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Megan Green, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, is sworn into office during her inauguration ceremony in the rotunda at St. Louis City Hall on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Photo by David Carson
  • Home Rule

St. Louis board president to announce bills challenging state laws

St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green is expected to announce eight new bills on Saturday aimed at fighting back against abusive state preemption and advancing local democracy.
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  • Economic Justice

📬 The Network Download | Labor Day edition | September 2023

Check out the work our network is doing to advance workers' rights!
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Republican Gov. Greg Abbott speaks Texas State Capitol in Austin on May 18, 2020.
  • Home Rule

‘A Huge Win’: Texas Judge Finds Law Limiting Local Rule Is Unconstitutional

"When local policymaking is stifled, community voices are silenced," said Local Progress Texas, Texas AFL-CIO, Workers Defense Project, the ACLU of Texas, and Every Texan.
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Henry Gomez uses a blower to dry his clothes after working with a crew to remove a tree during a heatwave in Houston, Texas, on 24 August. Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters
  • Home Rule

Texas judge blocks bill that would allow state to override local water breaks rules

Local Progress Texas, Every Texan, Texas AFL-CIO, ACLU Texas, and Workers Defense Project explain what this win means.
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Members of the Fe Y Justice Worker Center hold signs to protest House Bill 2127, dubbed the "Death Star bill," during a press conference at Houston’s City Hall on July 14. Credit: Douglas Sweet Jr. for The Texas Tribune
  • Home Rule

Judge blocks new Texas law that would erode cities’ power to enact local rules

The Death Star Law was scheduled to go into effect on Friday. Today, a Travis County judge declared it unconstitutional. Local Progress Texas members and partners weigh in.
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LPTX members, staff, and partners posing in front of a sign that says "Fighting for Texas Workers."
  • Home Rule

Local Progress Texas, Texas AFL-CIO, Every Texan, ACLU of Texas & Workers Defense Project Celebrate Win for Local Democracy

In response to the ruling of the Travis County Civil District Court in the case of The City of Houston v. Texas, Texas AFL-CIO, Local Progress Texas, Every Texan, ACLU of Texas, and Workers Defense Project celebrate a win for local democracy
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Black and white photo of the Texas Capitol in Austin.
  • Home Rule

Judge Strikes own Lege’s Power-grab Against Cities, HB 2127

Local Progress Texas Chapter Manager Tannya Benavides underscores that today's ruling impacts not only Texas cities, but local communities across the country under attack by conservative state governments.
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Photo of the Texas Capitol building in Austin lit up at night
  • Home Rule

Texas “Death Star” Law Ruled Unconstitutional Two Days Before Taking Effect

Local Progress Texas, the Texas AFL-CIO, Every Texan, ACLU of Texas, and Workers Defense Project stress that the Death Star Law directly contradicts Texas' core values of democracy and freedom.
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Photo of three people standing in front of a Texas flag -- one of whom is El Paso County Commissioner & LP Member David Stout
  • Home Rule

Nueva ley afectará a Texas

El Paso County Commissioner David Stout warns that the Death Star Law's impact on local democracy will be devastating.
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Photo of a large group of people part of a UPS Teamster Practice Picket holding up signs that read "Photo of a group of UPS workers in uniform and holding up signs that say "UPS Teamsters: Just Practicing for a Just Contract" with Scabby in the background
  • Economic Justice

What the UPS Contract Means for Collaborative Governance

UPS workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a historic contract that will mean higher wages, better benefits, and more growth for 340,000 employees and that raised labor standards across the country. Here's what that means for how local electeds should collaboratively govern.
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Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes speaking during a virtual press briefing.
  • Home Rule

Texans Warn Death Star Law Silences Communities

At a press briefing organized by Local Progress Texas, Every Texan, Workers Defense Project, and the Texas AFL-CIO, leaders talked about the devastating impact the Death Star law has for everyday Texans.
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Empowering Leadership & Transformative Change: Progressive Governance Lab and Our Partnership with Bay Rising

The partnership between Bay Rising and Local Progress Impact Lab through the Progressive Governance Lab brings together the power of grassroots activism, collaborative governance strategy, and policy expertise.
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Have a Media Inquiry?

Local Progress is a movement of local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government. We are elected leaders who build power with underrepresented communities and fight to reshape what is possible in our localities all across the country. 

Want to get in touch with us for a story? Reach us at press@localprogress.org.

In The News

At Local Progress, we seek to make the aspirational pragmatic by showing how government can be a tool to create just and equitable outcomes and reshaping peoples’ understanding of governing from an institution to a collective responsibility. Here are some highlights of our media coverage:

Small child receiving medical care reaching out from a bed (Photo by Dzulhaidy Abdul Rahim / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
  • Leveraging Federal Resources

I’m the Mayor of St. Paul. Here’s How Our City Is Erasing $100 Million in Medical Debt.

More and more local governments are using federal funds to relieve residents’ medical debt. Mayor of Saint Paul Melvin Carter explains why it's a simple, straightforward way to meet our communities’ needs.
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Congressman Greg Casar speaks to protesters at the Governor’s Mansion against the Death Star Bill on Sept. 7, 2023. The protest was organized by the Workers Defense Project who want to protect the mandated rest breaks for workers outlined in local Austin ordinance. | Photo received from Kevin Kim (The Daily Texan)
  • Home Rule

Opinion: One Year Later, Local Leaders Must Be Bold Despite “Death Star” Law

July 1, 2024 marks one year since the City of Houston sued the state of Texas over the Death Star law. San Marcos City Councilmember Alyssa Garza makes the case that now is the time to be bold – to advance policies that uplift the very communities our legislature wants to silence.
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social housing in Vienna, Austria
  • Housing

Is this European city a model for Philadelphia’s affordable housing? One Council member thinks so

Philadelphia City Councilmembers Jamie Gauthier and Kendra Brooks visited Vienna earlier this year with Local Progress to learn about its housing polices.
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Photo: Josh Katz| The state should no longer design roads where pedestrians are just an afterthought, like this entrance to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
  • Climate Justice

New York Pols Back Gounardes’s Bill to Cut Driving by 20%

For decades, transit planners have widened roads and expanded highways as cities have grown. But these interventions have only increased traffic and worsened pollution. LP members in New York wrote to legislative leaders demanding state DOT take a new approach to planning.
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press Releases

  • Housing

After Grants Pass: organizing to house all our neighbors

In response to the Supreme Court's cruel decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, we will continue to organize for housing for all.
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  • Housing

Local Progress Condemns Cruel Supreme Court Decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, Local Progress put out the following statement.
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  • Climate Justice, Economic Justice, Home Rule

180+ State and Local Elected Officials Urge Congress to Reject the EATS Act

LP and the State Innovation Exchange (SiX) released letters calling on Congress to protect local and state governments ability to create policy that is responsive to the issues their own communities face in the agricultural industry. 
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  • Immigrant Justice

Local Leaders Denounce Senate Deal That Would Gut Asylum

In response to the Senate’s proposed border deal that would gut asylum in exchange for foreign military spending, Local Progress released this statement.
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📬 LP Network Download | Traffic safety, ceasefire, history in Minnesota, & more! | January 2024

Here’s a look at some of what’s happening across the Local Progress network this month.
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