The Illinois legislature recently
amended
the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act to prohibit employers from enrolling
in the federal
Employment
Eligibility Verification System (E-Verify), a voluntary program
to supposedly identify the employment eligibility of new hires and verify
Social Security numbers. The problem is that the system has
estimated
error rates between 5% and 10% and does not detect identity fraud or
theft, inevitably leading to discrimination and unfair treatment
of employees misidentified as lacking proper
documentation.
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A new ballot measure in California
would
change the way that California's 55 presidential electoral votes would be
allocated; not to make sure that every vote counted, but to make sure that any
right-wing candidate for President could lop off a significant number of that
state's electoral votes.
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Illinois legislators have taken a stand against using subcontracting to
undermine benefits for school support workers by
passing HB
1347, a bill that will establish guidelines for school subcontracting
across the state.
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Despite real progress over the last generation in overcoming discrimination in our society, the reality is that Americans are still regularly refused employment, housing or equal treatment under the law because of their nationality or the color of their skin. The numbers highlighting this racial discrimination are stark:
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On Earth Day, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
revealed
his plan to create the "first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city,"
and integrate an estimated population growth of 1 million people by 2030.
PlaNYC is
comprised of 127 proposals for environmental improvements in six areas: land,
water, air quality, transportation, energy, and climate change. The proposals
range from reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% to improving transit
connections to planting 1 million new trees.
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We
highlighted
the problems of predatory lending industry a few weeks ago and now, problems
are coming to light with the student loan industry. In one of the more
egregious examples, Student Loan Express, a student loan company that is a
unit of CIT Group, Inc, is alleged to
have paid
more than $21,000 for Johns Hopkins University's director of student
financial services to attend graduate school. Coincidentally (or not),
Student Loan Express happens to be on the preferred lender list at Johns
Hopkins.
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We spend more than twice on health care than any other industrialized nation in the world, yet we don't have universal access and our outcomes are worse. The reason we don't have universal access to quality health care is that too much of our health care spending -- our premiums, co-pays, prescriptions -- is wasted on profits, CEO bonuses and inefficient health care.
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With debt collection for medical bills a lead cause of bankruptcy for families
without health insurance, Families USA, in a
new
brief, highlight a range of policies states have enacted in recent years
to protect the uninsured and underinsured.
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On April 3rd, Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed into law HF 653, which provides
Iowans with the opportunity to register and vote on Election Day. Governor
Culver
stated,
Here in Iowa , we want to make it as easy as possible for Iowans to be
involved in the democratic process. This bill achieves this goal. I strongly
believe getting more people to vote is good for democracy and good for the
future of this state.
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The trouble in the subprime lending market is sending ripples through Wall Street. One of the biggest subprime lenders, New Century, has been de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange.
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Illinois gained headlines in 2005 for its first-in-the-nation plan to
provide health care for all children in the state, called AllKids. Pennsylvania followed suit in 2006 with its own Cover All Kids plan.
Now the Governors of each state have proposed comprehensive health care
reform packages with the goal of universal access to health care. The
plans build on reforms in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, but
go further in key areas of affordability and system reform.
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Nearly 650,000 people are released
from state and federal prison every year, with larger numbers
reentering communities from local jails. Over 50 percent of those
released from incarceration are sent back to prison for a parole
violation or new crime within 3 years.
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While President Bush and Congress
duke it out over funding and reauthorizing the State Children's Health
Insurance Program, states are moving forward with universal kids
coverage.
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Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania sued the Bush Administration
this week claiming they failed to adequately regulate emissions of
mercury and other pollutants at older cement plant kilns. Last
December, the EPA announced
new limits on mercury and hydrocarbon emissions from cement kilns built
after December 2, 2005, but left weak rules in place for kilns from
before that date. The states argue that the Clean Air Act requires the
EPA to limit mercury from all kilns, not just new ones.
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When you hear the term "smart growth" what comes to mind?
Anti-sprawl? Open-space preservation? Often overlooked in discussions of smart growth policies is the need
for affordable housing as a key component of growth planning.
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Want to make a deal? Privatization is in the air and the
multinational profiteers are circling. And the action is bipartisan
and involves big money:
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As the first month of the 2007 legislative session comes to a close,
expanding access to health care is clearly a top priority for governors
and legislative leaders across the country. From comprehensive health care for all in California and Pennsylvania to incremental cover all kids
in North Carolina and to targeted program expansions in New Mexico, the
proposals represent an unprecedented focus in states to address the
health care crisis that grips our families and businesses.
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Here's a simple way for consumers to save nearly $23 billion a year in
energy costs: just shift 7 percent of their electricity usage from a
peak period (when everyone else is tapping the grid) to a less costly
time. Run more washes at night -- when many power plants are currently
idle -- and we can avoid building a lot more power plants to maintain
excess capacity for during the day.
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The past thirty years have seen a marked decline in job quality for a substantial portion of the U.S. workforce: stagnant wages, shrinking health benefits and less job security.
While a number of factors explain this decline, there is little
question that the decline in the strength of labor unions in the US has
played a major role.
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