As a victim of Wage Theft, I understand the struggle of trying to put food on the table after having your hard earned dollars stolen. Allowing local governments to establish effective wage theft ordinances in Florida will help victims like myself be made whole and retrieve our lost wages quickly and inexpensively. The Florida Retail Federation is trying to do the opposite with HB 957 and SB 926. These bills eliminate options for local governments, forcing all wage theft victims to rely on our underfunded, overburdened court system. Forcing all victims like me into the courts would make it extremely difficult for victims of wage theft to recover their wages.

California is losing thousands of middle-class jobs and significant tax revenue as a direct result of other regions offering more competitive production subsidies. We need to support AB 1839 to expand our state's film and television tax credit program!

How is Colorado going to pay for flood damage repair, upgrading mental health care or improving our schools? Well, we can start by looking at the Cayman Islands. Corporations dodge taxes by booking profits made here to offshore tax havens that levy little to no tax. It’s about time that these corporations start living by the same rules as the rest of us. It’s time to close these loopholes and invest in an economy that works for everyone. And the best part is, we don’t need to wait for Congress -- but we need Colorado legislators to act. Montana and Oregon have already passed laws recoup money stashed in offshore tax havens. If we enacted the same policy here in Colorado, it would generate $15.3 million dollars. It's a simple step that could be done in a month if we could convince Colorado legislators to push this forward. But to convince them to take on the big corporations and their lobbyists, they need to hear from you.

Getting permission to do a small home repair is absurd. Paying $75 for a permit for a Job that only costs $150 is Absurd. The county's proposal is overstepping into the personal business of our citizens. Lets Stop the Permit Fees for home repairs!

Now, under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, "exempt" or "salaried" workers can be forced to work unlimited amounts of overtime (OT) without being paid for it. * Pres. Obama wants to change the law for some workers. Information Technology (IT) workers should be included because often they work the longest amount of hours. * IT workers have to make up time for laid off workers, and for consultants who legally have to be paid for over-time. * IT workers are on-call evenings and weekends. * IT workers have to meet project plan targets for which management get bonuses. * IT workers frequently have to work around-the-clock, and 60 to 80+ hours per week. * The salary of IT workers is being driven down by Green Card employees and by the off-shoring of jobs. * Comp time is not the answer -- when available, it is often not allowed to be collected. * IT workers often have to sign contracts stating that they will not take paying part-time jobs, so that they can be available for non-paid overtime work. * On their own time, IT workers have to continually take classes to keep current with ever-changing technology. * Limiting OT hours would allow for more paid workers to be hired. * Paying for OT and/or for more workers would mean that more income tax money would be collected to help run the government. * The overly long work hours required could lead to health hazards.

This petition is the portal to join the Activist Alliance for the Unemployed (AA4U). By signing it you become an AA4U alliance member and join the hundreds of activists already working on this issue. You will receive regular updates via email on our progress (look for "AA4U" in the subject line) and calling instructions for participating in mass call-ins to carefully selected targets. WELCOME IN SOLIDARITY!!!!!! ps. please check out our website at ​http://www.aa4u.org/what-we-do/

my petition is about taking the greed out of our country and putting the humanity back in

If policymakers fail to make California more competitive, our local film and TV production industry will face permanent damage as hundreds of thousands of jobs leave forever to other. It is imperative that the Legislature and Administration take decisive steps to retain an industry that serves as a vital source of jobs, tax revenue and economic opportunity.

Capping hours of in-home caregivers as California Gov. Jerry Brown proposes will jeopardize care while pushing countless caregivers further below the federal poverty line. Last fall, President Obama's Department of Labor extended the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to include In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caregivers in California, 90 percent of whom are women and 70 percent of whom are women of color. Among California’s poorest workers, they have struggled without overtime and FLSA protections to raise families and make ends meet on poverty wages and meager benefits, all while putting their heart and soul into caring for our loved ones. This year, Gov. Brown proposed a state budget that caps IHSS caregivers’ hours in order to deny them overtime pay and FLSA protections. Across the state, 60,000 caregivers are currently paid for 160 or more hours of service a month. The governor’s proposed cap would cause those caregivers to lose as much as 43% of their incomes—earnings often used to feed, clothe and help house the very IHSS consumers they serve. If the legislature votes to approve this proposal, seniors and people with disabilities who require care beyond 40 hours a week will be forced to rely on temporary or alternative caregivers with less experience and a lack of familiarity with their unique needs. Especially concerning are the impacts this proposal would have on children and adults with autism, and elderly patients with dementia, for whom consistency is an essential part of care. Capping hours for IHSS providers impacts both the livelihood of caregivers and the continuity of care IHSS consumers deserve. Passing this proposal would be a glaring example of how, even in a state known for its progressive history, seniors, disabled persons, women, people of color, and the working poor, are still denied a fair shake today. California can do better! Please add your name to the petition calling on Governor Brown and California's legislature to do right by caregivers, and care recipients by rescinding his proposal to cut hours for tens of thousands of workers.

properties in Canarsie have been taxed at the 6 percent maximum allowed under the New York City tax code while many homes in higher-income neighborhoods are taxed at the 2 percent minimum. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-set-sell-tax-liens-sandy-damaged-homes-article-1.1343026 This inequity is troubling in light of the financial hardships many homeowners are experiencing due to Superstorm Sandy and the resulting decrease in current property values. Further, escrow companies unprepared for the rapid tax increase are requesting substantial increase to escrow accounts from homeowners to recoup the higher tax payments. Further hardship is inflicted upon property owners by placement of liens for unpaid property taxes without consideration by the tax authority of the special circumstances faced by these property owners – catastrophic acts of Nature, weak economy, predatory lending practices and inequitable tax assessment burden. Water and sewage property charges are also very high, hundreds of homes in this community have DEP liens on them, many of the bills have erroneous charges. Property owners must dispute the charges with DEP before May 5, 2014 or their Lien will be sold in Lien Sale on May 16th. Many of these DEP bills have errors, and with interest and fees piled on top, property owners are being gouged by yet another city agency. Enough is enough! We want justice! A moratorium for one year and cease piling interest on top of interest on these DEP bills is required.

After the budget battles that have been waged over the last few years, we need a budget that rejects austerity, invests in our retirement security and puts Americans back to work and leaves us all better off. And, this week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus delivered just that with their Better Off Budget. Separate from the federal budget process, the proposal also endorses expanding Social Security, to create a real prosperity agenda for America and a total rejection of the failed policies of austerity. The Better Off Budget reverses the damage done by the across-the-board budget cuts known as the “sequester.” They create 8.8 million new jobs by investing in job training programs, rebuilding our country’s crumbling infrastructure and providing states with the resources to hire public employees such as police, firefighters and health care workers. And, the kicker is that this budget still reduces the deficit by more than $4 trillion over ten years. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Better Off Budget reverses the damage that Congress’ austerity obsession has inflicted on hard-working families and restores our economy to its full potential. We can’t reverse the growing trend of economic inequality in America without addressing the retirement security crisis and without creating new decent paying jobs. And this proposal does both!

The Kentucky House and Senate are currently considering an amendment to the state constitution, and as of this writing, HB 399 has passed out of committee in the House and may be headed to the floor. This amendment would allow an incremental (up to 1%) increase in the sales tax if citizens in a locality vote in favor of it by referendum. The primary problem with this amendment is that it asks more from people who can least afford it. When most or all of someone's income goes toward affording basic needs, a tax increase can have a big impact on quality of life. (I know this personally from growing up with limited means.) Another problem is that such a referendum acts regressively by giving effective decision power to those with greater means to impose this tax on those with lesser means. A third concern is that those paying a greater share of their income toward this new sales tax will not have adequate representation in the process for deciding which corresponding capital projects are selected (and likely won't even if the funding method was more equitable). Overall, we believe it is economically and socially unsustainable to build local projects by asking the most from those who can afford it least. We support fair taxation and other equitable avenues for acquiring funds in consideration of new community projects that enrich us all. Alternative, less regressive methods for funding projects include raising rates on existing taxes that are more progressive in design, creating or raising fees for particular licenses/services, selling bonds, or seeking state/federal appropriations/incentives. Localities in Kentucky have the power to utilize these funding methods today without this amendment. -- Check out these further resources: 1) Testimony on Local Option Sales Tax to Interim Joint Committee on Local Government, Jason Bailey, Director, Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, September 25, 2013 - http://www.kypolicy.org/content/testimony-local-option-sales-tax - In addition to addressing LOST's effects on those with lesser means, Bailey discusses several other challenges with LOST. 2) KFTC Member Voices: The Local Option Sales Tax - http://www.kftc.org/blog/member-voices-local-option-sales-tax Both of these links suggest many useful ways to make Kentucky's tax system more fair and adequate.