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News Release | NHPIRG | Democracy

First-of-its-kind “Refrain From Political Spending” Resolution to Be Voted on at Bank of America Shareholder Meeting

On Wednesday, May 9, shareholders at Bank of America will vote “yea” or “nay” on a first-of-its-kind “refrain from political spending” resolution. Resolutions addressing political spending are among the most popular in the 2012 shareholder season, many dealing with disclosure of such spending. This is the first shareholder season for this groundbreaking resolution which was introduced by socially responsible investment firms Trillium Asset Management at Bank of America and 3M Corporation and by Green Century Capital Management at Target Corporation.

Report | NHPIRG | Consumer Protection

New Hampshire Lives at Risk

A new report by NHPIRG and Demos finds that Granite Staters lives, health and livelihoods would be at risk if so-called “regulatory reform” proposals were to become law, slowing or stopping the regulatory process. The new report details the number of us who will likely be harmed by just a one-year delay in the creation of three popular upcoming rulemakings.

Media Hit

New Hampshire Union Leader: Business Briefs

NHPIRG held a news conference Monday to go over results of its survey, conducted last fall involving more than 200 small business owners across the state.

Media Hit

The Nashua Telegraph: More Claims Made on Care Act

A progressive research group that did a select survey of small-business owners found strong support for creating a state health exchange in New Hampshire, one of only two states in the country to turn down a federal grant to help set one up.

Report | NHPIRG Education Fund

The Small Business Solution

Last fall, NHPIRG researchers went door to door, and interviewed over 200 small business owners about their health care concerns. Small business owners answered an anonymous survey and were invited to share their related experiences.

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News Release | NHPIRG | Democracy

First-of-its-kind “Refrain From Political Spending” Resolution to Be Voted on at Bank of America Shareholder Meeting

On Wednesday, May 9, shareholders at Bank of America will vote “yea” or “nay” on a first-of-its-kind “refrain from political spending” resolution. Resolutions addressing political spending are among the most popular in the 2012 shareholder season, many dealing with disclosure of such spending. This is the first shareholder season for this groundbreaking resolution which was introduced by socially responsible investment firms Trillium Asset Management at Bank of America and 3M Corporation and by Green Century Capital Management at Target Corporation.

Media Hit

New Hampshire Union Leader: Business Briefs

NHPIRG held a news conference Monday to go over results of its survey, conducted last fall involving more than 200 small business owners across the state.

Media Hit

The Nashua Telegraph: More Claims Made on Care Act

A progressive research group that did a select survey of small-business owners found strong support for creating a state health exchange in New Hampshire, one of only two states in the country to turn down a federal grant to help set one up.

Media Hit

The Nashua Telegraph: New Hampshire gets D-minus in Report Gauging Transparency in Spending

New Hampshire is nearly failing when it comes to transparency in spending.

Media Hit | Tax

The Union Leader: State’s finance website lacks key data

CONCORD — A government watchdog group on Wednesday gave the New Hampshire state government a grade of D-minus for its efforts to improve transparency of spending information.

New Hampshire Public Interest Research Group praised the state for instituting the Transparency NH website, which includes an online checkbook register.

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Result | Consumer Protection

KIDS’ SCHOOL LUNCHES NOW SAFER

For years, America’s schoolchildren have been eating beef, chicken and other foods that would have been rejected as substandard even by fast food chains. Thanks in part to our advocacy, the U.S.D.A. has stopped buying such low-quality meat for school lunches.

Result | Health Care

Young People Now Covered

This year, the federal health care reforms that NHPIRG worked to win have started to pay off for young people. In the past, teens saw their premiums soar or were denied coverage when they turned 19, even if they’d been insured their whole lives. Now, they can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

Result

Turning Out Young Voters

Our New Voters Project helped to register and mobilize young voters before the 2008 presidential primary. Youth voter turnout surged by 25 percent in New Hampshire, with 53,000 more young voters at the polls than in 2004.

Result

Paving the Way for 21st Century Transportation

Passenger rail travel will improve, and America will begin investing in a new generation of high-speed rail thanks to a NHPIRG-backed law that authorizes $13 billion in spending over the next five years, a small step in a shift toward public transit and away from wasteful new highway projects.

Result

Keeping Our Families Safe From Dangerous Products

Manufacturers that violate product safety laws will face stiff fines and penalties, and hazardous products will be removed from store shelves more quickly, under a landmark law we promoted in Congress in 2008. Our members and staff helped overcome the last-minute opposition of Exxon-Mobil.

Report | NHPIRG | Consumer Protection

New Hampshire Lives at Risk

A new report by NHPIRG and Demos finds that Granite Staters lives, health and livelihoods would be at risk if so-called “regulatory reform” proposals were to become law, slowing or stopping the regulatory process. The new report details the number of us who will likely be harmed by just a one-year delay in the creation of three popular upcoming rulemakings.

Report | NHPIRG Education Fund

The Small Business Solution

Last fall, NHPIRG researchers went door to door, and interviewed over 200 small business owners about their health care concerns. Small business owners answered an anonymous survey and were invited to share their related experiences.

Report | NHPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2012

Over the past two years, the number of states that give citizens access to their state’s checkbook has increased from 32 to 46.
This report is NHPIRG Education Fund’s third annual ranking of states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0” – a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility. The past year has seen continued progress, with new states providing online access to government spending information and several states pioneering new tools to further expand citizens’ access to spending information and engagement with government.

Report | NHPIRG | Democracy

Auctioning Democracy

Today NHPIRG Education Fund and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed that since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.

Report | NHPIRG Education Fund

Too Close to Home

The drinking water for 3,921,516 could be at risk of radioactive contamination from a leak or accident at Seabrook, and 3,114,882 people rely on water intakes which are vulnerable to a leak at Vermont Yankee.

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Blog Post

In the Public Interest: The "Dirty Thirty" Corporations that Spend More on Lobbying than Taxes | Phineas Baxandall

The companies in the Dirty Thirty include household names like General Electric, Verizon, Mattel, Wells Fargo, Dupont and FedEx. There's no avoiding how the story at each of these companies represents a mockery to both our tax system and our democracy. The tax data in the report comes from companies' own Security and Exchange Commission filings, which also list some of their subsidiaries in offshore tax havens.

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Blog Post

Holiday Shopping is Here....

Holiday shopping season is upon us once again. As a parent, relative or friend, shopping for toys for the children in your life can be a challenge.

We don't always know if the gifts will be a hit but the one thing we count on is that the toys we purchase are safe. Thanks to the hard work of agencies like the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and consumer advocates like U.S. PIRG that's largely true. But as our toy shopping researchers have found, that's not always the case.

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YOUR TAX DOLLARS BECOME TWINKIES

Billions of dollars in subsidies to big agribusiness have gone to the ingredients in a Twinkie. Call on Congress to end the waste.

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STOP TAX DODGERS

Corporate tax avoidance cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. We're working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

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BUILDING A BETTER HEALTH CARE MARKETPLACE

Now the fight for health care reform is in New Hampshire.

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DANGEROUS TOYS ON STORE SHELVES?

Find out what to watch out for — from toxic chemicals to choking hazards — in our “Trouble In Toyland” report.

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Some of the nation’s best-known companies—including GE, Google and Goldman Sachs—have avoided paying the taxes they owe, costing us $100 billion last year.

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