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"PIRG" redirects here. For the Albanian municipality, see Pirg.
U.S. PIRG
Formation1971; 53 years ago (1971)
FounderRalph Nader[1]
TypeAdvocacy organization
Location
Websiteuspirg.org

Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) refers to a federation of U.S. and Canadian[2] non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy with the goal of effecting liberal political change.[3] In the U.S., the federation is known as U.S. PIRG, whose mission statement says it “stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being.”[4] The groups work on issues such as “product safety, public health, campaign finance reform, tax and budget reform, and consumer protection,” and are active on college campuses, state capitals, and Washington, D.C.[4]

History

The PIRGs emerged in the early 1970s on U.S. college campuses. The PIRG model was proposed in the book Action for a Change by Ralph Nader and Donald Ross in which they encouraged students on campuses across a state to pool their resources to hire full-time professional researchers and advocates to make a difference on social problems of concern to students.[5] Ross helped students across the country set up the first PIRG chapters, then became the director of the New York Public Interest Research Group in 1973.[5]Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). It was followed by Oregon (OSPIRG) and Massachusetts (MASSPIRG). PIRGs subsequently formed in additional states.

The state PIRGs created U.S. PIRG in 1984 to have a national lobbying presence in Washington, D.C.[6] Douglas Phelps, president and chairman of U.S. PIRG,[7] played a key role in U.S. PIRG’s formation.[8] By the 1990s, there were PIRGs in twenty states, and by 1996, the PIRGs had more than 350 people on staff, including scientists, organizers and lawyers.[6]

Andre Delattre is the current U.S. PIRG director.[9] U.S. PIRG's long-time Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski has repeatedly been named one of the top grassroots lobbyists on Capitol Hill.[10][11][12]

Key accomplishments

The PIRGs work on a range of issues, including consumer protection, product safety, public health, good government, campaign finance reform, and transportation. Some key accomplishments include:

  • NYPIRG helped create the first state Superfund hazardous waste cleanup law in 1981.[6]
  • MASSPIRG ran a six-year bottle bill campaign, eventually winning container deposit legislation in 1982.[6][13]
  • ConnPIRG and CALPIRG were involved in passing the first new-car lemon laws in 1982 that require manufacturers to repair or repurchase severely defective relatively new vehicles.[6]
  • Since at least 1984, the PIRGs have worked to register young people to vote.[14][15]
  • U.S. PIRG has released toy safety reports every year since 1986, which has led to recalls of more than 35 toys.[6]
  • PIRG and the National Environmental Law Center, started by the PIRGs, successfully sued Shell in 1995 for illegal dumping in the San Francisco Bay.[6]
  • In the late 1990s, U.S. PIRG helped collect postcards with signatures in support of banning construction of new roads in national forests, eventually leading to a roadless area conservation rule.[16]
  • U.S. PIRG actively lobbied for passage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act in 2007, which reduced interest rates on student loans and increased funding for Pell Grants.[17]
  • U.S. PIRG helped win passage of the Credit CARD Act in 2009, protecting consumers from certain predatory practices by credit card companies.[18]
  • U.S. PIRG lobbied for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent U.S. government agency which was founded as a result of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in the wake of the late-2000s recession and the financial crisis.[19]
  • U.S. PIRG and individual state PIRGs have spoken against some highway expansion or new construction projects as wastefully expensive and unneeded,[20] helping to stop projects such as the Illiana Expressway in Illinois.[21]

Minnesota PIRG (MPIRG) has worked to make same-sex marriage legal, to increase the minimum wage, and to enact increased environmental regulations.[22]

In addition to engaging in state-level advocacy work, many PIRGs have campus chapters, which offer activism training and leadership development to students interested in environmental and other social issues.[23] PIRG campus chapters received an American Civic Collaboration Award in 2017 “for their work supporting voter education, voter registration and creating safe spaces for dialogue between students with diverse perspectives.”[24]

State affiliates

State PIRGs include:

  • Arizona PIRG
  • CalPIRG (California)
  • CoPIRG (Colorado)
  • ConnPIRG (Connecticut)
  • Florida PIRG
  • Georgia PIRG
  • Illinois PIRG
  • Maryland PIRG
  • MASSPIRG (Massachusetts)
  • MPIRG (Minnesota)
  • MoPIRG (Missouri)
  • New Hampshire PIRG
  • NJPIRG (New Jersey)
  • NMIRG (New Mexico)
  • NYPIRG (New York)
  • NCPIRG (North Carolina)
  • Ohio PIRG
  • OSPIRG (Oregon)
  • Penn PIRG (Pennsylvania)
  • PIRGIM (Michigan)
  • RIPIRG (Rhode Island)
  • TexPIRG (Texas)
  • VPIRG (Vermont)
  • WashPIRG (Washington)
  • WisPIRG (Wisconsin)

Affiliated non-profits

Some PIRGs are members of a larger network of non-profit organizations called the Public Interest Network.[25] They have helped to launch a number of other independent public interest non-profits, including:

The PIRGs also started Green Century Funds in 1992, a mutual fund advisory company.[6]

Funding model

PIRGs on college campuses have historically been funded with a portion of student activity fees in the form of a labor checkoff. Students may elect to have the fees refunded to them, although many students are unaware that this is the case. This system of PIRG funding has been met with controversy and with a number of legal challenges.[8] In 2014, students at Macalester College in Minnesota voted to end their relationship with MPIRG due to the group's revenue structure, which relied on MPIRG automatically receiving a cut of student activity fees.[22]

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund is the tax-deductible entity connected to U.S. PIRG and is funded with grants from foundations.[8] Charity Navigator gave the U.S. PIRG Education Fund two out of four stars for accountability and transparency, and three out of four stars for financials.[26]

References

  1. ^ Rosiak, Luke (July 15, 2009). "The Liberal Sweatshop". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. ^ "OPIRG: Welcome to the Provincial Network".
  3. ^ Ali, Ambreen (September 15, 2011). "Liberal, Conservative Groups Join to Find Spending Cuts". Roll Call. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  4. ^ a b "About U.S. PIRG". Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. ^ a b Nader, Ralph; Ross, Donald (1971). Action for a Change. New York: Grossman Publishers. p. 29.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Brobeck, Stephen (1997). Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0-87436-987-8.
  7. ^ "U.S. PIRG Staff, Douglas Phelps". Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Watchdogs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "U.S. PIRG Staff, Andre Delattre". Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Top Lobbyists 2015: Grassroots", The Hill (newspaper), 28 October 2015
  11. ^ "Top Lobbyists 2016: Grassroots", The Hill (newspaper), 2 November 2016
  12. ^ "Top Lobbyists 2017: Grassroots", The Hill (newspaper), 1 November 2017
  13. ^ Lanier Hickman, H. (2003). American Alchemy: The History of Solid Waste Management in the United States. Forester Press. p. 386. ISBN 9780970768728.
  14. ^ Hippeli, Christina (30 January 1984), "BC PIRG Organizes Voter Registration Coalition", The Heights (newspaper)
  15. ^ Shaw, Randy (30 September 2010), "CALPIRG, Allies Work to Boost Student Voter Turnout", BeyondChron
  16. ^ Ring, Ray (2 November 2009), "The Roadless Rule Ground Game", High Country News
  17. ^ Lightman, David (24 September 2007), "The Poster Child: Uconn Senior The Face Of Student Loan Reform in Washington", Hartford Courant
  18. ^ Kirsch, Larry; Mayer, Robert N. (2013). Financial Justice: The People's Campaign to Stop Lender Abuse. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-2951-2.
  19. ^ "The Hill: Top 10 Lobbying Victories of 2010". Retrieved October 8, 2012.
  20. ^ "Say 'no' to the Illiana Expressway (again)", Chicago Tribune, 27 September 2014
  21. ^ Lafferty, Susan DeMar (27 April 2016), "Indiana tries to keep Illiana toll road alive", Chicago Tribune
  22. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference pioneer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Shaw, Randy (2008). Beyond the Fields. University of California Press. ISBN 0520268040.
  24. ^ "Meet the Winners". Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  25. ^ a b c d e "Public Interest Network". 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  26. ^ "U.S. PIRG Education Fund". Retrieved 1 November 2017.
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