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

ProGov21 Policy Library

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Year
A Good Deal for Mississippi? A Report on Taxpayer Assistance to Nissan in Canton, Mississippi
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2013
Level County, County
State(s) Mississippi
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Children & Families, Civil Rights
Over the past decade Nissan has created thousands of manufacturing jobs in Mississippi. While the company has spent considerable amounts of its own money, it has also received large amounts of financial assistance from taxpayers at the local and state levels. This report documents...
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2009 Santa Clara Big Box Ordinance 1843
Type Ordinance
Year 2009
Level City or Town
State(s) California
Source Santa Clara City Council
Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Public Spaces
This ordinance requires that proposed large retail developments, or superstores, undergo a community impact review and obtain a conditional use permit. The cost of all independent studies and investigations required to complete the review are to be paid by the developer....
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Privatizing the VA: Lessons from Privatized Medicaid in Kansas and Iowa
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level State
State(s) Iowa, Kansas
Source In the Public Interest
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Health
Kansas and Iowa have recently privatized the Medicaid services provided to veterans. The experience of both states highlights the dangers of privatization: veterans programs have suffered cuts in care and diminished oversight and transparency while reducing costs far less than expected....
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Show Us the Local Subsidies
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2013
Level City or Town, County
State(s) All States
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance
This report explores disclosure practices for certain types of subsidies per locality and provides a grade for those programs based on the quality of company-specific disclosures. The report finds that two-thirds of the economic development subsidy programs run by the nation's largest...
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Evaluating Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town
State(s) Pennsylvania, Washington
Source Fels Institute of Government
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance
This report reviews the history and impact of Seattle's Democracy Voucher Program and considers its applicability to Philadelphia. While Seattle's project has successfully increased participation rates, voucher users are not representative of the community, and are more likely to...
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Election Finance Roadmap
Type Roadmap
Year 2022
Level City or Town, County
State(s) All States
Source ProGov21
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Finance & Procurement
The influence of big money on politics has undermined American Democracy at the national, state, and local level. Today, wealthy elites and businesses have a disproportionate impact on who runs, who is elected, and what issues are debated. ProGov21's updated Election Finance Roadmap...
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The Revenue Impact of Corporate Tax Incentives on South Carolina Public Schools
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level County, State, School District
State(s) All States
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Education
Public school districts in South Carolina suffered a sharp increase in lost tax revenue in FY 2019 due to tax breaks granted to private corporations by county governments. The revenues of South Carolina’s school districts are reduced via state permitted programs that grant businesses...
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Online and Observed: Student Privacy Implications of School-Issued Devices and Student Activity Monitoring Software
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level School District
State(s) All States
Source Center for Democracy & Technology
Policy Areas Education, Data & Technology
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many school districts have introduced student activity monitoring software and other digital tools aimed at facilitating remote classroom management and driving student engagement. Though helpful, these tools can also be intrusive. This report examines...
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The Right to Know: How to Fulfill the Public’s Right of Access to Police Records
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) California
Source American Civil Liberties Union of California
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance
Democracy depends on the public’s right to know what its government is doing so it can hold officials accountable. California voters recognized the fundamental importance of public access to documents by enshrining the right of access in the state constitution. But the right of access...
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A Public Interest Primer on Charter Schools
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, County
State(s) All States
Source In the Public Interest
Policy Areas Education
The rapid growth in the number of charter schools amounts to the privatization of public education. These schools receive public education money and because of this are often referred to as “public schools,” but this is a mischaracterization. Charter schools are privately operated...
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Tracking Body Camera Implementation
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2015
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source Campaign Zero
Policy Areas Public Safety, Data & Technology
Body cameras are rapidly becoming the norm in communities across the country. Campaign Zero reviewed available police department body camera policies from the largest 30 cities in America to determine whether this new technology is being implemented in ways that ensure accountability...
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Cutting Corners: How Government Contractors Harm the Public in Pursuit of Profit
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2016
Level City or Town, State
State(s) All States
Source In the Public Interest
Policy Areas Finance & Procurement
Government contractors are incentivized to cut corners to show that they are a “cheaper” alternative to non-contracted works, often resulting in deception and lack of transparency that harms workers, the public, and the environment, while leading to cost overruns. Public officials...
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Fair Elections Program Contribution Limitations and Requirements
Type Ordinance
Year 2022
Level City or Town
State(s) District of Columbia
Source City of Washington, D.C.
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance
This ordinance limits campaign contributions from non-resident donors to an aggregate dollar amount and requires campaigns to maintain identification records for non-resident donors. ...
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The Other Environmental Regulators: How States Unevenly Enforce Pollution Laws
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources
Upon the creation of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, Congress granted the EPA primary responsibility for meeting anti-pollution goals, but allowed the EPA to delegate enforcement authority to state agencies. However, some state enforcement...
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Memphis Blues: How Corporate Property Tax Breaks and Stadium Subsidies are Sapping the City’s Fiscal Strength
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2014
Level City or Town
State(s) Tennessee
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas -
The City of Memphis has deliberately avoided its municipal pension obligations at the same time it has granted a series of costly property tax abatements, such as payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs), to large corporations and sports franchises. For every year between 2009 and 2012,...
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2004 Los Angeles Big Box Zoning Ordinance 176166
Type Ordinance
Year 2004
Level City or Town
State(s) California
Source Los Angeles City Council
Policy Areas Environment & Natural Resources, Community Development, Public Spaces, Economic Justice
This ordinance requires planned superstores to complete an economic impact analysis before seeking approval for their projects. These reports shall identify whether the superstore would result in the physical displacement of any jobs and businesses; the demolition of housing; the...
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2020 Seattle Ordinance 119803 Police Name Tags
Type Ordinance
Year 2020
Level City or Town
State(s) Washington
Source Seattle City Council
Policy Areas Public Safety
In 2000, the Seattle City Council passed legislation that requires police officers to wear unobscured name tags that display an officer’s first initial and last name. This ordinance amends the Seattle Municipal Code by prohibiting officers from using a mourning band to cover the serial...
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Blocked: Why Some Companies Restrict Data Access to Reduce Competition and How Open APIs Can help
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Center for Data Innovation
Policy Areas Data & Technology
Businesses in the real estate, financial services, and air travel industries have taken steps to limit third-party access to their data in ways that restrict competition, reduce market transparency, and harm consumers. In order to prevent this behavior, this report recommends that...
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Turnaround: Fixing New York City’s Buses
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2016
Level City or Town
State(s) New York
Source Transit Center
Policy Areas Transportation & Mobility
Bus ridership in New York City is rapidly declining. In order to attract riders, buses must become faster, more reliable, and more attractive as a transit option. This report lays out best practices to improve New York’s ailing bus system. Strategies focus on redesigning the bus network...
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Big Business Bias: Employment Discrimination and Sexual Harassment at Large Corporations
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State, National
State(s) All States
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Public Safety
An examination of federal and state court records shows that the vast majority of large corporations throughout the U.S. economy have made payments to plaintiffs in at least one employment discrimination or harassment lawsuit since the beginning of 2000. These include individual and...
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The New Math on School Finance: Adding Up the First-Ever Disclosure of Corporate Tax Abatements’ Cost to Public Education
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level City or Town, State, School District
State(s) All States
Source Good Jobs First
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Education
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 77 requires most state and local government bodies, including school districts, to annually disclose the costs of corporate tax abatements. As a result of the new rule, thousands of America’s public school districts are...
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Making Smart Decisions About Smart Cities
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town
State(s) California
Source American Civil Liberties Union of California
Policy Areas Finance & Procurement, Data & Technology
“Smart city” products are often touted as cost-efficient solutions to providing government services and addressing societal challenges, but in reality these technologies are no more intelligent than the data and algorithms behind them. Like other tools, their effectiveness depends...
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Transparency is Not Enough: A Framework for Building Campaign Strategy
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year -
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source Community Justice Exchange
Policy Areas Civil Rights, Public Safety, Health
Activists, organizers, and reformers often demand transparency from the criminal legal system because of the harm the system inflicts behind closed doors—particularly upon Black and Brown, poor, LGBTQ, and immigrant communities. For organizers working to dismantle the criminal legal...
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Blueprints for Democracy: Actionable Reforms to Solve our Governing Crisis
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2015
Level City or Town, State
State(s) All States
Source The Campaign Legal Center
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance
American democracy is being subverted by a relatively small number of people and organizations that spend large amounts of money to influence who runs for office, who is elected, and the issues that will be up for debate. To combat this influence, this report recommends public financing...
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Digital Democracy and Transparency
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source Local Progress
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Data & Technology
Transparency and public data can help improve the effectiveness of government agencies and elected officials. However, current transparency requirements focus on physical publication and inspection, which favor and protect incumbent power. Local governments often do not have rigorous...
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Displaying 25 of 69 records.

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