CREDO Mobile Blog

VICTORY: Gov. Cuomo extends solar program through 2023

The New York Public Service Commission planned an extension to NY-Sun Initiative solar program through 2023. The plan results in 10x more affordable solar up and down the state, enough to power 465,000 New York homes and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million tons annually. Private investment in solar at this scale reduces the need for utilities to build traditional power plants and transmission infrastructure, which can help keep rates low for all New Yorkers. So far, NY-Sun has resulted in almost 300 megawatts of solar capacity, more than was installed in the entire decade prior to the program. The solar industry employs 5,000 New Yorkers, ranking New York 5th in the nation for solar job creation.

Thanks in part to activism from almost 11,000 CREDO members, the plan was extended to 2023.

VICTORY: Gov. Brewer vetoes S.B. 1062

S.B. 1062 is a bill that codifies, rationalizes and justifies discrimination for religious purposes and would lead to unfair treatment of gay and lesbian Arizonans. The bill passed both the Senate and House and without any support from Democrats, but since Republicans hold a majority in both chambers, this discriminatory bill landed Governor Brewer’s desk awaiting her signature.

After hearing from opposition, including almost 34,000 CREDO members, Gov. Brewer vetoed S.B. 1062.

VICTORY: MI-CATS 3 freed

Vicci Hamlin, Lisa Leggio and Barbara Carter – the MI-CATS 3 – locked themselves to machinery to block the construction of Enbridge’s line $6B tar sands pipeline. The pipeline is the same one that, in 2010, spilled more than a million gallons of tar sands, fouling a huge section of the Kalamazoo River.

After delivering over 60,000 other signatures to the judge, a month-long campaign supported by CREDO  to build awareness and public pressure calling for leniency, Vicci, Lisa and Barbara were released from jail with 13 months probation and no prison time.  

VICTORY: President Obama raises wages for federal contractors to $10.10/hr

After more than 65,000 CREDO members signed a petition and helped put pressure on President Obama to address the hardships faced by millions of federal contractors nationwide, President Obama announced on Jan. 28 that he would be signing an executive order that raises the minimum wage for new federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour.

VICTORY: Maryland raises the minimum wage

At just $7.25 an hour, Maryland’s minimum wage left a family of three stuck below the poverty line. Like workers being paid the minimum wage in the other 49 states, Maryland workers couldn’t even afford to pay for an average two-bedroom apartment by working a standard 40-hour work week. The minimum wage in Maryland hadn’t been raised since 2009, despite inflation. The real value of the federal minimum wage was actually a few dollars lower than it was in 1968.

Activism, including about 2,000 CREDO signatures, prompted the Maryland General Assembly pass legislation that raised the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

VICTORY: Radio Disney pulls out of pro–fossil fuel “Rocking in Ohio”

“Rocking in Ohio” is a road show where popular Radio Disney DJs lead kids in interactive presentations where – with pop music blaring in the background – they play games, build pretend pipelines out of colorful plastic, and even receive prizes with Disney movie and Radio Disney branding.

After hearing from more than 100,000 parents and concerned citizens, including 85,000 CREDO members, Radio Disney pulled out of “Rocking in Ohio.

VICTORY: FEC holds Tea Party accountable

The Federal Election Commission was on the verge of granting a prominent Washington Tea Party group an exemption from federal reporting and disclosure requirements not only for donors, but also for expenditures. If the Tea Party got its way, it would have been allowed to legally operate under cover of complete darkness and function as a conduit for billionaires’ money to buy the midterm elections for right-wing conservatives in 2014.

At the beginning of the hearing, mention was made of the comment submitted on behalf of over 5,000 CREDO members. On Thursday, November 21, the FEC denied the Tea Party’s request by a 3-2 vote, which meant the Tea Party Leadership Fund would have to continue making disclosures according to the rules everyone else has to follow.

VICTORY: Texas State Board of Education approves science textbooks based on established science

Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has the power to vote on science materials that will be in classrooms for the next decade. And for years, an anti-science faction of that board has done all it can to undermine the science of evolution and climate change by giving equal weight to nonscientific beliefs like climate change denial and the idea that dinosaurs and humans coexisted.

Nearly 20,000 CREDO members signed a petition to stand up for science, and the Texas State Board of Education cast a final vote to approve science textbooks based on established science.

VICTORY: GMO crops banned on Hawaii island

Hawaii imports over 90 percent of its food. Biotech companies claim that greater use of genetically modified crops will make Hawaii more self-sufficient in its food supply, but in reality they are growing these crops on the other four islands for use in industrial agriculture in other parts of the world. And because genetically modified seeds must be re-purchased by farmers every season, there is no chance to adapt crops to local climate conditions through locally grown seeds by farmers – something key to food security.

Bill 113 bans the production of genetically modified crops to protect Hawaii’s biodiversity and prevent further contamination of seed supply, the destruction of land and the poisoning of families through increased pesticide use. 

Thanks to activism – including 3,900 petition signatures – Hawaii Island Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill 113 into law on Thursday, Dec. 5.

VICTORY: Justice for sexual assault survivor Daisy Coleman

In January 2012, Daisy Coleman was sexually assaulted and left unconscious overnight on her Maryville, Missouri front yard in freezing temperatures. A few months later, charges against her accused attacker – a high school football player with a well-connected family – were dropped under suspicious circumstances.

Thanks to activism that includes 10,000 CREDO petition signatures, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who has long stood up for victims of domestic and sexual assault, was named by a Missouri circuit court judge as the special prosecutor to re-open Daisy’s case.