2014 Annual Report

An Update On Our Program Work In 2014

To Our Members

Dear MASSPIRG member,

There’s been a lot of talk in the last few years about the growing partisan divide in our country, and about the fact that progress has stalled on countless issues because we’re split between a Red America and a Blue America, and never the twain shall meet.

Although this polarization can unfortunately seem to be the reality in the halls of Congress, for the rest of us, we can generally agree that there are plenty of solutions that we’re not using to address the problems we face.

Solutions like stopping the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, to keep our life-saving medicines effective. Or empowering small donors in our elections, to counter the ever-growing flow of big money into our democracy. Or rethinking our transportation priorities, so we’re not spending billions of dollars on massive, wasteful highway expansion projects when so many of us are now looking for alternative ways to get around.

None of these solutions should be controversial. But to stand a chance at winning change, you need to show that you can back your solutions up. And that’s what we do best.

First, we build our case through thoughtful research and analysis, to make sure we can win the argument on its merits. Then, we get the public involved, building the grassroots support of our members through our canvass outreach efforts, to show that the people are behind us, and are speaking out for change. Finally, we take our case to decision-makers at all levels of government—local, state and federal—to call for action.

Change is never easy. And it can be easy to get frustrated. But every day, we’re making progress on issues that matter. That progress might not always appear in the headlines, but it’s vitally important—not just to the well-being of our country, but to the well-being of its citizens as well.

In the following pages, you’ll read some of the progress we’ve made toward those solutions. I hope you enjoy this report, and seeing what we’ve been able to do in the last year, thanks to your support.

Sincerely,

Janet Domenitz Andre DelattreExecutive Director Executive DirectorMASSPIRG U.S. PIRG

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1ON THE COVER: 1) Stop Antibiotics Overuse Program Director Sujatha Jahagirdar releases our doctor’s poll, “Prescription For Change” 2) MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz joined Gov. Deval Patrick as he signed the Election Modernization Bill. 3) Federal Tax and Budget Associate Jaimie Woo 4) PIRG canvassers in action

Photos: All photos taken by our staff unless noted here. Front Cover: (counter-clockwise from top) Beverly Jensen, Staff, Kristopher Connor, Johnathan Comer. Page 2: Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism*. Page 3: branislavpudar/shutterstock.com. Page 4: Beverly Jensen. Page 5: Stefan Klapko Photography. Page 12 notice: John Stephen Dwyer*. (*Photos used under a Creative Commons license)

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21st Century TransportationShowing The Trend Away From Driving & Making Smarter Transportation Choices

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After decades of focusing on expanding our roads and building more and more new highways, the time has come to rethink Massachusetts’—and Amer-ica’s—transportation priorities. As more people move off the roads, and with many others wishing they could be less reliant on their cars, MASSPIRG Education Fund is calling on our deci-sion-makers to give people the alterna-tive options they want.

We’re Moving Off The RoadsNew technologies—from smartphone apps, to bikesharing and ridesharing ser-vices—are giving people the freedom to go “car-free” or “car-light.” Meanwhile, total driving peaked in America in 2007. In 2014, more people used public trans-portation than in any year since 1956.

The Millennial Generation—people born between 1983 and 2000, is leading this trend, and our report, “Millennials in Motion,” documented the mounting evidence that this shift is more than temporary. It explains that even as the economy improves, the continued decrease in per-capita driving among younger Americans is likely to continue. The report found that younger Amer-icans are driving less; taking transit, biking and walking more; and seeking out places to live in cities and walkable communities where driving is an option, not a necessity.

MBTA Brings Back Late Night ServiceFor years, Massachusetts has been held back by a transportation system that doesn’t adequately meet our needs. But in March, the MBTA took an important step when they announced that they

were bringing back late night service as part of a one-year pilot program, keep-ing certain bus and subway routes open later on weekends.

This isn’t just about encouraging a vibrant nightlife in Boston—it’s about building a modern economy in Boston. Many people in the restaurant and ser-vice industries work irregular hours, and giving them reliable and safe trans-portation to and from their jobs is crucial if Boston hopes to become a world-class city. In 2013, the MBTA conduced an online survey about late night service, and about 35 percent of respondents said they would use it to get home from work, while a similar number said they would use it to get to or from school.

The pilot program is scheduled to run until mid-2015, when the MBTA is expected to make a final decision. MASSPIRG will make sure that our decisionmakers know that the public needs and deserves safe, reliable late night service in Boston.

And as we’ve seen amid the problems facing the MBTA this recent, historic winter, our transportation system is in serious need of reinvestment. We’ve made great strides in recent years, but there is still much work to be done. In 2015, MASSPIRG is looking forward to working with Gov. Charlie Baker and the state Legislature to address the chronic underfunding of our public transit system.

WE NEED MORE TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS—MASSPIRG Education Fund has documented Massachusetts’ shift away from driving, and how Bay Staters are looking for more alternatives—such as bikesharing, ridesharing or public transportation—to get around.

Antibiotics are a critical component of modern medicine. Doctors rely on them every day to keep people alive and well—whether it’s fighting pneumonia, or dealing with infections that set in from scrapes or as a result of chemo-therapy and major surgeries. But fueled by the misuse and overuse of the drugs, some bacteria are becoming “super-bugs” that are resistant to antibiotics. Public health experts overwhelmingly warn that antibiotic resistance is a seri-ous, growing public health threat.

In response to these warnings, MASSPIRG, along with our nationwide federation, launched a campaign to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms, one of the primary drivers of this problem. In 2014, we called on the Obama administration to take action to address this problem, by enacting stronger guidelines on the overuse of antibiotics on healthy animals.

A Growing Public Health ThreatUp to 70 percent of antibiotics in the United States are sold for use on livestock and poultry. Antibiotics are typically routinely given to livestock, mostly to animals that aren’t even sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned, “much of antibiotic use in animals is unnec-essary and inappropriate and makes everyone less safe.”

According to the CDC, every year at least 2 million Americans become in-fected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. The World Health Organi-

zation has also warned that “without urgent, coordinated action … the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill.”

10,000 Health Professionals JoinOver the summer, MASSPIRG launched a citizen outreach campaign to convince the Obama administration to direct the Food and Drug Adminis-tration (FDA) to define the acceptable use of antibiotics on factory farms, and ban the practice of routinely giving an-tibiotics to healthy animals. Alongside our national federation, we talked to

hundreds of thousands of citizens and called on our decision-makers to act, now. We also worked to enlist more than 10,000 health professionals, along with more than 100,000 concerned cit-izens, to convince our elected officials that strong action is both medically necessary and politically popular.

The FDA has asked pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily stop the sale of antibiotics to farms for growth pro-motion. Unfortunately, this action is unlikely to solve the problem. Without a stronger requirement to reduce the amount of antibiotics fed to livestock, the development and spread of anti-biotic-resistant bacteria will not slow down.

Executive Order Must Go FurtherIn July, MASSPIRG’s Federal Program Director testified before the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, urging them to recom-mend strong actions against the over-use of antibiotics on factory farms.

We also released several reports out-lining the problem. We partnered with local doctors to release a new white paper, “Ending the Abuse of Antibi-otics in Livestock Production,” and alongside our research partner, Frontier Group, we released “Prescription for Change,” which critiqued the current, weak FDA guidelines.

Then in September, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that took several important steps necessary to control the spread of antibiotic-re-sistant bacteria. The executive order

Stop The Overuse Of AntibioticsCalling On Our Leaders & Businesses To End Antibiotic Misuse On Factory Farms

OVERUSE ON FACTORY FARMS— Up to 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are sold for use on livestock and poultry, and are routinely given to animals that aren’t even sick.

2014 Annual Report

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also formed a presidential task force to determine what next steps should be taken. However, both missed the op-portunity to call for critical reforms in the agricultural sector that are essential to protect public health. In the mean-time, MASSPIRG will keep working to convince the administration to enact stronger measures to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

93% Of Doctors ConcernedIn October, MASSPIRG and coalition partners released a poll commissioned by Consumer Reports that asked medical professionals about their con-cerns and experiences with antibiotic resistance. According to the poll, an overwhelming majority of doctors—93 percent—are concerned about the over-use of antibiotics on factory farms. And 85 percent of doctors have treated a patient experiencing a case of drug-re-sistant bacteria in the past year.

Calling On McDonald’s For Action We can’t wait for our policymakers to act to protect our antibiotics. If we want

factory farms to rein in their misuse and overuse of antibiotics, we need to put pressure on the restaurants that buy their meat. That’s why MASSPIRG Education Fund launched a campaign calling on McDonald’s to stop buying meat raised with the unnecessary use of antibiotics. McDonald’s is one of the largest restaurant chains in the world. They’ve said they want to do something

about the overuse of antibiotics in their meat supply, and some restaurants, such as Chipotle and Panera, already offer antibiotic-free options.

In March 2015, McDonald’s announced that they’re phasing out the use of medi-cally-important antibiotics in their chick-ens. This is a huge win for public health, but we won’t stop there. This summer, we’ll be calling on Subway—the largest fast food chain in the world—to make a similar commitment. If they do, it could change the industry, and help keep our antibiotics effective for generations to come.

DOCTORS CALLING FOR ACTION—Dr. Lance Price, a specialist in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, joined PIRG as we released our poll of doctors, “Prescription For Change.” In the poll, an overwhelming majority of doctors—93 percent—said they’re concerned about the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

How the overuse of antibiotics

on factory farms puts our health at risk

Up to 70% of antibiotics in the U.S. are sold for use on

livestock and poultry, mostly to animals that aren’t even sick.

Resistant bacteria Overuse of antibiotics has led to the rise of drug-resistant

bacteria that can spread from animals to humans through our

food, water and air.

More than 2 million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant

bacteria every year, and at least 23,000 people die from those infections.

PNEUMONIA • STREP THROAT • E-COLI • WHOOPING COUGH • BRONCHITIS • PINK EYE • MALARIA • MRSA • EAR INFECTION • IMPETIGO • SALMONEL-LA • TUBERCULOSIS • MASTITIS • RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS • E-COLI • WHOOPING COUGH • PNEUMONIA

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group

One person, one vote: That’s how we’re taught elections in our democra-cy are supposed to work. Candidates should compete to win our votes by revealing their vision, credentials and capabilities. We, the people, then get to decide who should represent us.

But following a series of wrongheaded Supreme Court decisions, Super PACs and mega-donors now have the abil-ity to drown out the voices of regular voters in our elections. MASSPIRG is part of a growing movement working to restore common sense to our de-mocracy, calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn these rulings, and empowering small donors to have a greater stake in elections.

Citizens United 2.0Special interest money has long had a corrosive effect on our politics, but in 2010, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision unleashed a new era of unprecedented spending by a handful of millionaires and corporations on our elections. Since then, we’ve seen the floodgates open to waves of big money that threatens to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens in our democracy.

And in April 2014, the Supreme Court sided with mega-donors over voters yet again, making it clear that it has a fundamentally different vision of democracy than the American people.

In McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court struck down the overall limit on what an individual can give to federal candi-

dates, parties and PACs in a two-year election cycle.

In 2012, only 1,219 donors came with-in 10 percent of hitting the aggregate limit. Research from MASSPIRG and Demos projects that now that the ag-gregate limit has been struck down, that same set of 1,219 donors will be able to more than triple their contribu-tions, to a grand total of $459.3 million. The 2014 congressional elections were the first under the new rules.

Despite this setback, there have been signs of progress. In September, a constitutional amendment to restore limits to campaign contributions went to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

While a majority of the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the amendment, it failed to earn the two-thirds majority it needed to advance. In the meantime, MASSPIRG is at the forefront of a growing national movement that has led 16 states and nearly 600 cities to go on record in favor of an amendment to restore common sense to our elections.

2014 Elections: More Big MoneyWith the campaign finance laws gov-erning the 2014 midterm elections be-coming more lenient, it was no surprise that they ended up being the most expensive midterm election in history, costing approximately $3.7 billion.

In addition to drowning out the voic-es of regular voters, big money also worked to determine who ran for office in the first place, as the pursuit of me-ga-donors priced out other candidates who might not be able to afford the sort of high-priced campaign that is required to win an election.

In fact, in 2014, the top two vote-get-ters in the 25 most competitive House races got more than 86 percent of their contributions from large donors. Meanwhile, only two of those candi-dates raised less than 70 percent of their individual contributions from large donors.

This new reality means that elections and the issues that get debated can be determined long before voters head to the polls. The result of this “money election”? Politicians who favor the do-nors who funded their campaigns over the people they’re elected to represent.

Democracy For The PeopleFighting Back Against Big Money & Empowering Small Donors In Our Elections

BIG MONEY VS. SMALL DONORS—PIRG’s Abe Scarr kicked off our “Democracy For The People” campaign to empower more small donors in our elections.

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Empowering Small DonorsTo address this problem, MASSPIRG kicked off our “Democracy For The People” campaign to amplify the power of small donors in our elec-tions through a system of incentives and matching funds. Alongside our national federation, we’re working to pass small donor programs at the federal level, as well as in cities and towns across the country.

We’re already seeing results: In Sep-tember, the Montgomery County, Md., Council unanimously passed a bill to create a small donor empower-ment program for county council and executive campaigns. We also asked our representatives in Washington to co-sponsor the Government By the People Act, filed by Rep. John Sar-banes, which would change the way our elections are financed (see sidebar).

“The American people deserve a po-litical system that makes sure all of our voices are heard, not just special interests that can afford to spend the most,” said MASSPIRG Executive Di-

rector Janet Domenitz. “This legislation will help to make that a reality.”

Big Democracy Upgrade For Mass.In May, MASSPIRG joined Gov. Deval Patrick, elected officials and coalition members as he signed the Election Modernization Bill into law, which will bring voting in Massachusetts into the 21st century.

The law establishes online voter registration, early voting, pre-registration for 16 year-olds, permanent voter registration, and other reforms which open up our elections and modernize the mechanics.

MASSPIRG applauds all the elected officials who pushed for this bill, the city and town clerks who were allies, and former Gov. Patrick for his leadership. We’ll keep working to further modernize voting in Massachusetts—for example, by implementing Election Day voter registration.

A BIG STEP FOR DEMOCRACY—MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz (right) joined Gov. Deval Patrick at the Election Modernization Bill signing in May.

MASSPIRG supports the Government By The People Act, a bill in Congress that will amplify the voices of small donors, and combat the dominance of

big money in our elections. Here’s what it does:

It will give a $25 tax credit for small donors to encourage more

participation in elections.

Small donor contributions will be matched, 6 to 1

when given to candidates who forego PACs. This means a $50 contribution

becomes a $350 contribution.

It will help candidates who rely on small donors

stay competitiveby giving additional resources to

those who raise at least $50,000 in small-dollar donations within the

60-day “home stretch” of the general election.

The Government By The People Act

ON ALERT FOR CONSUMERS—MASSPIRG Education Fund’s Sujatha Jahagirdar spoke on Fox Business Channel as we released our report, “Trouble in Toyland,” warning parents and consumers about dangerous toys on store shelves.

2014 Annual Report

The financial crisis and the recession that followed delivered a devastating blow to Bay Staters and people across America. In its wake, MASSPIRG helped win the creation of the Consum-er Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the first federal agency with just one job—protecting consumers from unfair financial practices.

Now, more than three years since the CFPB opened its doors, the agency has provided more than $5 billion in relief and refunds for consumers harmed by illegal practices. Yet now, many in Congress and the financial industry are trying to rein in the CFPB.

Defending The CFPBIn 2014, MASSPIRG stepped up our campaign to mount a strong defense of the CFPB, advocating for better tools for consumers to navigate the marketplace and documenting the new challenges they face.

MASSPIRG Education Fund’s series of reports on the CFPB’s public complaint database helped shine a light on their growing set of tools to help protect consumers in the marketplace. The CFPB responded to the reports’ key recommendation when it proposed adding consumer “stories” to the pub-licly-available database.

The CFPB continues to hold major financial institutions accountable for deceptive practices. In 2014, it won settlements against JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and US Bank, return-ing more than $1 billion in refunds to consumers.

On Veterans Day, MASSPIRG and our national federation called on the CFPB to enforce stronger rules against all payday and high-cost lenders. Most military families are young, on the move, and inexperienced in the finan-cial marketplace—making them perfect targets for predatory lenders. No one should be subject to these sorts of pred-atory financial practices—but especially not veterans, service members and their families.

Moving forward, MASSPIRG will do whatever it can to stave off the contin-ued attempts to attack, repeal or defund the CFPB, and let the public, the media and our decision-makers know the val-ue of this important agency. After all, the idea of the CFPB needs no defense, only more defenders.

29th Annual Toy Safety ReportIn November, MASSPIRG Education Fund released our 29th annual “Trouble in Toyland” report, which found that while most toys meet safety require-ments, some still put kids at risk. In response, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) initiated “Stop Sale” orders on three toys in the report, and its Canadian counterpart fully re-called one of the three toys.

Thanks to Congress and the CPSC, we have seen dramatic increases in toy safety in recent years, with new safeguards to protect children. Unfor-tunately, the new rules still fall short. We’ll continue to push for more strin-gent safety standards on children’s toys and make sure that companies adhere to these rules.

Consumer ProtectionStanding Up For Consumers, Parents & Students In The Marketplace

Government spending transparency and accountability is essential to ensure that the public can trust that state funds are being spent properly. For years, MASSPIRG Education Fund has worked to improve access to this information for taxpayers, whether through critiquing existing systems and practices, or giving state officials guidelines on how to provide their citizens the most information possible.

In recent years, state governments across the country have created transparency websites that provide checkbook-level information on government spending. These websites allow residents and watchdog groups to ensure that taxpayers get their money’s worth.

Massachusetts Gets An “A-”— Making It A Leading State For TransparencyIn April, MASSPIRG Education Fund released “Following The Money 2014,” an annual grading of these state transparency websites. In the report, Massachusetts received an “A-” grade and is considered a Leading State, ranking 5th out of all 50 states. Grades were based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states’ transparency websites. The grading standards rise each year, so states need to constantly improve transparency to be a leader.

Massachusetts’ “A-” grade means that their website is user-friendly and provides visitors with accessible information on an array of expenditures. Not only can ordinary citizens find information on specific vendor payments through easy-to-use search features, but experts and watchdog groups can also download and analyze the entire checkbook dataset.

“State governments across the country have become more transparent about where public money goes, providing citizens with the information they need to hold elected officials and recipients of public subsidies accountable,” said Phineas Baxandall, senior analyst with MASSPIRG Education Fund.

New Websites Reap Rewards For Little Upfront Cost2013 marked the first time that all 50 states operated websites to make information on state spending accessible to the public. Since then, several states launched new websites, or made substantive upgrades to their existing websites.

Additionally, states that have created or improved their online transparency have typically done so with little upfront cost. In fact, top-flight transparency websites can actually save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts.

“Open information about the public purse is crucial for democratic and effective government,” said Baxandall. “It is not possible to ensure that government spending decisions are fair and efficient unless information is publicly accessible.”

Government TransparencyShining A Spotlight On How Taxpayer Money Is Spent

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2014 TRANSPARENCY REPORT CARD

YEAR: 2014 GRADER: MASSPIRG

WEBSITE: www.mass.gov/informedma

We graded Massachusetts’ online database of government expenditures for detail and accessibility to the public.

A-90.5 / 100

Contracts & Expenditures Checkbook-level detail

Search by Recipient

Search by Keyword

Search by Agency

Downloadable

Quasi-Public Agencies

Excluded Information

Economic Development Subsidies Checkbook-level detail

Downloadable

Projected Public Benefits

Actual Public Benefits

Tax Expenditure Reports

Extra Credit: Recouped Funds

TOTAL GRADE:

62 / 64

24 / 24

8 / 8

8 / 8

8 / 8

6 / 6

4 / 6

4 / 4

19.5 / 27

14 / 15

3.5 / 4

2 / 4

2 / 4

9 / 9

0 / 4

WE DESERVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW—MASSPIRG Legislative Director Deirdre Cummings (at podium) was at the State House in June as we announced majority support for our GMO labeling bill.

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group

Consumers should have the right to know what’s in the food they eat and feed to their families. We already require food manufacturers to list ingredients and other nutritional information—but when it comes to knowing whether our food contains ingredients from geneti-cally modified organisms (GMOs), that right is being denied. That’s why we’re calling on our lawmakers in Congress and on Beacon Hill to ensure that all foods that contain GMOs are labeled.

The United States is one of only two industrialized countries in the world that does not give consumers the ability to see whether or not our foods contain GMOs. Yet polls show more than 90 percent of Americans support this com-monsense solution. Giving consumers that choice is the very basic principle behind our campaign to require labels for foods that contain GMOs.

Building Support In The Bay StateIn 2014, Vermont became the third state, joining Maine and Connecticut, to pass a GMO labeling law. However, their law doesn’t go into effect until 2016, and Maine and Connecticut’s laws don’t go into effect until a set number of states pass labeling laws of their own. So not only would passing a bill here in Mas-sachusetts give Bay Staters the right to know, but it would also bring residents of other New England states one step closer to getting GMO labels.

Our campaign generated tremendous support, both among local businesses and farms, and with state lawmakers. A bipartisan group consisting of 146 of the 200 members of the state Leg-

islature supported the bill, as did 300 organizations and local businesses—in-cluding 150 local farms. We also helped generate more than 40,000 petition signatures to elected officials in support of the bill. However, when the 2013-14 legislative session came to a close, the MASSPIRG-backed GMO bill had yet to pass. But despite this, we still made great progress, and will redouble our efforts in the future.

“Unfortunately, chemical companies like Monsanto and the junk food indus-try lobbied to keep consumers in the dark,” said Deirdre Cummings, Legis-lative Director for MASSPIRG. “I know our coalition will continue to fight for GMO labeling, giving consumers—not certain companies—the right to know and choose what they are eating.”

Calling On Grocery Stores For ActionFood companies have started to re-spond to consumer demand for the right to know. Companies such as Chipotle, Whole Foods and Ben & Jer-ry’s, have started to label or eliminate GMOs in their products. And MASS-PIRG organizers have been working to convince grocery stores, such as Stop & Shop, to label GMOs in their store-brand products.

In July, MASSPIRG worked with Green Century Capital Management—a fossil fuel-free mutual fund founded by PIRG in 1991—to present a shareholder res-olution urging Safeway Inc. to label its store-brand products. Despite the res-olution falling short, it garnered much more support than anticipated—a promising sign of progress.

Let’s Label GMOsGiving Consumers The Right To Know What’s In Their Food

Zero Waste MassachusettsUpdating Our Recycling Laws For A Cleaner, Safer Bay State

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In 1982, MASSPIRG led the fight to pass the original Bottle Bill, one of the Bay State’s most effective recycling programs. In 2014, after more than a decade of trying to pass an update, MASSPIRG helped organize a mas-sive signature drive to put the Bottle Bill on the ballot. However, thanks in part to big spending from the bottling industry and supermarket chains, as well as questionable political ads, the updated Bottle Bill did not pass.

A Commonsense SolutionAn updated Bottle Bill would extend the nickel deposit on soda and beer to other single-serving containers such as bottled water, iced teas and sports drinks. When the original Bottle Bill was passed more than 30 years ago, these options were not widely on the market. Today, 80 percent of bottles and cans covered by the deposit are recycled. However, only 23 percent of containers that aren’t covered get recycled, adding more than 1 million containers into landfills or incinerators.

Getting The Bottle Bill On The BallotAfter years of trying to pass an up-date on Beacon Hill, MASSPIRG and our coalition partners decided to take the question to the voters. In July, we joined supporters and coalition part-ners outside the Secretary of State’s office to announce the completion of a signature drive to put the Bottle Bill on the ballot. This victory came after our coalition gathered more than 130,000 signatures—nearly double the num-ber needed to qualify for the ballot. Signatures came from every one of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts,

thanks in large part to the efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

Big Money Floods CampaignAs Election Day approached, the bot-tling industry and supermarket chains poured $9 million into the campaign, running misleading ads that were called into question by reporters. But despite this, MASSPIRG and our coali-tion worked with hundreds of activists and other state and local organizations to build support. But ultimately, the updated Bottle Bill fell short of passing.

“Our ballot question lost,” said Jan-et Domenitz, Executive Director of MASSPIRG. “Obviously we didn’t

make our case well enough. Our op-ponents said that there are easier, more modern ways to recycle. We stand ready to hear their plans to get water bottles up to an 80 percent recy-cling rate.”

Despite the defeat, we won’t let it deter us from our goal of putting Massachu-setts on the path toward Zero Waste. In 2015, we’ll be pushing bills in the State House that set a deadline on increas-ing the recycling rates for non-deposit beverage containers, establish waste reduction targets and improve waste ban enforcement, and pass a statewide ban on single-use plastic grocery bags.

WORKING TOWARD COMMONSENSE RECYCLING SOLUTIONS—MASSPIRG Executive Director Janet Domenitz spoke at a rally with Gov. Deval Patrick in support of updating the Bottle Bill.

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MASSPIRG Staff (partial list) 2014 Annual Report

Janet DomenitzExecutive Director

Andre DelattreU.S. PIRG Executive Director

Allison CairoU.S. PIRG Deputy Director

Ed MierzwinskiConsumer Program Director

Chris LindstromHigher Education Program Director

Sujatha JahagirdarStop Antibiotics Overuse Program Director

Phineas BaxandallSenior Analyst & Program Director

Steve BlackledgePublic Health Program Director

Kirstie PecciStaff Attorney

Deirdre CummingsLegislative Director

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