State Government

Preempting Progress In The South

October 4, 2020 By Hunter Blair, David Cooper, Julia Wolfe, and Jaimie Worker, EPI. Educate! Democracy, South, State Government, Worker Rights

A new report from the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI and the Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) describes the ways in which state interference—in the form of preemption—is impeding local democracy and hamstringing progress on a variety of economic, social, and public health issues for communities throughout the South. The report also describes how this interference is a continuation of long-standing state-imposed policies and practices rooted in anti-Black racism and how modern-day misuse of preemption disproportionately disadvantages workers of color, women, and low-income workers.

How Police Reform Was Derailed In California

September 23, 2020 Anita Chabria, LA Times. Educate! California, Police reform, Police violence, State Government

Sacramento, CA - By the time the sun set at the Capitol on Monday evening, hours from a legal deadline to pass bills for the year, state Sen. Steven Bradford knew his proposal to strip badges from troubled officers was in trouble. For weeks prior, police reform bills were points of contention — even among Democratic legislators publicly sympathetic to the cause but privately circumspect, often under the pressure of intense lobbying by law enforcement interests. But then, in the last hours, chaos broke out at the Capitol...

States Sue Over Rule Limiting Them From Blocking Pipeline Projects

July 24, 2020 Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill. Resist! climate crisis, EPA, Pipelines, State Government

A coalition of 20 states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a rule that weakens states’ ability to block pipelines and other controversial projects that cross their waterways. The Clean Water Act previously allowed states to halt projects that risk hurting their water quality, but that power was scaled back by the EPA, a move Administrator Andrew Wheeler said would “curb abuses of the Clean Water Act that have held our nation’s energy infrastructure projects hostage.” The suit from California and others asks the courts to throw out the rule, which was finalized in June.

ALEC Leading Right-Wing Campaign To Reopen The Economy

May 6, 2020 David Armiak and Alex Kotch, Exposed CMD. Educate! ALEC, COVID-19, Reopen Economy, State Government

Documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) show that a powerful corporate lobby front group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), is playing a leading role in the right-wing movement to push for early reopening of the economy amidst the coronavirus pandemic that has cost the United States 61,680 lives to date. ALEC is a corporate pay-to-play operation where legislators and corporate lobbyists vote behind closed doors to adopt model legislation on a broad range of public policy issues. At a time when many hard-hit states and medical experts are lamenting the lack of federal leadership in dealing with the health crisis, the ALEC documents call for action to “bring the economy back to life through a free market approach that gets big government out of the way.”

How State Officials Can Save Main Street With Three Urgent Actions

April 24, 2020 the Public Banking Institute. Create! Federal Reserve, New Economy, Public Bank, Recession, State Government

As states and cities face a tsunami of emergency expenses, collapsing tax revenues, and a shrinking bond market, we wanted to bring to your attention some new funding possibilities that have recently opened up. The Federal Reserve has stepped up to the plate by relaxing some of its rules and dropping interest rates to zero, but only for banks. The state could take advantage of this opportunity by having its own bank, something that could be done quickly by Executive Order. That and two other new funding possibilities are detailed below. #1 Use your emergency powers to set up a state-owned public bank. The Fed is now making its discount window available for loans at 0%-0.25% and is encouraging banks to use that facility to extend credit where needed to alleviate the current crisis.

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