The Progressive Platform for the States, written specifically for state legislative candidates, covers 90 topics and lays out the most innovative progressive solutions being debated and enacted in the states. For more information or to obtain a copy, contact Sarada Peri at speri@cfpa.org

Application deadling for admission is October 1, 2004. You may download the application online or contact Maura Hutchens at (202) 956-5138 for more information.

On June 2, 2004, Governor Linda Lingle signed the "20/20" bill into law. This legislation requires electric utilities to generate at least twenty percent of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. Currently, only seven percent of Hawaii's energy is derived from renewable sources. Under the new law, companies will be forced to phase in renewable sources meeting targets of 8 percent renewable energy sales by 2005, 10 percent by 2010, and 15 percent by 2015. Read CPA's environmental policy briefs online.

SB 2551, the Mercury-Containing Products Act, was enacted to help protect the state's citizens from dangerous mercury contamination. The legislation will bar schools from purchasing elemental (metallic) mercury, chemical mercury compounds, and mercury-added measuring devises for use in classrooms. In addition, in two years the Act will also prohibit the sale of most mercury thermostats, switches, and relays, common in standard consumer products. Read CPA's mercury reduction policy brief and model legislation online.

Governor Pawlenty signed into law a reinstatement of Minnesota's At-Home Infant Care (AHIC) program, which allows working parents who meet income requirements to receive a subsidy instead of child care assistance to care for their infants. This program will provide low-income families with some security if they take parental leave to be with their children. Read CPA's child care policy brief online.

Anticipating the governor's signature, the Highlands preservation Bill (S1/A2635) would sharply curtail development in the northern Highlands area of the state. Supporters of the bill hailed the passage as a major step towards keeping clean half the state's drinking water by restricting development on the 800,000 acres of the highlands. The bill effectively forbids any construction on the 154,000 acres closest to drinking water sources.

After months of struggling, the legislature passed a bill that would prohibit the awarding of no-bid state contracts to campaign contributors. The measure was part of a contentious plan to clean up campaigns and elections in the state, the most comprehensive campaign reform in years. The legislative plan includes efforts to tighten rules on lobbyists, increase scrutiny of lawmakers, strengthen campaign finance laws, and experiment with public financing of campaigns in several districts. Read CPA's clean elections policy brief online.

New Hampshire has become the fifth state in the nation to ban the gasoline additive MTBE, which is meant to help reduce air pollution but has been found to poison aquifers and has been labeled a possible carcinogen. The chemical is blamed for polluting 15 percent of the state's public water supplies and thousands of private wells. The new state law will ban the sale and use of all methyl tertiary-butyl ether by 2007. Under the law, the state will adopt new rules that reduce ozone by requiring clean industrial and architectural coatings, solvents, and portable fuel containers.

In an important victory, the South Carolina legislature overrode the governor's veto of legislation which requires that a study be made before prison health care services can be privatized. The vote was 84-16 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate, and provides an important path to improving the current public prison system while saving taxpayers money.

More than 60 policy makers from 18 states gathered in Austin, Texas on June 12th and 13th to participate in the Center for Policy Alternatives' Southern Criminal Justice Conference: Beyond Crime & Punishment. State legislators, advocates, and activists from Texas and across the nation convened to discuss voting rights restoration, juvenile justice, sentencing reform and other key criminal justice issues. The conference, funded by a generous grant from The JEHT Foundation, was the first of its kind to address issues of criminal justice reform within a broader context of the progressive movement. Read more about the conference.