Tag Archives: National Governors Association

A Better Balance the work and family legal center.

Paid Sick Time Ballot Initiatives Win Big in Tuesday’s Election

On Tuesday, paid sick time was on the ballot in 4 elections, and we won all of them! Massachusetts is now the 3rd state to guarantee paid sick time statewide, which is wonderful news for the nearly 1 million workers in the state who currently lack paid sick time. Two cities in NJ, Montclair and Trenton, passed paid sick time laws, bringing the total number of cities in NJ with such laws to 8 (all passed in the last year!). And in California, voters in Oakland passed an expansive paid sick time ballot measure. We’re especially thrilled with the huge margins of support for each ballot initiative: approximately 60% of the vote in Massachusetts, 85% in Montclair, 75% in Trenton, and 81% in Oakland.

A Better Balance has provided legal research, bill drafting, and other technical support to all of these campaigns and can’t wait to build on the incredible momentum from these wins. But we couldn’t do it without such incredible supporters and campaign partners! For background and to learn more about these 4 paid sick time ballot initiatives, check out our recent blog post.

The Pregnancy Penalty: How Motherhood Drives Inequality & Poverty in New York City

In Case You Missed It

October was also an exciting and busy month for ABB’s efforts on behalf of pregnant workers. The New York Times’ Rachel Swarns featured our client, Angelica Valencia, in “The Working Life Column,” which garnered over 800 reader comments and an offer from Angelica’s employer to reinstate her. Our latest report—The Pregnancy Penalty: How Motherhood Drives Inequality and Poverty in New York City—was featured, along with ABB Co-President Dina Bakst and ABB Community Advocate Award recipient, Armanda Legros, on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC. And our new website resource for pregnant and parenting workers was highlighted in the New York Times and Washington Post. We’re thrilled to see the media focusing on this issue and expect the coverage to continue next month as the Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of Peggy Young v. UPS. Stay tuned!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

BOOM ! New ad hits McConnell: Stephanie Taylor and team

03/05/2013 Nativegrl77

Gary Nutt is a gun owner and veteran.

He’s not happy that his senator, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, is standing in the way of sensible gun laws. Especially after gun interests spent $198,615 to elect McConnell.

So Gary worked with us to make a powerful TV ad calling for strong gun laws. We want to air it this week, as the Senate holds a key hearing on banning assault weapons.

Can you watch the TV ad and donate $3 to help air it in Washington DC and Mitch McConnell’s homestate of Kentucky? Click here.

(Share this TV ad on Facebook!)

Our latest poll shows that Kentucky voters favor an assault weapons ban by 50%-42%. But Senator McConnell is threatening to abuse Senate rules and block gun reform.

Our ad reminds folks back home that McConnell is not on their side. He sides with big gun manufacturers who spent $198,615 to elect him.

Let’s go on offense! Watch the ad — and donate $3 to put it on TV.

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

— Stephanie Taylor, Adam Green, Matt Wall, Karissa Gerhke, Drew McConville, and the PCCC team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

How the Sequester Will Hurt Shipbuilders

02/28/2013 Nativegrl77

Unless Congress takes action soon, our economy will be hit with harmful automatic cuts (known as the sequester) over the next few weeks that threaten hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs. These cuts have already forced the Navy to cancel deployment and delay repair of certain aircraft carriers, and postpone building on additional vessels.

Speaking at Newport News Shipbuilding in Viginia yesterday, President Obama called on Congress to prevent these arbitrary cuts with balanced deficit reduction.

Find out what these cuts mean for businesses like Newport News Shipbuilding.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks to highlight the devastating impact the sequester will have on jobs and middle class families, at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va., Feb. 26, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

What Is the Sequester?

02/27/2013 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

In just a matter of days, harmful automatic cuts — known as the sequester — take effect, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cutting vital services for children, seniors, people with mental illness and our men and women in uniform.

President Obama put forward a plan to avoid these cuts and reduce the deficit by cutting spending and closing tax loopholes. Now it’s up to Congress to act.

Wrong

02/27/2013 Nativegrl77

By ThinkProgress War Room

5 GOP Myths About the Sequester

The only reason that the damaging sequester cuts exist is because Republicans took the entire economy hostage in 2011. That’s it. Period. End of Story.

Now that these painful, indiscriminate cuts are just three days away, Republicans, who by the way voted for the cuts en masse, are trying to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the economic havoc and suffering that will ensue if they allow the cuts to go into effect. Unfortunately, claiming that they are not responsible for the cuts isn’t the only myth the GOP is perpetuating.

Here’s the top five GOP myths about the sequester and why nearly everything the Republicans are saying about it is wrong:

1. We need spending cuts to get the economy going. The GOP claims that government spending is out of control and reason that reducing spending would spur greater economic growth. But government expenditures have grown at its slowest pace since the Eisenhower administration under President Obama and the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office show that the nation’s deficits have shrunk by trillions of dollars, and the debt is close to being stabilized as a percentage of the economy. Austerity measures have dragged down economic growth in Europe and some economists argue that sequestration won’t actually lead to substantial shrinking of the deficit, since fiscal contraction caused by sequestration is likely to slow economic growth, reducing tax revenue and preventing meaningful deficit reduction.

2. Agencies need more flexibility to avoid cuts in crucial services. After backing sequestration mechanism — the harmful cuts that were designed to force lawmakers to reach a comprehensive deal to reduce the deficit with additional revenue and spending reductions — Republicans are now considering legislation that would leave Obama and federal agencies with the responsibility of carving out waste and unnecessary spending while preserving critical government services. In reality, the problem isn’t one of authority. Programs will see their budgets cut by anywhere between 2 and 10 percent and most will be unable to salvage services and only target inefficiencies. The Republican replacement is just another effort to implement spending reductions without increasing revenues and blame Obama for the consequences.

3. The federal spending will still be higher next year. This claim is technically true, but only because the sequester target the growth of government programs: they will grow at a slower pace as a result of the spending reductions. This is simply how federal budgeting works. The sequester will reduce spending as percentage of the economy, lowering discretionary spendingto historic lows.

4. These are very modest cuts. The reductions may not mean much for wealthy Congressman, but states will lose funding for education, job training, health care, and a plethora of other services, jeopardizing assistance for low-income and middle class families alike and threatening the economic recovery. The cuts will also undermine everything from border security to the screening of containers. Estimates show that the sequester would reduce 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) growth by half a percentage point, and would cost the economyclose to one million jobs in the next two years.

5. Democrats have rejected the GOP’s sequester replacement bills. Republicans in the House passed a sequester replacement bill in the last Congress that doesn’t raise any new revenue and includes cuts in domestic programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and the social services block grant (which, among other things, funds Meals on Wheels). The GOP has not introduced a replacement bill in this current Congress and refuses to compromise on the Democrats’ balanced approach of higher revenues and more spending cuts. Budget deals cut over the last year have already reduced a substantial amount of spending and even with the revenue included in the fiscal cliff deal, there have been $2.50 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue signed into law by Obama.