PLI Bulletin

Fair Chance Licensing, Extended School Year, Black Families Agenda and More

Posted on February 15, 2018

Fair Chance Licensing Act: More than 70 million Americans have a criminal record that may prevent them from obtaining a license to work in a wide variety of industries. The Fair Chance Licensing Act ensures that the applicant for a license is not rejected for a criminal conviction unless it is directly related to the occupation for which the license is sought.

Black families flee extended school year: School “reformers” have for decades promoted the idea of lengthening the school year to 200 days. Yet, there’s little data because so few public schools do this. New enrollment figures for Washington, D.C.’s extended school year show that those schools have lost a substantial number of black families. For the details, see the latest IdeaLog, our blog intended to raise eyebrows and engage minds.

Black Families Agenda: Wednesday, February 21 at 3pm Eastern, 2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, Noon Pacific. To honor Black History Month, we will discuss policies that improve the lives of African American families across the country. For America to truly move towards progress, we must all listen, understand and embrace an agenda that improves the economic and social conditions for the progressive movement’s most reliable allies: Black women. Register here to join us.

Connecticut Values Agenda: Legislators in Connecticut released a “Joint Democratic Values Agenda” last week, which is exactly what progressives need to do to frame the political debate. “The principles we are talking about today—creating economic opportunities, access to higher education, quality health care and preserving democracy—will guide us through the 2018 session,” explained House Majority Leader Matt Ritter.

The Trump infrastructure plan is a funding cut for states and localities: The Trump plan promises only $20 billion per year and instead of making states and localities pay 20 to 50 percent of the cost, Trump would have them pay 80 percent. NPR provides a good analysis.

Progress in the States and Localities for 2018: This brief report from PLI describes proactive progressive bills that have caught our eyes so far in 2018.