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Report | PennPIRG | Consumer Protection

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Over the last six months, state PIRG staff conducted inquiries at 250 bank and 116 credit union branches in 17 states and the District of Columbia and reviewed bank fees online in these and 7 other states. This report addresses the following questions: How easy is it for consumers to shop around for financial services? Are banks complying with current fee disclosure requirements? Can consumers still find free or low-cost checking accounts, or has free checking ended?

Report | PennPIRG and Demos | Democracy

Distorted Democracy: The Post-Election Edition

Our new analysis of data through Election Day from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and other sources shows how big outside spenders drowned out small contributions in the 2012 election cycle: just 61 large donors to Super PACs giving on average $4.7 million each matched the $285.1 million in grassroots contributions from more than 1,425,500 small donors to the major party presidential candidates.

Report | PennPIRG and Demos | Democracy

Distorted Democracy: Big Money and Dark Money in the 2012 Elections

The third release in the Million-Dollar Megaphones series of analyses by PennPIRG and Demos on the role of big money in the 2012 elections.

Report | PennPIRG and Voter ID Coalition

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY: COLLEGES' VOTER PROTECTION ACTIONS PREVENTING STUDENT DISENFRANCHISEMENT BY PA VOTER ID LAW

The survey reveals what colleges have and have not taken student voter protection measures for under the Pennsylvaina voter ID law. PennPIRG recommends various strategies to provide students with valid student IDs and educate them about the laws' disenfranchising effects.

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Demos | Democracy

MILLION-DOLLAR MEGAPHONES

Super PACs continue to be tools used by a small number of wealthy individuals and institutions to dominate the political process.

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News Release | PennPIRG Education Fund | Budget

PA Receives a “B-” on Government Transparency

Philadelphia, PA March 14 – Pennsylvania received a “B-” when it comes to government spending transparency, according to Following the Money 2012: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, the third annual report of its kind by the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG).

News Release | PennPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

New Report Released: Auctioning Democracy: The Rise of Super PACs and the 2012 Election

Philadelphia, PA – Today the PennPIRG Education Fund and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: 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.

News Release | PennPIRG | Transportation

House Proposal Threatens to Defund Public Transportation

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 – “The House Ways and Means Committee proposal to deprive transit of a dedicated funding source is a reckless move that would take America in exactly the wrong direction.

News Release | PennPIRG | Transportation

Latest House Transportation Bill is a Step Backwards

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 1 – “America needs serious transportation reform. While the recent Senate transportation bill failed to move the ball forward on needed transportation reform, today’s House bill takes big strides in the wrong direction. And by funding future spending with revenue from increased oil drilling that won’t materialize for several years, it is clear that the House bill is just a political stunt.

News Release | PennPIRG Education Fund | Safe Energy

Nuclear Power Threatens PA Drinking Water

Philadelphia, PA – The drinking water for 6.7 million people in Pennsylvania could be at risk of radioactive contamination from a leak or accident at a local nuclear power plant, says a new study released today by the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG) Education Fund.

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Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Business Spending on Super PACs

Contrary to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, for-profit businesses should not be permitted to spend treasury funds to influence elections. First, most businesses are constrained to participate only to maximize private profit, rather than out of regard for the public good. More important, this spending undermines political equality by allowing wealthy institutions to translate economic success into political power.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Auctioning Democracy

Scholarly and public opinion research demonstrates that big-money dominance of campaigns skews American politics because wealthy donors have different life experiences and policy preferences than average-earning citi- zens.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Safe Energy

Too Close to Home

In the United States, 49 million Americans receive their drinking water from surface sources located within 50 miles of an active nuclear power plant – inside the boundary the Nuclear Regulatory Commission uses to assess risk to food and water supplies.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Representation Without Taxation

Marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case—which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections—this report takes a hard look at the lobbying activities of profitable Fortune 500 companies that exploit loopholes and distort the tax code to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

Report | PennPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

The 2011 Trouble in Toyland report is our 26th annual survey of toy safety. In this report, we provide safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for young children and provide examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards.

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Blog Post | Tax

Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes Testimony: HB 1186 | Phineas Baxandall

To PennPIRG, combined reporting is a basic issue of tax fairness and tax modernization that should be enacted regardless of the revenue consequences and regardless of whether the Commonwealth faces persistent budget deficits or surpluses.

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Blog Post | Democracy

Reducing political access of powerful interests

The new Congress deserves credit for quickly and strongly responding to the scandals of last year by passing sweeping changes to the rules that will reduce the special access of wealthy and powerful interests in Washington. It was a critical first step. We now urge you to finish the job by supporting legislation that will ensure that the new rules will be adequately enforced. Today, we ask you to be a co-sponsor legislation introduced by Sens. Lieberman, Collins and Obama to enforce the rules.

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Blog Post | Transportation

Transportation Funding Testimony

In brief, the PennPIRG Education Fund is advocating that the Commission recommend the expansion of existing revenue streams for public transit, such as the real estate transfer tax, the tire tax, and the rental car tax, as well as developing new funding mechanisms, such as a transportation impact fee, a vehicle sales tax based on weight and/or fuel efficiency, as well as several others.

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Blog Post | Transportation

Testimony on Potential Lease of the PA Turnpike

Many of the concerns raised about leasing Pennsylvania highways in general, and the Turnpike in particular, revolve around costs in a monetary sense, especially raising tolls. But there are many less visible costs whose impact will be far greater than toll increases under the proposed contract. These costs need to be brought into the discussion.

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Protect Penn. From Toxic Accidents

This accident in Paulsboro, N.J., was a sobering reminder of the threat of toxic accidents. Tell the EPA: protect our communities from toxic threats.

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STOP TAX DODGERS

Corporate tax avoidance cost Pennsylvanians $4.4 billion last year. PennPIRG is working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.

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Reclaim Democracy

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision ushered in an era of unprecedented spending by big money in our elections, but we're working to return our democracy back to the principle of "one person, one vote."

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Add your voice
How Many Tax Dollars In A Twinkie?

Every year, more than a billion taxpayer dollars subsidize high-fructose corn syrup and other key ingredients in junk food at a time when 1 in 3 kids is overweight or obese.

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Priority Action

The vinyl chloride spill in Paulsboro, N.J., was a sobering reminder of the threat of toxic spills. Tell the EPA: Keep our communities safe from toxic accidents.

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Your donation supports PennPIRG's work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.