December 2008

Dear friend,

As 2008 draws to a close, we're experiencing an extraordinary moment in our nation's history. We face a staggering array of problems, from a deepening recession to a dysfunctional health care system to crumbling roads, bridges and transit systems.

Yet after November's election, the hopes of many Americans are rising.

They're hoping for a new direction, one that will elevate the common good and sweep past the narrow, powerful special interests that have blocked too much progress for far too long. We're ready to do our part.

For the past 35 years the PIRGs have worked for many of the changes that Americans seek. Now, with renewed energy and determination, we're prepared to draw upon our experience and track record in the states and in Washington, D.C., to help bring about change that will make a real difference in people's lives.

It's what we do, and it's what we did with some success under even more challenging circumstances in 2008, as you can see from the highlights below.

A victory for children's safety . . . After years of pushing for it, we saw a powerful and far-reaching consumer safety law signed by President Bush in August. Even 11th hour meddling on the part of ExxonMobil—a major phthalate producer, as it turns out—couldn't stop the momentum generated by the "year of recalls," when more than 25 million unsafe toys were pulled off store shelves. Given our track record, with more than 20 years of annual toy safety reports behind us, we were well-positioned to advocate strong action. By February, parents will be able to rest a little easier, knowing that lead and phthalates will be banned from all toys and that the Consumer Product Safety Commission will have the funds and the penalties it needs to enforce the law.

As always, our state-focused advocacy helped set the stage for national action. Blair Anundson at WashPIRG worked with our state toxics coalition to help pass a bill through the Legislature that would ban cadmium, phthalates and lead in children's products. On the heels of that victory, Johanna Neumann in Maryland and Allison Cairo in New Jersey pushed for state laws that would ban formaldehyde, phthalates and bisphenol-A (respectively) from all children's products, setting the stage for passage next year.

Landmark votes for public transportation . . . In a year that saw record- setting gas prices nationwide, we pushed for a shift in priorities from spending on massive new highway projects to a smarter investment in public transportation. Led by our chief transportation expert Phineas Baxandall, U.S. PIRG helped pass a landmark passenger rail bill that was signed by President Bush in October. The law authorized close to $13 billion over five years to promote rail travel, relieve bottlenecks and begin investment in a new generation of high-speed rail. Our research helped make the case for better transit choices. For example, in "Squandering the Stimulus," we demonstrated that most Americans spent their entire federal tax rebate check filling the gas tank.

Early in the year, Brian Imus at Illinois PIRG helped convince the state to put much-needed funds into transit agencies. In November, California and Washington state gave new support to public transportation. CALPIRG, led by Emily Rusch, successfully backed Proposition 1A, which sets in motion a new high-speed rail system that will allow Californians to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours without setting foot in an airport. WashPIRG backed Proposition 1, which will greatly expand the Seattle area's public transportation system. In other transportation news, our staff in Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey successfully opposed road privatization deals that would give powerful interests too much control over our public resources.

Progress on health care . . . In Oregon, Laura Etherton won OSPIRG a seat at the table for that state's health care overhaul, which will cut costs for Oregonians by $5.4 billion. In Florida, Brad Ashwell advocated and helped win a state measure that gives consumers information about the cost of hospital visits. In Massachusetts, Deirdre Cummings helped legislators pass a bill that will require drug company representatives to disclose all gifts to doctors and penalize those that attempt to buy influence.

Record turnout among new voters . . . The Student PIRGs' New Voters Project contributed to impressive gains in youth voting nationwide in 2008. More than 2 million additional 18- to 24-year-old voters turned out at the polls than in 2004. Led by Dave Rosenfeld and Sujatha Jahagirdar, our effort this year combined good old-fashioned pavement pounding (80 campus organizers in 22 states) with high-tech outreach efforts (more than a quarter million text messages sent to remind young voters to get to the polls). Since 2004, the New Voters Project has tallied more than 700,000 new registrations and made more than 650,000 peer-to-peer voter turnout contacts to turn out young people to the polls. We also used our e-mail lists to inform voters of early voting opportunities, used our research to expose the actions of 19 states without laws to prevent pre-election purges of the voting rolls, and used our outreach to recruit nearly 500 poll workers to help handle high turnout on Election Day.

New rules on ethics in Congress . . . Thanks to our prompting and research, the House voted in March to create the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate allegations of ethical violations by members of Congress and their staff. Gary Kalman made the case to House leaders, pointing out examples of states with strong standards and enforcement. Leading up to the presidential election, we pushed the candidates in both parties' primaries to use public funding for their campaigns. President-elect Obama opted out, but vowed to fix the broken system as president. We remembered his promise and last month announced our reform platform for the 111th Congress.

An end to some corporate loopholes . . . Led by John Krieger, U.S. PIRG helped pass two bills to rein in federal contractors. One forbids KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, and other contractors from using offshore havens to avoid payroll taxes. The other requires the federal government to verify that contractors have paid back taxes before rewarding more contracts. In July, MASSPIRG, led by Janet Domenitz, helped convince Massachusetts to close corporate tax loopholes that cost the state almost $400 million a year in taxes.

A break for college students . . . Last year, we helped win the largest increase in federal student aid in 20 years. Thanks to the bill, lower student loan interest rates kicked in this year. Led by Luke Swarthout and Chris Lindstrom, we followed up by helping pass the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which was signed by President Bush in August. That law contains several important policy changes, including an increase in the maximum authorized level of the Pell Grant to $9,000 and steps to lower the cost of textbooks.

More action in the public interest . . . In a vote that pleasantly surprised even die-hard consumer activist Ed Mierzwinski, the House passed the U.S. PIRG-backed Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights in October, blazing a trail for next year's work to enact the bill. Ed, along with Higher Education Program Director Chris Lindstrom, also succeeded in earning hundreds of stories in state and national media (including very favorable editorial coverage in The New York Times) about our "Truth About Credit" project. In Oregon, OSPIRG helped convince Gov. Ted Kulongoski to sign four bills to protect vulnerable consumers from predatory lenders. Our efforts to pass a payday loan protection measure in Ohio, Measure 5, were also successful. In September, Pennsylvania became the 28th state to go smoke-free, thanks in part to PennPIRG advocacy. We also kept the big box stores honest—our "secret shopping," led by chief media expert Amina Fazlullah, caught retailers making false statements about the 2009 digital television transition in order to sell consumers more expensive upgrades.

With your support, we'll keep an eye out for more scams, keep pressing for more action and progress, and keep standing up to powerful interests that block the changes we need in 2009. Have a happy, healthy holiday season.

Douglas H. Phelps Chair,
Board of Directors

Danny Katz
State Director