PLI Bulletin

Build a Volunteer Base, Worker-Friendly Policies, Carbon Pricing and More

Posted on March 29, 2017

Salary History Anti-Discrimination Act: In recent months Philadelphia became the first city and Massachusetts became the first state to ban employers from requesting a prospective employee’s salary history. The reason is that salary history unjustifiably perpetuates wage discrimination, most often against women and people of color. Salary history has no relationship to a fair wage, so consider introducing the Salary History Anti-Discrimination Act.

How to build and use your volunteer base: Progressive advocacy groups rarely have the funding to pay a large staff. To effectively counter the right wing, we need to recruit volunteers and maximize their impact. In all candor, progressive groups often don’t do this very well and many don’t even try. This week we offer a number of very specific, practical ideas for grassroots advocacy on IdeaLog, our blog intended to raise eyebrows and engage minds.

Worker-friendly policies that strengthen the economy: Wednesday, April 5 at 3pm Eastern, 2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, Noon Pacific. Elise Gould and Heidi Shierholz, experts from the Economic Policy Institute, will discuss a series of policies that could energize economic activity and benefit families at the federal, state and local levels. These include higher wages, family leave, child care—and fighting back against the regressive Trump agenda. To register, click here.

Regressive tax systems in virtually every state: The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analyzes tax fairness in each state and posts it on a webpage called “Who Pays?” You can click on your own state’s page and see—in nearly all cases—that the system is fundamentally unfair.

New website on Northeast Carbon Pricing Efforts: The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) unveiled a new website to highlight groundbreaking work in six Northeast states to charge polluters for carbon emissions—which would reduce greenhouse gases, create jobs and improve public health.

PLI’s Progress in the States and Localities Report: The best ideas for new legislation are found in bills moving right now in other cities, counties and states. Check out our latest Progress in the States and Localities report.