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News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

New Report: Texas’ Seniors Will Face Poor Mobility Options

The first baby boomers turn 65 years old this year and seniors in Houston are in danger of being unable to get around. The largest generation in history, Boomers are also the most dependent on automobile travel. Yet by 2015, 68% of seniors ages 65 and older in the Houston area will live in communities with poor options for people who do not drive, according to a new report.

News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

Texas’ misplaced priorities: $350 million subsidy to private toll road benefiting ExxonMobil

As the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) hosts its final public hearings on its Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), a broad coalition of groups including Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF), Citizens Transportation Coalition, Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG), Independent Texans, Central Texas Republican Liberty Caucus, Texans for Accountable Government, Houston Tomorrow, and Sierra Club are protesting the agency’s misplaced priorities. TxDOT officials have made the Grand Parkway Segment E a statewide "priority" and are assigning $350 million of statewide discretionary funds toward the project.

Report | TexPIRG | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace

Policy Brief #7: Designing a Consumer-Friendly Exchange: The exchange is a store where consumers can buy health insurance products – and anyone who’s worked retail knows that the consumer experience is critical.  For all the attention that must be paid to getting the behind-the-scenes aspects of the exchange to work, the front-end is just as important.

News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

Lawmakers act hypocritically as they try to silence members and cut off debate

Statement by Melissa Cubria, Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG), on the move by Representative Larry Phillips (R-Sherman), Chairman of the House Transportation committee, and other members of the Texas House of Representatives to cut off debate on controversial legislation.

 

News Release | TexPIRG | Transportation

Lawmakers pass controversial private toll road legislation and misrepresent deals to the public

Statement by Melissa Cubria, Advocate, Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG), on the TxDOT Sunset Bill and the House floor amendments.

Report | TexPIRG | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace

Policy Brief #6: The Exchange and Public Programs: While the exchange represents a significant new opportunity for states to improve the quality and affordability of health insurance, it is only one piece of the larger health care landscape.  Public programs, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), will continue to play a significant role, and the way they interact with the exchange will be important to the success of both.

News Release | TexPIRG | Tax

Off-Shore Tax Havens Cost Texas Taxpayers $7.9 Billion a Year

Major corporations and some individuals avoid a total of as much as $100 billion a year in federal taxes by “off-shoring” the profits they make here in the U.S. or by setting up sham headquarters in tax haven countries. As a result, Texas taxpayers are left footing the bill.

Report | TexPIRG | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace

Policy Brief #5: Driving Quality and Cost Improvements through the Exchange: A health care exchange that pools its enrollees’ bargaining power will help give consumers a better deal on their coverage, but it will need to do more to get the unsustainable rise in health care costs under control.

News Release | TexPIRG | Financial Reform

New Survey Shows Banks Still Hiding Fees from Consumers

A survey of more than 500 bank branches released today by the Texas Public Interest Research Group revealed that fewer than half of branches obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while one in four provided no fee information at all.

Report | TexPIRG | Financial Reform

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees.

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