Eligible Poor New Yorkers IOLA Fund of the State of New York ABA Journal Report, Expressing Their Interest: Rise in Rates Swells IOLTA, and Legal Services Gain Illinois Limits School Subcontracting to Protect Employees
Illinois Education Association, Schools & School Employees Win Big in Subcontracting Legislation AFSCME, Power Tools for Fighting Privatization MA to Make Post-High School Education Universal
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Governor Patrick Unveils Vision for Next Phase of Education Reform U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education, The Role of Community Colleges in Workforce and Economic Development Eye on the Right
The current immigration debate may appear to have come out of nowhere, but a coordinated, highly funded machine has been pushing for closing the gates, lock up anyone undocumented, and throw away both keys. And a good portion of the infrastructure was started by John Tanton, a mild mannered retired ophthalmologist who got his start through the Sierra Club & Zero Population Growth. But somewhere along his path of
activism things took turn an unexpected turn. What started out as a drive for
a rising tide for all boats became a new breed of
cryptoracist
"think tanks" cited disturbingly frequently in the media. Some of the groups'
funders include the Pioneer Fund, which calls for the creation of "better
humans through selective breeding." Perhaps one day the media will learn the
lesson: If it calls itself a think tank it's
all
the more suspect. 3 Steps Forward1. OR: Two Bills to Boost Student Voter Registration 2. ME: Environmental Groups Back Wind-Power Plan 3. CA: State Suing to Hold Communities Responsible for Sprawl's Contribution to Global Warming 2 Steps BackJobs & InternshipsCheck out current opportunities with Progressive States on the Jobs & Internships Page. MastheadThe Stateside Dispatch is written and edited by: SuggestionsPlease shoot me an email at jbacino@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features. John Bacino Progressive
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New
York Governor Elliott Spitzer
Illinois legislators have taken a stand against using subcontracting to
undermine benefits for school support workers by
passing 
Massachusetts
Governor, Deval Patrick, has announced a
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