http://www.progressivestates.org/dispatch [1] Thursday, March 22, 2007In Today's Dispatch:
Election Day Registration Bills Advance Nationwide
Just yesterday, a North Carolina House Committee approved [11] registration during the early voting period up to the Saturday before election day. Our friends at Demos have an updated chart [12] (current as of 3-19) on what EDR bills have been introduced around the country and how they are progressing in committee. "Democracy in our county depends on the ability of all of our citizens to participate in free and open elections," said [13] Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, vice-chairwoman of the committee on state government, in praising the Iowa bill's goals. With Election Day Registration documented to be one of the best ways to expand voter participation, these legislative advances are an encouraging sign that states across the country are making voter participation a priority.
Big PhRMA and Marketing Prescription Drugs
As reported in yesterday's New York Times [14], the darling strategy of PhRMA-marketing campaigns is hiring doctors as "consultants" to promote a drug to their peers, most often at expensive dinners or conferences hosted by drug companies. Marketing sunshine laws in Minnesota and Vermont are shedding light on the extraordinary investments by drug companies to influence the prescribing habits of doctors and other medical professionals. According to ABC News, 90% of the drug industry's $21 billion marketing budget [15]is spent on doctors. PhRMA will tell you that hiring doctors is all in the interest of education, but former drug company sales reps told the Times that doctors were hired to influence their prescribing habits. Critics, many of whom are doctors themselves, argue that these relationships adversely impact prescribing habits [16]. As a result, doctors often prescribe more [17], newer and pricier drugs over cheaper existing drugs or generics that are just as or more effective. A former sales rep for Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson said to the Times, "the vast majority of the time that we did any sort of paid relationship with a physician, they increased the use of our drug." This is reason enough to get tougher on drug company marketing tactics and pricing.
If drug companes have this much money [21] to push their products behind exam room doors, in addition to the fact that US drug prices are drastically higher than international averages [22], government at all levels can do more to regulate drug prices and the practices of the big PhRMAceuticals. An Expert Among Us
Research Roundup
Treating teenagers like adults in the criminal justice system, especially for youth charged with non-violent crimes, is a recipe for crippling young lives without increasing public safety. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging report [27] by The Campaign for Youth Justice, which also highlights which states promote the best and worst practices in dealing with teenage offenders. Want to make sure that tax dollars for businesses deliver good jobs? There's a new handbook, The Ideal Deal: How Local Governments Can Get More for Their Economic Development Dollar, produced by Good Jobs First and the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which outlines step-by-step how to design economic development contracts to maximize returns to our communities. While making sure fathers provide child support is a critical goal, CLASP argues in this issue brief [28] that ex-prisoners often end up with accumulated child support debt that drives them back into the illegal economy, so government needs to focus on policies that encourage legitimate work matched with child support levels taking into account the financial means of ex-prisoners. The Commonwealth Fund has done an analysis [29] of Congressional health care reform proposals in recent years-- a useful blueprint for states looking for how federal policy may impact state health care plans. ResourcesElection Day Registration Bills Advance Nationwide
Progressive States, Election Day Registration [7] Demos, Election Day Registration [30] Demos, Election Day Registration legislation state legislatures - 2007 [12] EDR Bills: WA SB 5561 [8], HI HB 1133 [9], IA HSB 204 [10] Big PhRMA and Marketing Prescription Drugs
Journal of the American Medical Association - Pharmaceutical Company Payments to Physicians: Early Experience with Disclosure Laws in Vermont and Minnesota [31] National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices - PhRMA Watch [32] and Advertising and Marketing [33] Prescription Policy Choices' Best Practices [34] Progressive States Network - Beating the drug industry at its own game [19] Progressive States Network, Reining in Prescription Drug Costs [35] NCSL - 2006 Prescription Drug State Legislation [36] Families USA - Prescription Drugs: The Industry and Drug Pricing [37] NCSL ”“ 2007 Prescription Drug State Legislation [5] Eye on the Right
Lobbyists in Florida have attacked [38] a bill that would that would ask voters to approve an amendment to their constitution banning offshore oil drilling within 250 miles of the coast. However, the Associated Industries of Florida apparently doesn't think the voters should should make the call. Nevermind the fact that one accident could cripple tourism, the largest sector of the state's economy, for decades [39]. This one just seems obvious. Let the voters decide, and don't gamble with your largest industry. 3 Steps Forward1. CT: Creating a Full-Time Legislature to End Conflicts of Interest [40] 2. CO: State legislators are thinking green [41] 3. MA: Bill would provide loans, grants for clean energy [42] 2 Steps Back1. CO: Bill to Deny Graduation to Spanish-speaking Students [43] Jobs & InternshipsCheck out current opportunities with Progressive States on the Jobs & Internships Page [45]. MastheadThe Stateside Dispatch is written and edited by: SuggestionsPlease shoot me an email at jbacino@progressivestates.org [46] if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features. John Bacino Progressive
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Last week saw big advances in the movement to make registering to vote easier, as multiple chambers around the country approved 
Marketing experts will tell you that a doctor is one of the most trusted professionals when it comes to public credibility in advertising. This holds true for their peers as well. 
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