Keeping Our Families Safe From Dangerous Products

Those who violate product safety laws will face stiff fines and penalties and hazardous products will be removed from store shelves more quickly, under a landmark law championed by NCPIRG in 2008.

Speaking Out For Local Ratepayers

When the Legislature passed an NCPIRG-backed renewable energy and efficiency standard, our state became the first in the Southeast to do so. This standard is projected to save consumers $577 million over its life and generate 2,700 more jobs per year than utility companies’ business as usual.

Holding Elected Officials To Higher Ethical Standards

A new, independent office will police ethical scandals in Congress, under a plan endorsed by NCPIRG. Our federal legislative director, Gary Kalman, helped make the case for the new Office of Congressional Ethics using our report, which details independent panels that enforce ethics in North Carolina and 22 other states.

Ending Unfair Natural Gas Pricing

Residents shouldn’t have to pay more to use less energy. In 2007, two local natural gas providers, PSNC and Piedmont Natural Gas, required customers to use a quota of natural gas in the summer in order to qualify for lower rates in the winter. Two weeks after NCPIRG began organizing grassroots and legislative opposition, PSNC filed to end the practice.

Holding Drugmakers Accountable For Safety

In 2007, the president signed an NCPIRG-backed law including provisions that  force drug companies to post all clinical trial results, good and bad, and pay fines of up to $10 million for rushing unsafe drugs to the marketplace—an antidote to notorious cases such as Vioxx, Paxil and Avandia.  We made sure these provisions passed despite vigorous opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.

Standing Up For Students, Not Lenders

We helped pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, the most meaningful higher education reform in more than 15 years. The legislation gives billions of dollars in additional aid to students through the Pell Grant program. The bill is funded by reducing wasteful lender subsidies.

Fighting Political Corruption

In 2007, the president signed an NCPIRG-backed lobby reform bill that bans gifts and travel paid for by lobbyists and requires the disclosure of money they raise for candidates. While the roots of corruption still run deep in Washington, these changes will weaken the ties that bind members of Congress to special interests.

Closing Contractor Loopholes

When private contractors, including Halliburton spin-off Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), tried to avoid paying taxes by setting up foreign subsidiaries, NCPIRG, in federation with other state PIRGs, backed a new law to close that loophole and another law requiring contractors to pay back taxes before being awarded new contracts.