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PASSENGERS DEMAND RIGHTS—U.S. PIRG joined with a coalition of passengers to demand a Passengers’ Bill of Rights.
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U.S. PIRG Backs Passenger Rights Coalition
After several airlines stranded passengers on runways without food, water or access to bathrooms for hours on end in the past year, the affected passengers didn’t just get mad—they organized. The Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights now includes 17,000 members of the flying public. U.S. PIRG has joined the coalition and urged members of Congress to co-sponsor legislation to establish an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights. So far, bills have been introduced into Congress, but the airline industry is pushing to make sure they don’t come up for a vote.
The bill would, in addition to other reforms, require airlines to notify passengers within 10 minutes of any known diversion, delay or cancellation. We’ve helped to bring on 39 co-sponsors in the House and six in the Senate.
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U.S. PIRG-Backed Bill Would Ease Election Day Woes
The 2000 election put all of us on warning: flaws in our elections open the door to partisan manipulation of election results, disenfranchisement of large portions of the population, and uncertain results—all of which undermine faith in our democracy. Last year, the U.S. Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on the Ballot Integrity Act. We’re supporting the bill, which contains provisions to protect voters and their votes, clarify the rules, and establish procedures to ensure elections are administered fairly.
Among the items that the Ballot Integrity Act would provide: equitable distribution of voting machines, standards for using and counting provisional ballots, standards for purging voters from the rolls, and funding for Election Day poll workers.
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Countering Government Contractor Fraud In Iraq
In October, the U.S. Senate approved a U.S. PIRG-backed bill to review and audit the $450 billion in contracts awarded to Blackwater and other companies in the Middle East. U.S. PIRG’s Gary Kalman worked with the bill’s champions to build support.
We also released a report in October that highlighted the many problems with federal contracts in Iraq and elsewhere. “Forgiving Fraud And Failure: Profiles In Federal Contracting” analyzed hundreds of contracts and found cases of questionable performance and a lack of competition for those contracts. While the report outlines specific contractor practices, it is as much an indictment of the flawed contracting process as it is about any single company.
“These are not isolated events,” said Gary Kalman, our lead advocate on the issue. “Congress must see the forest for the trees and pass systemic reform.”
U.S. PIRG supports the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act because it would shine the spotlight on federal contractors, giving the public some measure of accountability for the way that tax dollars are spent.
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Restoring The Public’s Right To Know
In July, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved legislation to restore public access to information about toxic chemical pollution. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.), would rescind a 2006 EPA action curtailing information available in the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).
“Restricting our right to know sets a dangerous precedent that undermines two decades of public access to toxic pollution information,” said U.S. PIRG Staff Attorney Alex Fidis. “We’re glad the committee recognized that when it comes to toxic pollution, what we don’t know can hurt us, our families and neighbors.”
We opposed the EPA rollback, along with agencies and officials representing 23 different states, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, more than 122,000 petitioners and EPA’s own Science Advisory Board.
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