There is a solution to Illinois’ budget impasse, but the solution requires unity and a willingness to act. You see, a budget that calls for funding requires sufficient capital. Illinois simply has insufficient revenue to support the necessary funding, but Illinois can quickly generate upwards of ten billion dollars a year without raising any existing taxes. Rather, House Bill 106 assesses transactions not yet being taxed. Each of you pays a 6.25% tax for general merchandise transactions, 1% for qualifying food, drugs, and medical appliances, and wagering starts at 15%. Yet those financially able to gamble at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while utilizing a wide variety of Illinois services, pay no tax at all to Illinois on their transactions. Nothing. The vast majority of trading is done by large banks, hedge funds, large businesses, and very wealthy individuals. There is an average $900 trillion traded per year on those exchanges, more than five billion contracts traded per year. Illinois Representative Mary Flowers proposed House Bill 106, for traders to pay a single dollar contract fee on agricultural futures and futures options traded, and a $2/contract fee on non-agricultural contracts. That averages 0.001 of 1 percent of average contract value. The bill is currently active in committee and subcommittee chaired by Representative John Bradley, and it absolutely needs a huge push by the public. Transactions involving securities held in retirement accounts or mutual funds are exempt. The tax would generate an estimated $10 billion in revenue annually, enough to avoid the currently projected cutbacks for everyone. Fast-track passage of House Bill 106 should be our single greatest imminent priority. The alternative is an ever increasing financial burden placed squarely on the financially weak, on public employees, retirees, students, educators, the disabled and infirm, the homeless, and the rest of us who desire, or depend upon, a state government capable of serving its core functions. People will tell you there is no point to making the effort. There is. Many people’s lives and livelihoods depend on it. People will say these exchanges will move out of Illinois. That is a particularly annoying deception. The exchanges’ owners and operators, the CME and CBOE Groups, are not the ones paying the transaction tax, so they have no incentive to move. The buyers and sellers will pay. Also, many products traded, like the S&P 500 index futures, are exclusively licensed to these exchanges so cannot be traded elsewhere. Critically, millions of dollars are sunk into the computer-based infrastructures in Illinois. The expense of relocating the hard-wired infrastructure would not be economically feasible. The Aurora facility alone spans 7.5 football fields in size. The setup of co-locators to matching engines along straight-line and fiber-optic and microwave transmission is such that major traders position their offices physically in close proximity to these exchanges; whereby, the transmission of information is described by them as almost at the speed of light. Traders would have little incentive to upset that setup as a result of HB 106 because that speed due to proximity substantially increases their profits. Please understand, taxes of this type are successfully implemented in more than 25 countries without causing any exchanges, or a significant volume of traders, to trade elsewhere. When thought through, arguments against passage of H.B. 106 are frivolous when compared to the benefits to every person in Illinois. Again, we all must take the initiative to instruct our legislators. Write a letter and mail it. Make contact with your legislators and the Governor demanding immediate passage of House Bill 106. It is the duty of those who have retained a moral compass and been made aware of this opportunity to solve the budget impasse.

The Poverty State University Campus-Community Fight for $15 is working to unite and coordinate union workers, non-union, and student workers to fight for a $15 minimum wage on the Portland State University campus! Workers at PSU are struggling with food and housing insecurity now. Workers need a raise now, not in six years! We are demanding the following from PSU President Wim Wiewel and the PSU Board of Trustees: 1. We demand a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers, including contract workers. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the current living wage in Portland is $23.11 for one adult with a child. Due to rising housing costs and low vacancy rates, many of our community members are fighting to have basic necessities like food and shelter on low wages. 2. We demand a transparent and accountable public process to ensure economic equity on campus. In the U.S., for every dollar a White man makes, a Black man makes 75 cents, and a Latina makes 53 cents. We demand that the Portland State Office of Equity and Compliance release a statement in support of equal pay, and creates policies and procedures to document, reduce, and then eliminate inequitable pay gaps due to race or gender on campus. 3. We demand that the PSU Administration stop threatening student activists. Students do not lose their rights to free speech when they enroll in college. The right to join with fellow Portlanders in protest or peaceful assembly is critical to a functioning democracy and is at the core of the First Amendment. PSU does not have the right to threaten student activists and must stop these threats immediately. Join us in our fight for a living wage at Poverty State University!

The lucrative cannabis industry is a simple solution to our failing Public School System. End the war on weed. Teach our kids to read.

Working Pennsylvanians know what bad trade deals have done to our economy. Senator Toomey should know too. By supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he is once again helping corporate CEOs instead of working people. This secret agreement is a sham for Keystone State communities and will send even more good-paying jobs offshore and threaten our economic livelihoods. We deserve a senator who stands up for opportunities in our state, not corporate interests that drive them away. Send a message to Senator Toomey now—TPP is wrong for Pennsylvania! Sign on now!

We are the West Hollywood Action Committee (WHAC), and we are here to inform you of an up and coming action by the West Hollywood City Council to discuss raising the minimum wage to $15 during the next meeting on Monday the 21st at 6:30 P.M. Like you, we believe current starvation wages are unacceptable in our prosperous, progressive city and pledge to ensure that our business community affords its workers a livable wage in an expedient time frame as unsustainable income inequality is increasing. As you know, a growing movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour has found victories in communities throughout the United States, and the results have been positive. It is long overdue for West Hollywood to join this movement. Our own Mayor Lindsey Horvath, along with Councilmember John Heilman, were elected after successfully campaigning for a liveable wage. While it’s clear our community is supportive, we’re left with three other council members as undecided voters. We need your help to convince them to join cities across the country in adopting a living wage before the Council meeting this Monday, the 21st. West Hollywood prides itself on being a location where ‘we can live, work, and play’. In the attempt to deny a livable wage, our community makes the “live” part of that slogan an unobtainable goal. Your support of low-wage workers will directly impact us all. The irony of this discussions’ timing in Women’s History Month should not be overlooked. Women have been the most exploited and hit hardest by the failure of the business community to care for their workers. March 25th marks the 105th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, where a majority of female factory workers lost their lives from a horrendous accident caused by dangerous working conditions. International Women’s Day, March 8th, was originally a call to action by women workers to demand progress in the workplace. Almost 150 years later, we stand on the shoulders of giants and continue working towards this reality. If you agree that West Hollywood deserves to be a city that provides a livable wage to all our workers and encourages economic diversity, then we need you to get active as City Council will soon be making their own decision. Public statements will directly impact this issue -- your participation in the conversation as a supporter is critical. Join us at the West Hollywood City Council meeting on Monday, March 21st, at 6:30 PM and please write or call the City Council members directly through their contact information. We are available to assist in letter writing or crafting a public statement of support. If you would like to sign on as an organization or business, please let us know! Thank you for your support and action on this issue. For a diverse and inclusive West Hollywood, West Hollywood Action Committee [email protected] Keep up-to-date with this and other issues in West Hollywood on Facebook.

This petition will provide Congress with the information they need to bring back a vibrant economy to Oregon. Oregon will lead The Nation in lifting our citizens from poverty to prosperity. I am convinced, and I want the entire State of Oregon to know, that "sovereign money" and "banking in the public interest" are solutions to "austerity" economics. Austerity economics has devastated our country and the world. For example, look at Detroit. Neither Detroit nor this country is "bankrupt" if they have tax-paying citizens who want to work. State Banks are the solution to poverty and austerity. This is not a Ponzi scheme. A feasibility study can prove it.

For-Profit Prison Industry leaders, the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) together with the Million Shares Club (major investors owning over one million shares combined of CCA and GEO stock) are largely responsible for racist laws that target people of color and immigrants for incarceration, and expand the police state in poor communities. REIT status saves private prisons' millions in taxes each year and deepens their relationship with politically powerful investors. The Joint Committee on Taxation has the power to revoke private prisons' REIT status and to help end profiteering off of the criminalization of people of color and immigrants. Not only has REIT status increased profits for these companies, but it is attracting other investors to participate in profiting from the caging of bodies of color. REIT status enables this private industry to manipulate laws and politicians to advance a racist agenda. REIT status incentivizes private lobbying for policies like the detention bed mandate and sentencing policies that place more people for longer in for-profit immigrant detention centers, state prisons, and criminal alien requirement prisons. Our Democracy is under attack when private interests can buy laws and votes to increase their power and wealth. The campaign to #RevokeREIT is an effort of the movement for divestment from prisons and reinvestment in communities of color and of immigrants. Join the national Prison Divestment Campaign at enlaceintl.org.

As Ohio’s unemployment insurance system grapples with insolvency, some lawmakers think working people are to blame. During the 2016 session, HB394 attempted to upend how benefits are received. The unemployment insurance period would have been reduced from 26 weeks to as few as 12 weeks, tying Florida and North Carolina for the shortest systems in the United States. HB394 also went after the most vulnerable Ohioans. Disabled residents receiving most forms of workers’ compensation would no longer qualify for unemployment insurance. Parents would no longer receive additional weekly benefits to help care for their children. After the recession in 2008, the state borrowed $1.6 billion from the federal government to keep the unemployment system going. Employers paid higher taxes for it, but they’re looking to end that. HB394 would have saved corporations $313 million each year in taxes. HB394 fell through, but the unemployment insurance issue isn’t going away. Join us in putting pressure on the state Legislature to expand our benefits, not cut them.

Thousands of working Pennsylvanians are in desperate need of a wage hike. Since he was elected to office in Nov. 2010, Sen. Toomey has consistently sided with corporate CEOs and voted against raising wages. Without a raise, working Pennsylvanians will continue to struggle to afford basic necessities. We deserve to be paid fairly for the work we do. Our senator needs to stand up for working people, not corporate interests. Join us as we push Sen. Toomey to raise wages across Pennsylvania.

To help Formerly Convinced People & their families out of poverty.

"...Harrisburg has the opportunity to be visionary! There is no reason that a place providing support for creatives at all levels couldn't be created at this building. I see a huge opportunity to provide STEAM related learning outside of the typical learning methods in Harrisburg. Creating a youth design/build corp similar to the one highlighted in the documentary If You Build It - http://www.ifyoubuilditmovie.com/ - Designer Emily Pilloton & architect Matt Miller. This should also include a small business incubator for entrepreneurial startups that connect directly back into the Harrisburg communities in need..." - Robert Shoaff, Harrisburg, Pa

As Consumers of Supports Coordinators and Advocates and Allies of People with Disabilities, we are extremely concerned about the proposed credentialing requirements for Supports Coordinators and their Supervisors that was recently released in the MLTSS RFP. These new requirements will directly impact the independent living of thousands of consumers across the Common Wealth of PA. These requirements will destroy the current workforce, resulting in lost payroll tax revenue and increase unemployment rates. These Service Coordinators are in constant communication with people with disabilities to coordinate services, prevent nursing home admissions, provide information and referral for community assistance, and to coordinate home modifications and personal attendant services. It is imperative that the person in this role understand the lives of people with disabilities, which cannot always be taught in a text book. By requiring such credentialing, you are treating people with disabilities as a medical diagnosis, rather than individuals trying to navigate a system that was not created for them. In this case, a higher level of education does not equal better service coordination and delivery.