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Spotlight on: Minnesota and Colorado

PSN on March 9, 2013 - 2:00pm

In contrast to the conservative policies we've seen move in the states over the past two years, 2013 has so far seen at least a handful of states where progressive policies are being introduced and enacted across a range of issue areas. With legislative sessions about midway through, here's a roundup of the policies moving in a couple of those states -- Minnesota and Colorado:

Research Roundup 3/9: What Politicians Believe About Their Constituents, How Employment Credit Checks Keep Qualified Workers Out of a Job, and More

PSN on March 9, 2013 - 1:30pm

In this week’s Research Roundup: Reports from Demos, Center for American Progress, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Economic Policy Institute, MassPIRG Education Fund, Center for Media and Democracy, and more.

Statequesterpocalypse 2013 Kicks Off

PSN on March 2, 2013 - 1:03pm

On Friday, the across-the-board cuts of the federal budget sequester started to kick in. While planes have hopefully not fallen out of the sky (yet), as President Obama noted in a press conference on Friday, the pain will be felt incrementally, and it will be real to millions of Americans. What's worse, the self-inflicted damage to the economy predicted to result from the sequester is entirely avoidable, and in fact does little to reduce the deficit. State legislators from 46 states this week urged Congress to avert the sequester and make sure that "significant revenues" were included in any new deal. Here's more on that, and on how the cuts are set to hit the states in the coming weeks:

ALEC's "Refocus" on Economy is Bad News for Economy

PSN on March 2, 2013 - 1:02pm

Last year, the corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) came under fire for their support of voter suppression and "shoot first" laws. In response, ALEC claimed they would "redouble their efforts on the economic front" this year. But, in fact, ALEC has long focused on policies that weaken wage standards and otherwise endanger working families — and a new report released this week by the National Employment Law Project (with research support from PSN) shows just how. At the same time, efforts to combat the ALEC economic agenda advanced in states including Maryland and Washington as polls and research continue to show that policies like raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, and paid sick days are popular and good for the economy:

States Stand Up for Voting as Justice Scalia Again Offends Entire Nation

PSN on March 2, 2013 - 1:01pm

Ninety-eight to zero. That was the vote of the United States Senate in July 2006 in favor of re-authorizing the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights law which this week came under withering — and disturbing — attack from conservative Supreme Court Justices during oral arguments in Shelby Co. v. Holder. At the very same time that Chief Justice Roberts was quoting dubious election statistics and Justice Scalia was claiming the protection of the right to vote was a "racial entitlement," states across the nation continued to press forward with voter suppression measures that underscored the need to continue to protect voting rights for all Americans:

Research Roundup 3/2: States with "High" Taxes Outperform No-Tax States, The Sequester's Impact on Unemployment, and More

PSN on March 2, 2013 - 1:00pm

In this week’s Research Roundup: Reports from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Demos, Pew Charitable Trusts, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, National Employment Law Project, and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Map of the Week: Why We Still Need the Voting Rights Act

Charles Monaco on March 1, 2013 - 6:00pm

At least 6 of the 9 states covered in full by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act saw voter suppression efforts passed by their legislatures in 2012.

Lawmakers From 46 States Warn: Sequester Will "Hammer" State Economies

PSN on February 26, 2013 - 9:45am

State legislators from 46 states are sending a clear a message to Congress: if the federal budget sequester is allowed to take effect as scheduled later this week, the results would be devastating for state economies.