Investigating Power
Since 2014, I have attended every COP, always yearning for something — for anything — that provides real, concrete actions to effectively deal with this terrible triple threat. Lo and behold, my first interviewee this year stunned me by being well on his way to delivering a legitimate real-world solution for all three of these core issues.
On October 30, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R–LA), a doctor who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and fellow committee member Senator Jim Banks (R–IN) reintroduced legislation designed to prevent retirement plan managers from considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments.
This past legislative session, at least 15 “grid reliability” and “grid stability” bills based on ALEC model policies were introduced in statehouses across the country.
As insurance industry underwrites fossil fuels, conflicts of interest emerge at the top.
Oil industry heir John Hess, the longtime former CEO of Hess Corporation and current director at Chevron, is tied for the second largest donor to Fix the City, a super PAC backing former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for mayor of New York City.
On August 15, insurance regulators in Illinois granted State Farm a 27% rate hike on homeowners policies, with premiums projected to climb by $475 a year for the average homeowner.
The right-wing State Policy Network and its affiliates have an overall combined revenue of $270 million, according to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy of the latest publicly available IRS filings. This marks a 77% increase since CMD last reported on SPN’s core finances in 2022.
Guest contributor Alex Carlin spoke with U.S. Representative Mark DeSaulnier (D–CA) about the climate emergency and the need to push beyond partisan acrimony to restore healthy oceans with innovative solutions.
The American Legislative Exchange Council is bringing together state lawmakers, corporate lobbyists, MAGA followers, and right-wing operatives and funders at the four-star JW Marriott Indianapolis this week for its annual meeting, where once again it will strategize about how to further suppress the vote, prop up the fossil fuel industry, push Trump’s priorities, and more.
Charles Koch’s fleet of organizations spent a combined net total of $833 million in 2023 to influence public policy, elections, and certain charitable causes — marking its highest spending total to date.