HIGHLIGHTS
- ITPI asks: How can we help?
- Student loans have a DRG problem
- Editorial calls for keeping PA water in public hands
JUMP: EDUCATION | INFRASTRUCTURE | PUBLIC SERVICES | THE REST
First, the Good News
1) National: In the Public Interest wants to hear from you. How can we help? We know we’re only a tenth of the way into this term, and that Trump, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and Project 2025 have more in store for us. But we also know we’ve got you on the ground in every state of the U.S. working hard for democracy and for the rights and welfare of the most vulnerable. We’re here to help–let us know how. Send us a note at info@inthepublicinterest.org.
2) Maryland: Maryland has reached a conservation goal early, and is aiming to set an even higher standard. “The program is part of a global initiative to protect 30 percent of the Earth’s land and waters by 2030.” The New York Times reports that Steve Kline, president and chief executive of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, “said he hoped that the state surpassed its next goal. ‘I would certainly hate to see our foot come off the pedal after 40 percent,’ he said. ‘We feel like we’ve got something pretty special that’s worth protecting.’”
3) Oregon//National: Uber and Lyft drivers have won more benefits and protection despite industry pushback in Oregon. “Advocates across several states say they’ve increased their activism recently because Uber and Lyft are pushing back harder than ever, as more cities and states pass laws requiring minimum pay and benefit requirements. The rideshare industry is not as heavily regulated as independent taxi drivers or taxi companies, which are subject to rules on permitting, background checks, vehicle inspections and more, depending on the state or locality.”
PowerSwitch Action has just released new research “uncovering how much more Chicago Uber and Lyft drivers would be making under the proposed Rideshare Living Wage and Safety Ordinance.”
4) Texas: “Texas lawmakers are providing an extra $100 million in child care scholarships and giving regional workforce development boards more freedom to allocate money to key providers,” The Texas Tribune reports. “Nearly 95,000 Texas children are on a waitlist for child care scholarships. Meanwhile, brick and mortar facilities are closing and the cost of child care in Texas is making it difficult for working parents to make ends meet.”
5) International/Britain: British businesses are “rebranding” diversity initiatives to avoid unwanted political attention, The Guardian says. “Experts believe a full-scale rollback is unlikely in the UK, where the Equalities Act and the legal risk of discrimination cases present barriers to turning back the clock.”
6) International/South Africa: An insourcing victory.”The South African city of Ekurhulen, a large suburb east of Johannesburg, has decided to insource essential services, with 700 cleaners coming on board.
7) National: Indebted students are being thrown into privatized collection, David Dayen reports in The American Prospect. “The concept is known as an income share agreement (ISA), a privatized version of income-driven repayment with vague and sometimes harmful terms. (…) But it’s misleading to say that the government is grabbing wages and tax refunds and Social Security checks. A private company known as a loan servicer handles day-to-day operations on every federal student loan. But when borrowers slip into default, loans get transferred to the Default Resolution Group (DRG), managed by a different private company, a contractor called Maximus. This creates borrower confusion about who the point of contact even is.”
8) New Jersey: A new report from the New Jersey Department of Education finds that “middle schoolers in Newark Public Schools are attending classes in overcrowded buildings that fall short of state space requirements.” Chalkbeat Newark reports that “the new report ‘speaks to the ongoing need to continually assess school facilities’ and fund construction projects, said Theresa Luhm, an attorney and managing director at Education Law Center, a nonprofit that works to protect the rights of public school students.”
9) Indiana: Chalkbeat Indiana reports that as an Indianapolis charter school struggled financially, an ex-CEO’s school credit card showed charges for steakhouses, wine, and StubHub. “The 2024 charter renewal process included a review of financial information, such as the school’s annual audited financial statements, according to the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation. Officials there were aware of a “leadership transition” at Matchbook but were not made aware of ‘spending concerns’ until after Swann was terminated in February, according to an OEI spokesperson.”
10) Texas: The ACLU and other groups say they will sue Texas over a new law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments. “This will almost surely invite a swift legal challenge—a federal judge ruled that a similar Louisiana law was unconstitutional last November,” according to the Texas Observer’s Joelle DiPaolo. “Indeed, Texas Republicans’ very intent with this bill is likely to get the U.S. Supreme Court to take a new stance on the doctrine of church and state separation. On that front, the House was kind enough to add an amendment stipulating that the State of Texas must defend and cover any legal expenses incurred by local school districts sued over this law.” Education Week’s Evie Blad just wrote an article on what is behind Texas’ push for prayer and bible study in public schools.
11) International/United Kingdom: The U.K. has renationalized the first train operator under Labour Party reforms. “‘South Western Railway is now under public ownership. And this is just the start,’ [Prime Minister Keir] Starmer said on X, formerly Twitter, naming the service kickstarting his government’s plan. He vowed the renationalization ‘will put passengers first,’ with ‘better services, with simpler ticketing, on more comfortable trains.’”
12) National: State and local governments face $105 billion in deferred maintenance for roads and bridges, according to a new report from Pew. “Using these data sources, Pew’s analysis followed four steps,” including identifying “the value of state and local roadways: The [Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)] calculates the value of different types of public and private infrastructure, including state- and locally owned roads, bridges, and associated infrastructure, categorized by BEA as ‘highways and streets.’” [Full report (9 pages)]
13) National: The U.S. Supreme Court has issued its decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, an administrative law case on the scope of agency review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). ScotusBlog’s Amy Howe reports that the court “unanimously ruled to limit the scope of environmental review required under a seminal 1970s environmental protection law. The move brought a proposed 88-mile railroad line that would transport crude oil from oilfields in northern Utah to refineries on the Gulf Coast one step closer to production.” Environmental groups had argued “that the federal agency that approved the project had failed to consider its broader environmental costs.”
14) National: Environmental activists have responded to President Trump’s threat to drop hundreds of National Park Service sites. “Gerry Seavo James, Sierra Club Outdoors for All deputy director, said: ‘It’s clear that this move isn’t intended for the public, who will have a harder time accessing these places with less staff, funding, and programs, but instead is a step closer to privatization of our public lands. Sites of all sizes hold meaning and deserve to be held in trust for all Americans to enjoy. Taking away federal support from these national treasures right as the parks’ busiest season starts is not in anyone’s best interest.’” According to The Sierra Nevada Ally, “the cuts include slashing more than 1,000 full-time positions within the National Park Service (NPS), rescinding thousands more seasonal hires, and freezing infrastructure and climate-related funding, actions that will stall wildfire mitigation, trail maintenance, and research.”
15) National: Privatizing profits while socializing risks. President Trump has pledged government backing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance government-supported entities, even if they are privatized and Wall Street scoops up millions from buying up currently cheap shares. Even the libertarian Reason Foundation is sounding the alarm. According to The New York Times’ Dealbook, whose founder and editor is Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Here’s who stands to gain: The billionaire Bill Ackman has stakes in both companies through his hedge fund, Pershing Square. He holds roughly 10 percent of Fannie’s public over-the-counter shares and has been calling for an end to the conservatorship for years. Capital Research Global Investors, a unit of Capital Group, has stakes in both entities, too.”
16) Colorado: Governor Jared Polis has vetoed a bill that would have restricted the use of rent-setting software, like RealPage, by private, for profit real estate companies. “Rent-setting algorithms have become a target of consumer protection advocates in recent years, who say software used by companies like RealPage effectively enables landlords to collude and drive up the cost of housing.” Sam Gilman, co-founder of the Community Economic Defense Project, told The Colorado Sun, “This veto sends the devastating message that corporate landlords can keep using secret price-fixing algorithms to take extra rent from people who have the least.”
17) Pennsylvania: In an editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer lists the pitfalls of a possible sale of Chester’s water system, and instead calls for a regional public partnership. “Gov. Josh Shapiro has rightly criticized the private equity-engineered downfall of hospital systems like Crozer. If the state government worked with Delaware and Chester Counties on a joint purchase of the water authority, it could accomplish the goal of providing needed cash to Chester City while ensuring public ownership of the water authority. Rather than generating enough revenue to reward shareholders, the authority would be charged with the more affordable challenge of recouping the costs of the bond.” The Inquirer editorial board also calls for revisions to the state water privatization law (Act 12) “by limiting how much companies can increase rates each year.” Check out ITPI’s report on water privatization in the region, and the effort to fight against it..
18) Puerto Rico/National: Veteran bond analyst Cate Long reports that Puerto Rico’s governor “says Quanta/LUMA $PWR, the private company handling Prepa’s transmission & distribution, are asking for a rate increase in electricity bills to ‘pay for documentaries.’ The governor opposes the energy consortium’s request.”
For more on Puerto Rico’s privatized energy system see the report revised on Friday by the Congressional Research Service, “Electric Reliability and Resiliency in Puerto Rico.” [Full report]
19) West Virginia: Tucker County residents are fighting for their future against a proposed private data center, West Virginia Watch’s Catty Coyne reports. “As a little known company has proposed a data center and natural gas plant in the tourism destination—known for its natural wonder and outdoor recreation—residents are left with questions, mounting concerns and few answers.”
20) Wisconsin: WISN News runs an excerpt of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., being questioned by Sen. Tammy Baldwin over the impact of DOGE cuts on efforts to deal with the lead poisoning crisis in public schools. Milwaukee Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis joined the discussion. [Video, about 5 minutes]. Totoraitis “informed then-interim MPS Superintendent Eduardo Galvan and the MPS board of the results in early February.”
21) Think Tanks: Managing stakeholders in a public-private partnership (P3) project is complex, and there’s a new paper out on decision-making that centers stakeholders. “The study reveals that poor structuring of roles and responsibilities, public opposition, information asymmetry, principal-agent problems, knowledge management, and corruption are crucial stakeholder issues in decision-making. Further, a systems thinking framework is used to study the stakeholder dynamics for early engagement and relationship management for P3 projects. Lastly, the study findings are summarised as a conceptual framework of stakeholder-related issues with corresponding stakeholder management process steps.”
22) Upcoming Conference: On July 22-23, Brookings will be hosting its 14th annual Municipal Finance Conference. “The annual Municipal Finance Conference brings together academics, practitioners, issuers, and regulators to discuss recent research on municipal capital markets and state and local fiscal issues.” Will be available online.
23) National: Following the disastrous Kentucky tornadoes, lawmakers and the media are asking questions about whether cuts to the National Weather Service compounded the crisis. “Following the deadly tornado outbreak in Kentucky and Missouri that claimed at least 27 lives, public reports showed that the Jackson, Kentucky National Weather Service (NWS) office was critically understaffed, forcing them to rely on nearby offices to issue life-saving alerts,” said a news release by Rep. Timothy M. Kennedy. House and Senate members are also demanding answers. The tension between corporate privatizing interests and the National Weather Service has risen over the last decade or so.
24) National: Writing in Salon, Virginia Kase Solomón, the CEO of Common Cause, warns that the privatization of the media will fuel the death of the public interest. “How can public interest prevail on platforms and in outlets that are privately owned? Much like the hedge funds that have gutted local news, special interests and unelected CEOs want to dismantle pillars of our democracy and sell its parts to the highest bidder at the expense of the people.”
How might this work? Corynne McSherry and Cory Doctorow have a warning about another serious technical threat to the public interest in a free media. “The FCC is quietly contemplating a fundamental restructuring of all broadcasting in the United States, via a new DRM-based standard for digital television equipment, enforced by a private ‘security authority’ with control over licensing, encryption, and compliance. This move is confusingly called the ‘ATSC Transition’ (ATSC is the digital TV standard the US switched to in 2009—the ‘transition’ here is to ATSC 3.0, a new version with built-in DRM).”
25) National: Education Week reports that a federal appeals court has raised the bar for challenging school book bans. “In its 10-7 decision on May 23, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, ruled that a library’s decision to remove books may not be challenged under the First Amendment based on library users’ right to receive information. The decision would appear to apply equally to public libraries and school libraries in the three states in the 5th Circuit—Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.”
26) Connecticut: A bill to ban private prisons has passed the second chamber. Connecticut does not currently use private prisons, but the forward-looking bill would preclude them from entering the state.
27) Texas: Will Harlingen airport’s firefighting services be privatized? “In response to the plan, the Harlingen Professional Firefighters’ Association is warning it would file a lawsuit against the city if the airport’s board of directors hires Pro-Tec, arguing the move could lead to a violation of Civil Service law protecting firefighters’ jobs. Meanwhile, Marv Esterly, the airport’s aviation director, is standing behind the proposal to hire Pro-Tec.”
All the Rest
28) Nebraska: The officially nonpartisan Nebraska legislature passed a bill that “significantly weakens a voter-backed measure requiring employers to offer paid sick leave. (…) The bill passed Wednesday and expected to be signed into law by Gov. Jim Pillen carves out exceptions. It allows businesses to withhold paid sick leave from 14- and 15-year-olds, as well as from temporary and seasonal agricultural workers. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees would not need to provide paid sick leave at all.”
29) Indiana: Adult Protective Services in Vigo County will be privatized. “According to their website, the Adult Protective Services receives and investigates reports of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of adults within the state. However, the service is now going to be run by a private firm, something Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said could cause issues because they don’t have the same resources they had while in the public sector.”
30) Missouri: In St. Louis, “a tornado ripped through an economic disaster area,” Devin Thomas O’Shea writes in The Nation. “St. Louis can either use the disaster as an opportunity to commit to the safety of all its residents, or it can continue a barbaric cycle of neglect.” For a deep and fascinating dive on the history of racial segregation and economic development that has left St. Louis a divided city, you can listen to O’Shea on the Trillbilly Workers Party podcast. [Audio, about an hour and 20 minutes]
31) International/United Kingdom: Thames Water, one of the main large companies in Britain’s Thatcherite water privatization disaster, is now facing “a record £104m fine over environmental breaches involving sewage spills, after failing to operate and manage its treatment works and wastewater networks effectively. The water regulator Ofwat confirmed on Wednesday that it was issuing the debt-laden utility with £123m of penalties that would be “paid by the company and its investors, and not by customers.”
32) International: Serious questions have emerged over a Wyoming-based private contractor hired to provide security for the Gaza food relief mission, and over the foundation created to oversee the distribution program. The Guardian’s Andrew Roth, reporting from Washington, says “the UN and other humanitarian organisations have refused to work with GHF, arguing that doing so would compromise efforts to reach civilians in all conflict zones, and put at risk both their teams and local people. (…) Others have described the effort as an attempt to use deliveries of aid as a political weapon. Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said that the bloc opposed the ‘privatization of the distribution of humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid cannot be weaponized.’” El Pais, the major Spanish newspaper, has a report on Safe Reach Solutions, one of the private firms operating under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).