In the past few years states have become increasingly unwillingly torely on the chance that volatile global investment markets will chooseto invest in their local communities. Instead, states are choosing todirectly invest themselves in local emerging opportunities. The greatadvantage of direct investment, instead of simply raiding the statetreasury and giving away corporate welfare, is that by making directinvestment in local businesses, states create a financial stake infirms. If these businesses are successful, they will return equity tothe tax payers that can be reinvested in other projects. According to the National Association of Seed and Venture Fund, as of 2006, all but six states had state venture capital funds.
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While the financial crisis has received more of the headlines, there has been a growing unemployment crisis over the last year.
With unemployment at a five-year high, nearly 10 million Americans were
officially unemployed last month, with nearly 500,000 workers applying
for benefits each week. And the problem doesn't stop there, with
long-term joblessness rising:
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Milwaukee has a paid sick leave referendum
on the ballot for November that would allow employees to take leave for
medical treatment, preventive care, or diagnosis for themselves, as
well as to care for a close family member who is sick or who needs
diagnosis or preventive care. Additionally, employees would be allowed
to use the time to deal with domestic violence or sexual assault (for
example, using accrued time to flee to safety.) Employees at firms
with 10 workers or less could accumulate up to 40 hours, whereas larger
companies would have to provide up to 72 hours of paid sick leave.
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The benefits of a post-secondary degree are plentiful. For example, an employee with a four year college degree earns 60 percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma. Paying for college, however, has become a daunting task and strain for many American students and families. The cost of higher education across the country is rapidly increasing, at almost double the rate of inflation, outpacing increases in financial aid and many families ability to pay. The combination of these factors result in too many students being unable to earn or complete their degrees due to financial constraints.
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With gas prices now topping $4 per gallon and rising concern over global warming, the public policies that accommodated and often subsidized wasteful driving habits in the past need to change.
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Absent a national health care
policy, states have found ways to expand the reach of Medicaid by
covering more low-income, senior and disabled people and expanding the
list of covered services. Because of state action, 58 million
Americans now have health coverage they would not otherwise possess.
To push back on the states, the Bush Administration put forward several new Medicaid regulations
last year that, if implemented, will shift the burden and costs to
states. This will result in reduced benefits for millions of Americans
unless already cash-strapped states find some way to pick up the slack
- to the tune of $50 billion over five years.
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Legislatorsin both Tennessee and Louisiana have heavily promoted statewide videofranchising legislation this session. Just this past week the Tennessee House approved HB 1421, the "Competitive Cable and Video Services Act," while Louisiana legislators have introduced multiple statewide franchising bills, with SB 807 having the most momentum. The common thread between each Louisiana bill is that they are all bad for consumers.
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Maintaining accurate voter rolls and ensuring that all eligible voters who register to vote actually make it onto voting rolls are two of the most important functions of election administration. If an eligible voter cannot vote because his name doesn't appear on the voter roll used in an election, the problem will not be addressed by the federal guarantee of a provisional ballot. Such a ballot cannot register a person to vote, it can only preserve a ballot in the case the voter rolls at the precinct are mistaken or the
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In the wake of a bitter 2004 Governor's election and state Supreme Court races that took in more money from third-party groups than any other high court campaign in the country, Washington State's House took the first step toward public financing by passing HB 1551. Introduced by Senator Joe McDermott, HB 1551 allows cities, counties, and other jurisdictions to provide local candidates with government financing. The bill only allows local taxes to be tapped for the public campaign accounts and the public funds cannot be used for campaigns for state offices or school boards.
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North Carolina had a session with important victories for working families,
but the hands of energy and insurance lobbies ended up diluting the
environmental and health-care reforms passed in the end.
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With the US lagging behind most of the developed world with less Internet
access and slower speed connections, it's somewhat outrageous that any state
government would block communities from extending broadband access to their
citizens-- but North Carolina is now debating
HB
1587, which is
being
promoted by the North Carolina Cable Telecommunications Association to
stop local communities from owning and subsidizing access to community-run
telecommunications systems.
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As we've highlighted
before,
North Carolina has been working toward
adopting a form of election day registration.
HB
91 would allow for one stop registration and voting during North
Carolina's early voting period and help increase the state's
low voter
turnout. It passed through the House back in April and just passed
the Senate, but not before facing a last minute propaganda assault waving
the charge of "voter fraud."
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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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To
little fanfare, the New York General Assembly and Governor
Eliot Spitzer enacted a budget in early April that includes
health
care for essentially all children. The budget increased SCHIP
eligibility for children in families with incomes up to 400% of poverty
($80,000 for a family of four) and allows families above 400% without
other options to purchase the SCHIP coverage at full-cost, which is still
cheaper and likely more comprehensive than private options. Premiums for
families below 400% of poverty will be set at $20, $30 and $40 per child
depending on income.
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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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What if we told you that you could save money, energy, and carbon dioxide
emissions just by replacing your light bulbs? Many states are pushing
new policies to encourage or even require the replacement of traditional
wasteful incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) as a
key step to achieving energy independence.
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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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How do we move a progressive agenda in our states?
That was the question that brought together North Carolina state legislators
and advocacy leaders for a program last Tuesday, March 20th, which was
organized by the Progressive States Network in association with local and
national partners, including the Center for American Progress, the Center for
Policy Alternatives, SEIU, ACORN, Democracy North Carolina, The Common Sense Foundation, North Carolina Justice
Center, Institute for Southern Studies, North Carolina AFL-CIO, and the
North Carolina Conservation Network.
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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 Election Day Registration (EDR) bills:
- On March 13rd, the Washington Senate approved SB 5561
- On March 14th, the Hawaii House approved HB 1133
- And on March 20th, the Iowa House approved HSB 204
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