University of Wisconsin–Madison
Progressive Local Government
For the 21st Century

ProGov21 Policy Library

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“The Forgotten Ones”—The Economic Well-Being of Early Educators During COVID-19
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2022
Level State
State(s) California
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This report provides a closer look at the well-being of California's early educators during the COVID-19 public health crisis, using data collected from the 2020 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study. Key findings show that educators' low wages leave them vulnerable...
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Child Tax Credit Enhancements Under the American Rescue Plan
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The proposal provides a $125 billion boost in funding for the program, which would double the size of the existing federal credit for households...
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Racial Wage Gaps in Early Education Employment
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Early educators are some of the lowest-paid workers in every state, which especially burdens African American and Hispanic women in this profession. This report analyzes the racial disparities that exist in early education employment. Findings show that African American early educators...
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What Does Good Child Care Reform Look Like?
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Achieving high-quality early care and education for all children will require meaningful public policy interventions and investments. Effective childcare reform must tackle the current system's main problems: lack of resources for parents to stay home with very young children, lack...
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Basic Income in Cities: A Guide to City Experiments and Pilot Projects
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source National League of Cities
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a cash payment granted to all members of a community on a regular basis, regardless of employment status or income level. This guide provides recommendations to cities looking to pilot UBI policies. In particular, it provides tips on how cities should...
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We Need Major Reform that Prioritizes the Needs of our Child Care Workforce
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This infographic argues that subsidized child care is ineffective until the early care and education system is reformed to ensure educators earn fair wages and benefits. Although subsidies have the potential to help low-income families afford child care, tax credits primarily benefit...
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Gender Wage Gap Remains Wide in Year Two of the Pandemic: The 2021 Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race, Ethnicity, and Occupation
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2022
Level Other
State(s) All States, Wyoming
Source Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Policy Areas Economic Justice
As the economy recovered from COVID-19 and many women and men returned to paid employment, deep gender and racial/ethnic gaps in both employment and pay persisted. This fact sheet models wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021, and outlines the role occupational segregation...
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Coming Together for Loudoun County: Collective Bargaining Strengthens Communities and Families
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level County
State(s) Virginia
Source The Commonwealth Institute
Policy Areas Economic Justice
A review of county employee salaries reveals that many public employees in Loudoun County cannot afford to live in the county they serve. This brief highlights how collective bargaining could bring their pay closer to private sector pay levels and also reduce racial and gender pay...
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Impact Investing and Employee Ownership
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level Other Boards and Agencies
State(s) All States
Source The Democracy Collaborative
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
This report explores the existing landscape of employee ownership opportunities for impact investors and highlights emerging models and strategies for inclusive investment in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives. The benefits of employee ownership as a strategy...
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Educator Expectations, Qualifications, and Earnings: Shared Challenges and Divergent Systems in ECE and K-12
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
While there is wide agreement across states and types of schools that K-12 teachers should obtain a bachelor's degree, no consensus exists within the early care and education workforce. This report analyzes how this lack of consensus has led to disparities in minimum qualifications...
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The U.S. Needs a Federal Wealth Tax
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
A federal wealth tax on the richest 0.1 percent of Americans is a viable approach for Congress to raise revenue and address rising inequality. This report outlines reasons why the United States needs a federal wealth tax to achieve these goals, as opposed to federal tax policies that...
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Recovery for All or Recovery for the Few?: Billionaire Wealth Soars in Connecticut
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level State
State(s) Connecticut
Source The Center for Popular Democracy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
While Connecticut’s working families are struggling with low wages, threats of eviction, food instability, lack of affordable health care, and high levels of unemployment amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Connecticut’s wealthiest residents have amassed unprecedented wealth. In response...
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The Case for Progressive Revenue Policies
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2019
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
The United States needs to address growing inequality and raise more revenue to fund critical public investment. One way to accomplish both goals is to enact legislation that raises taxes for high-income or high-wealth households. This infographic includes figures that demonstrate...
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Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
No two state tax systems are the same. This report provides detailed analyses of the features of every state tax code and assesses their fairness by measuring effective state and local tax rates paid by all income groups. The report concludes the following findings: the majority of...
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Austerity Versus Reinvestment: A Roadmap for a Broad-Based Connecticut Economic Recovery
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level State
State(s) Connecticut
Source In the Public Interest
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Community Development, Finance & Procurement
In the face of a public health emergency, an economic recession, and widening of social inequities, Connecticut has continues to reduce its public investment in services such as education, healthcare, housing, and transportation. Downsizing the public sector and failing to adequately...
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Early Childhood Workforce Index 2020
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education, Public Safety
Despite their important and complex work, early educators have faced low wages and unsafe working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report demonstrates that compensation within the early childhood education (ECE) workforce is uneven across states and among different classifications...
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Illinois’s Flat Tax Exacerbates Income Inequality and Racial Wealth Gaps
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) Illinois
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Flat or graduated personal income taxes drive income inequality and racial wealth gaps. This brief compares Illinois’s flat income tax structure to the proposed Fair Tax amendment through a retrospective analysis. It shows that Illinois’s historic flat income tax in lieu of a graduated...
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Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the Southern U.S.
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town
State(s) Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
Source Partnership for Working Families
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Public Safety, Health
As construction activity in the southern United States continues to flourish, concern over workers’ health and safety grows. Economic hardships, few or no opportunities for career advancement, unstable work, injuries, and even death on the job are commonplace for construction workers...
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Moving Toward More Equitable State Tax Systems: A “Who Pays?” Follow-Up Report on Tax Policy Options for Advancing Equity and Addressing Income Inequality
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Public policies are contributing to the widening income and wealth gap. This report provides recommendations that policymakers can take to improve their constituents’ lives and their states’ economies through tax policy. It explains the importance of favoring taxes on income and wealth...
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Early Care and Education Programs During COVID-19: Persistent Inequities and Emerging Challenges
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2022
Level State
State(s) California
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education, Finance & Procurement
This report analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the early care and education system using data from the 2020 California Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Study. Findings show that the pandemic worsened existing disparities within the ECE workforce based on program type and funding....
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20 Kansas City Wage Theft Ordinance 040964
Type Ordinance
Year 2004
Level City or Town
State(s) Missouri
Source Council of Kansas City
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Children & Families, Finance & Procurement
This ordinance redefines "stealing" to include wage theft. A person may be criminally prosecuted if they refuse or fail to pay for the labor or services provided by an individual pursuant to an agreement....
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Public Finance & Investment Roadmap
Type Roadmap
Year 2021
Level City or Town, County
State(s) All States
Source ProGov21
Policy Areas Finance & Procurement
Budget shortfalls arise when powerful actors avoid paying their fair share of taxes and when federal and state governments push responsibilities onto the local level without providing adequate financial resources. In order to patch these shortfalls, many local governments have become...
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Racial & Ethnic Economic Inequality and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level County
State(s) All States
Source The Democracy Collaborative
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Health
Data from states and municipalities across the country suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting people of color in the United States. This report analyzes emerging data on deaths, unemployment, failing businesses, and wealth inequality to assess the links...
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Miami FL Wage Theft Ordinance No. 10-16
Type Ordinance
Year 2010
Level City or Town
State(s) Florida
Source Mayors Innovation Project
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Finance & Procurement, Children & Families
This ordinance details the procedure for wage theft complaints in Miami-Dade County, including the process of filing wage theft complaints, employer responses, subpoenas, conciliation, and hearings before a hearing officer. Moreover, this ordinance also outlines enforcement practices...
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Tax Justice Is...
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Racial justice, economic justice, climate justice, and health justice all require tax justice. The United States does not raise enough tax revenue to fund the basic needs of its people or environment, leading to income inequality, racial wealth gaps, and negative health and climate...
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Displaying 25 of 34 records.

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