Watch: Legislative Briefing on Tax Justice Trends in the States

On September 25th, SiX and State Revenue Alliance (SRA) organized a joint-briefing for legislators and legislative staff across the country on all things tax justice in the states. The briefing featured the latest research on tax justice initiatives across the country, overviewing notable state revenue bills introduced in 2024 as well as anticipated trends in the future. 

This presentation is part of a series of briefings organized under SiX’s Economic Power Project, SiX's national economic justice initiative, organizing legislators committed to building economies that empower people and advance justice. At SiX, we know another world is possible – where our economies center people, not corporate and billionaire profits. And that world starts in the states. Learn more about our Economic Power Project here. 

Preparing for Election Harassment and Violence

State legislators face persistent violence in and outside of legislatures. In the face of this, SiX stands as a steadfast ally for state legislators. SiX is dedicated to providing the support and resources necessary for our leaders to thrive, even in the most daunting circumstances. We offer a community where legislators can find solace, guidance, and the strength to continue their vital work.

Inside state legislatures work environments have reached new levels of toxicity, and women of color, LGBTQ+, young, and disabled legislators bear the brunt of racism, sexual harassment, and anti-trans and abelist rhetoric and harassment.

We know this from listening to state legislators like Colorado Representative Elisabeth Epps on her experience: “The Capitol is not a safe place for folks who prioritize following the law and telling the truth...It is a very racist place. It is a place that is very anti-Black, it is a place that is anti-immigrant, it is a place that is misogynistic."

Research from the Brennan Center for Justice further proves that Elisabeth is not alone. 

According to their data, state and local officeholders report alarming, increasing levels of threats and other abuse. Forty-three percent of state legislators experienced threats; 38% of state legislators reported that the amount of abuse they experience has increased since first taking public office; and larger shares of women and people of color serving in local elected office experienced abuse related to their families — including their children — than did other officeholders.

Now more than ever, it is essential to lead with hope and resilience. By coming together, we can foster a political environment rooted in relationship with our communities. 

In addition to resources like the ones listed below, SiX offers decompression and healing spaces for state legislators. These spaces are created to be a soft landing space of restoration and renewal after attacks in statehouses on legislators’ racial and cultural identities, their support of abortion access, LGBTQ+ liberation, and other marginalized communities. Join us in Atlanta on December 11-13 to participate in a healing space!

The following are readings and resources to support legislators:

Digital Defense Fund: Digital Security for Abortion & Pregnancy Privacy

The Digital Defense Fund was established in 2017 in response to the increased need for security and technology resources in the abortion rights movement after the 2016 election. Many of the resources below are adapted from this resource. 

• Keep your browsing private with Tor or a no-logs Virtual Private Network (VPN), to the extent permissible under your state’s transparency laws. A virtual private network is a mechanism for creating a secure connection between a computing device and a computer network, or between two networks, using an insecure communication medium such as the public Internet. You can have a VPN on your laptop, desktops, and phone. Keep in mind that state open-records laws can have a bearing on the technology you use, although your state’s rules might impact only your email and not your browsing. Check with your state ethics officer and state house information technology staff. 

• Tor is a secure, free browser that encrypts your internet traffic and routes your internet traffic through multiple different computers, which masks the origin of your traffic. 
  
• VPNs route your internet traffic through their servers instead of your internet service providers. It’s important to choose a VPN that doesn’t keep track of what you’re doing - commonly called a no-logs VPN. Most no-logs VPNs cost a few dollars a month (such as Proton VPN), but there are two free options: ProtonVPN’s free tier, and Tunnelbear’s limited free tier. 

• Limit Location Services on Phones and Devices 
  To turn off location sharing, 
  • For IPhones:
    • go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. You can choose when to share your location for each app.
  • For Androids:
    • Open Settings > Location > Turn Use location on or off.

• Subscribe to DeleteMe: 

DeleteMe opts you out from sites that collect and sell your data using a combination of automation and direct human intervention. This includes information like your address, email, and phone numbers. It costs $129 annually for basic plans, with more advanced security subscriptions as well.

• Use a Password Manager and 2 Factor Authentication (2FA)

Password Managers such as 1Password, Bitwarden and Dashlane ensure your accounts are secure and less hackable or vulnerable to identity theft. Make sure to also enable 2FA, especially on any social media or other public facing accounts.  

• Block harmful words on social media comments

Social media websites such as X, Facebook and Instagram have settings that allow you to block slurs, swear words, and other derogatory phrases. Consider blocking these words on your social media pages. Similar filters can also be set for most websites created on common platforms like Wix and WordPress. Consult with legislative ethics counsel to ensure your actions are consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lindke v. Freed, which addresses government officials’ ability to block people on social media. 

• Create a physical safety plan

A physical safety plan can include: A security team (if your municipality/state provides one); familiarizing yourself with your buildings’ entry security, guest procedures, and policies; a safe place ready to go if you need to leave your home; a home security system; and support network of neighbors and friends. A safety plan can also include participating in an address confidentiality program (ACP).

The Surveillance Resistance Lab is focused on challenging technologies that fuel state and corporate power. You can view their resources here. 

The Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence Project is the culmination of many organizations and individuals from across the country who have joined forces to better understand the problem of political violence and strategize and mobilize together across many lines of difference. View their guide here.

Women’s Democracy Lab has trainings and programs that address elected Indigenous women, women and femmes of color, and those seeking to engage with or support them most pressing challenges, including fostering a sense of belonging, ensuring safety, securing a living wage, and delivering culturally responsive professional development.

The Violence Prevention & De-escalation Resources for State & Local Officials Guide outlines four steps for elected officials to mitigate violence through resources on how to (1) analyze risk; (2) understand state-specific laws and options for enforcing them; (3) build stakeholder engagement for high risk events; and (4) communicate insights and guidance. This resource was jointly compiled by Georgetown's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, the Crime and Justice Institute, Over Zero, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, More in Common, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative, and the Anti-Defamation League. 

Over Zero’s Guidance for Reporting on Extremist Groups and Threats resource outlines considerations and guidelines for responsible and de-escalatory reporting on extremist threats that clearly outlines the threat white supremacist groups pose without amplifying their message or enabling them to use you to shape their narrative. Over Zero is an organization that works to prevent and reduce violence based on identity. 

End Tech Abuse across Generations (eTAG) created a Digital Evidence Collection Guide in English and Spanish to help folks collect digital evidence of cyber abuse that can be used in civil and criminal court cases, including protection orders. It is a good idea to document and store digital evidence even if you aren’t ready to pursue legal action in case you change your mind later.

Crash Override published a guide on what to do after you’ve been doxxed. They define doxxing as “the act of publishing someone’s personal information, of which there would be a reasonable expectation of privacy and dubious value to the conversation, in an environment that implies or encourages intimidation or threat.” Their guide provides a high level overview on the realities, consequences, and considerations of being doxed.

Building State Power in Response to Project 2025

At this moment, every potential future is in play.

Extremists continue to advance a dangerous agenda rooted in white Christian nationalism consolidating their political and economic power, as seen in Project 2025.

And at the same time, state legislators and our communities in states across the country remain on the front lines to push back against these attacks and, against all odds, build people-centered policies to create an equitable, resilient, healthy, and prosperous future for all. This webinar seeks to align state legislators and partners to the organized threat from extremists and redirect our movement from a rapid response orientation to an approach of building toward a future that works for everyone through collaborative governance.

Check out the video below to learn from SiX's Co-Executive Director, Jessie Ulibarri about collaborative governance -- the antidote to the authoritarian playbook and from Damaris Allen, executive director at Families for Strong Public Schools and Nayda Benitez, director of organizing at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition on how they are organizing in the face of rising extremism.

Learn more about the threats Project 2025 poses to states:

• Project 2025: What it Means for Women, Families, and Gender Justice, National Women’s Law Center
• Project 2025 is Already a Reality in Many States, Center for American Progress (CAP)
• The Harmful Effects of Project 2025 by State, CAP 
• Project 2025: Exposing the Far-Right Assault on America, CAP’s full Project 2025 series

User Error: AI, Tech, & Workers Rights

By: Kairos Action, SiX, and Economic Security Project

Surveillance, work intensification, algorithmic management, and loss of autonomy are not new trends
in the workplace. These are tactics that abusive employers have used for centuries. But the rapid
introduction of technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies, in the workplace
supercharges existing trends that are harmful to workers.

Technology can be used to advance or undermine progress. Technology does not have to undermine
workers’ rights. Tech companies and employers that use these tools are taking advantage of the
emergent nature of these technologies to dictate regulatory frameworks, including whether there is one
at all. But contrary to what the tech industry might suggest, the proliferation of these abusive tools isn’t
inevitable or uncontrollable. They can and should be regulated, including prohibited, to safeguard our
rights.

It is important for legislators to understand these harms and who is behind them, and to collaborate
with impacted workers and work toward solutions. Black, brown, indigenous, and immigrant workers,
especially those who are undocumented, continue to be disproportionately at risk of being exploited,
discriminated against, and made victims of predatory practices in the workplace by these technologies.
Both private- and public-sector workers are also impacted, and while the use of tech in the workplace
undoubtedly affects blue-collar workers, the use also extends to white-collar workers such as
educators, writers, lawyers, healthcare professionals, and others, as was highlighted during the SAGAFTRA and WGA strike in 2023.

To read the full report, click here.

A Movement for Tax Justice: Our Moment is Now

By: Kyle Huelsman

The tax justice movement has arrived at a historic inflection point. One path leads toward massive cuts in government spending, divesting unprecedented levels of funding from our schools, our affordable housing stock, and our broader social safety net. The other path leads toward the ultrawealthy and corporations paying what they owe in taxes, enabling us to fund our future. The next two years will determine whether we can build together, across states and across movements, to fight for the second path, and realize a government that works for us all; or whether we will be overpowered by our opposition and become resigned to the worst possible outcome.   

The root of this crisis has two main causes: the loss of federal funds and declining state revenue. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was hailed as a once in a generation investment in states, and for good reason: it provided $350 billion in emergency funding to respond to the COVID-19 emergency. ARPA funds, however, are expiring. States have until the end of 2024 to designate those federal funds, and until 2026 to fully spend down the remaining balance. Simultaneously, structural budget imbalances are starting to appear across the country. California, New York, and Pennsylvania face dramatic, multi-billion dollar deficits heading into 2024, but are by no means the only states with serious issues. Based on budget analyses of states published in late 2023, roughly half of Americans live in states that report short-term budget gaps, potential long-term deficits, or both (Pew, 2024). Across the board, we are seeing systemic and chronic budget shortfalls, which will outlast even the best resourced rainy day fund. 

The collision of these two events has created the perfect storm for state government deficits. In no uncertain terms, there are only two possible choices as we move into 2025 and 2026: states can cut critical government programs or increase revenue. Let us be clear, if we do not act decisively to raise revenue from the ultra-wealthy and corporations, the default option is massive budget cuts. We need only look to the Great Recession, when states collectively extracted billions of dollars from their budgets, creating gaps in education funding that persisted over a decade later (CBPP, 2017). 

  For the 11 states participating in the Tax Justice Initiative cohort, our theory of change is simple: we must maintain and expand our power over 2023 and 2024 in order to be positioned, and strong enough, to win in 2025 and 2026. This frame will be critical to keep us focused on the medium-term objective, while also staying motivated in the face of unfavorable legislative environments throughout 2024. 

We know that transforming state tax systems often takes years, which is why SIX and State Revenue Alliance (SRA) are supporting a broad, multi-year effort. The investigative reporting piece from the Center for Public Integrity (The Long Struggle Over Taxing the Rich) lays out the rationale behind our multi-year, multi-state strategy to counter the entrenched power and resources of our opposition, sharpen the inside/outside the building strategy of our allies, and support tax justice across the country. If we were to judge the success of the Tax Justice Initiative on the outcomes of 2023 alone, we would see a modest level of success. In 2024, we are already surpassing the high watermark of the previous year, but will face challenging political headwinds in many states. However, if we step back into a multi-year orientation, we can see the essential building blocks of transformational change. Examples include: favorable polling (70%-78% support for wealth taxes in TJI cohort states), stronger revenue coalitions and legislative champions, and deeper penetration of our message – in 2023, we received 189 media mentions and stories on the Tax Justice Initiative, including top tier national press from:  The Washington Post; CBS News; Los Angeles Times; Yahoo! Finance; Bloomberg News; The Guardian; Business Insider; Associated Press; CBS News; Wall Street Journal; Forbes; In These Times; CNBC; and the New York Times in January 2024.

We saw important progress in 2023 with record numbers of cosponsors (256 total), and incredible efforts so far in 2024 - highlighting both the deep popularity of these reforms and the rewards of intentionally building power with legislative champions. Yet, our opposition hired more lobbyists, spent more on paid advertisements, and received more earned media coverage. No matter how popular our policies are outside state capitols, the disproportionate level of resources spent within legislative chambers create a real power imbalance. There is only one answer to this larger problem: we must relentlessly compete for more power because we don’t have enough today. Power is measurable, and we need to stay laser focused on our ability to increase the level of influence inside and outside the building. 

For the champion legislators and movement partners leading this work at the state level, we have your back. As legislative leadership and Governors dismiss your reforms as “radical” and “untimely”: know that there is a eleven state network moving forward toward a common goal; know that the biggest revenue measures of the past decades faced the same criticism in the years before passage; know that the pushback is a reflection of the power that you are amassing. The 2024 legislative sessions may largely be a difficult and frustrating time for folks on the ground, but every ounce of power we build this year will mean the difference between success and failure when the moment is ready in the next legislative session. When we build together, over the long-term, we are unstoppable!

States Leading the Way on Paid Family and Medical Leave

By: Ian Pfeiffer

From the first moments of a child’s life to the last moments in the life of a loved one, we all need time to care for our families. No one should have to worry about losing their job for putting their family first during some of the most important moments in life. This simple sentiment is shared by an overwhelming majority of Americans in poll after poll, which makes it so confounding that the United States is one of just six countries on the face of the earth that does not guarantee paid leave for workers. 

In the three decades since the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed into law, which made some workers eligible for up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave, both corporations and extremist politicians–with support from their deep-pocket donors–have stood in the way of strengthening these benefits.  

Under FMLA, only 3 in 10 workers are eligible for and can afford to take unpaid leave, deepening divides between historically marginalized communities. A report produced by the National Partnership for Women and Children illustrates the severe racial disparities in wealth and wealth building between white families and Black and Latino families due to past and present institutionalized racism, which are only exacerbated when serious medical and family challenges arise.

In 2021, federal paid family and medical leave was included in the Biden Administration’s “Build  Back Better” legislation, coming the closest to enactment in the 30 years since the passage of FMLA. State lawmakers in 10 states and the District of Columbia had enacted legislation establishing a Paid Family and Medical Leave program leading up to this once in a generation moment to pass paid leave at the federal level.  State legislators demonstrated the feasibility of the program and led to incredible momentum within Congress. Unfortunately, a small group of conservative Democrats in a closely divided Senate doomed this vital program, frustrating the millions of families that need to support a loved one in need. 

State legislators have retaken the movement to pass PFML across the country in the wake of federal inaction.  We are seeing incredible movement in Red states passing legislation to extend paid family and medical leave to state employees, including South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana.  This is an opportunity to build towards a social insurance program, and particularly impactful as an important step towards gender and racial equity, as state employees are disproportionately women and Black workers. Not to be outdone, universal social insurance programs have been passed in Delaware, Maine, and Minnesota. SiX’s PFML Legislator cohort project is committed to help accelerate the second national push for federal PFML legislation, positioning passionate state legislators as national leaders in the fight for a more just economy.

The hard work in State Capitols across the country to discuss, debate, and advance paid leave legislation is vital to the lives of millions of Americans.  Each small step builds towards a tipping point in Washington, where eventually federal lawmakers will be forced to react to the community-driven policy-making on paid family and medical leave that has been built in the states.  

In an effort to accelerate the progress of these state-by-state fights by supporting and connecting the key legislative champions, SiX partnered with A Better Balance (ABB) and New America to organize a cross-state Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) Legislator cohort.  

Launched in 2022 with 16 legislators from 7 states who joined together to share insights, coordinate cross-state actions, and strategize on shaping the narrative around PFML. We hold monthly meetings centered on in-state and cross-state strategies for long-term PFML advancement.  Legislators come to the table to discuss policy language, legislative strategy and any potential compromises, as well as implementation and enforcement challenges. 

Importantly, the cohort members are building relationships that allow them to share their personal lived experiences which initially brought them to champion paid leave, organically fostering cross-state peer-learning that influences how they approach their in-state political eco-systems going forward.

This curated space was impactful because the challenges the legislators face are so daunting.  They discuss how to navigate “knee-jerk” business opposition, while being encouraged by their business-owning colleagues to calculate and testify on the savings a proper PFML program would provide to actual small business owners. They also push back strongly against watered down versions of PFML designed to undercut our momentum and should be seen for what they are–an attempt to shift the debate in face of strong public opinion support and growing power. 

Particularly resonant was the PFML track at SiX’s Innovations Accelerator Conference in September 2023, which brought together legislators and partners together in one room from across 11 states (CO, GA, IL, ME, MI, MN, NV, NM, NY, PA, VT) to share lessons and insights grounded in the necessity of grassroots support behind policy and centering the leadership, experience, and stories of those most impacted by PFML. 

Since the PFML cohort was formed, initial cohort members in Minnesota and Maine have passed PMFL laws in their states, joining the now 13 states and Washington, D.C. who have done so. We expect the cohort will both help legislators continue passing these critical protections, including in states that have joined the cohort, Nevada and Georgia, and deepen the connection that leads to further areas of focus.

While the passage of the PFML bills creating these programs is a reason to celebrate, implementation and enforcement of the programs can be a multi-year odyssey.  Historically, not enough focus has been paid to how the programs are built in reality and the negative impact these delays have on those who need these important protections the most.  Legislative champions and advocates are doubling their efforts to “stay in the fight” to have the programs implemented as soon as possible.

The work that can be done in any state to extend these benefits to workers and their families is vital to this ongoing nationwide struggle. We invite you to join us in this important effort to fight back against those corporate interests that stand in our way while millions of families grapple with an impossible choice between keeping a job and caring for a loved one. 

Challenging Corporate Power Initiative

By: Ida V. Eskamani

The consolidation of corporate power in the hands of the elite few impacts every facet of our lives; connected directly to expanding wealth disparities and the rising cost of living, the existential climate crisis and rampant expansion of authoritarianism, and to the very existence of the multiracial democracy we strive for. 

Ida V. Eskamani of State Innovation Exchange chats with her twin sister Representative Anna V. Eskamani of Orlando, Florida about challenging corporate power in the states.

The concentration of corporate power does not happen by accident; it’s not the result of inevitable forces. It is a product of deliberate policy choices over decades and centuries. Racism, sexism, and classism are entrenched within our current economic system, by design. As a result, Black, immigrant, Indigenous, working class and rural communities, women, and queer people are disproportionately exploited and denied prosperity by these policies.

But historically, state legislators, in collaboration with the communities most impacted by these policy choices, have led the fight challenging corporate power– organizing our communities and taking on the corporate lobby to build economies that empower people. 

Challenging corporate power not only advances justice; it is essential to our organizing, allowing us to build movements that cross racial and ethnic lines, geographies, and issue-silos. Regardless of your area of expertise and the communities you organize with– whether it be education, agriculture, climate, housing, healthcare, criminal justice; or rural, urban, and suburban; the harms of corporate influence tie us together. Challenging corporate power offers easily identified villains, which is critical to organizing; and diminishes our opponents’ power by allowing us to neutralize the faux populism leveraged in the so-called “culture wars,” and expose the corporate donors and billionaires who fund these extremist campaigns. 

And finally, challenging corporate power is an opportunity to restore people’s trust in government, by demonstrating that governments can improve the daily lives of people and work with, by, and for all people, versus the elite few. Faith in our public institutions is essential to protecting our democracy from the rising threat of authoritarianism and increasing people’s engagement in our governing system. This work is essential towards advancing racial, gender, and economic justice; and state legislators are uniquely positioned to lead the charge, and win. 

Understanding our opponents:

The abuse of corporate power is rampant in our state capitols, where despite public opinion and undeniable economic disparities, the corporate lobby sets the agenda, with bipartisan success. 

From seemingly infinite campaign contributions, to state-by-state coordination of model policy, corporate lobbying power is massive– outnumbering public interest lobbyists in every metric.  Corporate mergers, tax-giveaways, privatization, deregulation, abusive preemption, and undermining workers’ collective bargaining rights are just a few of the policy tools used to concentrate corporate power over our economy and our democracy. Increasingly, private equity and AI threaten our economic freedoms as well. 

The corporate lobby also thrives on anonymity. Corporations protect their brands by hiding behind industry associations, such as state-affiliates of the national Chambers of Commerce, Retail Federation, Restaurant Association and Apartment Association.. The agribusiness lobby is especially good at concealing its true interests; capitalizing on romantic ideals of family farms and the fact that the majority of Americans now live far from farm life. Groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation, a pro-big business insurance company, and state-based groups such as “Oregonians for Food and Shelter,” a front group for the agro-chemical lobby, acclaim to represent farmer interests while actually promoting policies that run roughshod over rural communities, the environment, and public health – meanwhile asserting that anyone who opposes them is an out-of-touch urbanite. All of these front groups lead efforts to lobby policymakers on behalf of a small group of multinational corporations, despite claims that they represent small businesses. 

Despite what their public relations teams may claim, major corporations are deeply entrenched in the so-called “culture wars” as well, designed to both divide communities and deny economic opportunity. The same coordinated network of extremist billionaires, think tanks, and corporations pushing state laws to privatize public education, bust public sector unions, and roll back child labor protections are also working to erase Black history and criminalize queer kids. Extremist billionaires like the DeVos family, the Uline family, and Koch brothers, and the think-tanks they finance like the Foundation for Government Accountability, The Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are just a few of the players involved in this strategy. While rigging the economy to their benefit with model policy, this same network is dismantling our freedom to vote, fueling election denial conspiracies, and pushing for a radical rewrite of the United States constitution.

This network promotes a false narrative that “government doesn’t work,” to erode people’s trust in government, leading to less engagement and further justification for the privatization they profit from, with our public dollars. We argue that our government is working very efficiently, but not for people– for corporations and their shareholders. By challenging corporate power, we reclaim control of our public institutions and build governments that work with, by, and for people. 

How do we challenge corporate power? 

We know that corporate power poisons every industry and impacts every facet of our lives. So how do we effectively challenge corporate power in the states? Our strategy consists of five key pillars:

1) Educate: We consistently educate legislators and partners on the past and present crisis of corporate power in the United States. We demonstrate the interconnectedness of our fights, the long-term and cross-state coordination of the corporate agenda, identify emergent threats and opportunities, and connect the dots of the corporate agenda not just in the economy, but in strengthening white supremacy, ideological extremism, and threatening our democracy. We also dream and build an economy that puts people before corporate power. 

2) Name Opponents: Effective campaigns have clearly identified and tangible villains. We are up against a coordinated and cynical machine of corporations, billionaires, and extremist front groups who find power in anonymity. We must name who is financing these campaigns, as well as their financial contributions to lobbying and elections. By exposing the coordinated network we are up against, we weaken their power and undercut their divide-and-conquer tactics. 

3) Organize: We organize state legislators in collaboration with the communities most impacted by these policy choices. We build broad, people-centered, multi-racial and multi-issue coalitions that name corporate power at the root of our challenges. We organize in-state and cross-state to facilitate peer-learning and multi-state strategy taking on corporate power. Recognizing that corporate interests have long promoted rural/urban culture wars and antagonism as a way to strengthen their position, our Cohort for Rural Opportunity and Prosperity helps state legislators be bold champions for progressive policies in rural and agriculture spaces that are typically dominated by legislators beholden to corporate interests.  

4) Policy Campaigns: Policy campaigns come from the grassroots, reflecting the dreams of communities most impacted by corporate power. There are countless policy campaigns taking on corporate power, from workers rights, rent control and right to repair, to holding corporations accountable, ending private prison contracts and busting corporate monopolies; legislators should be key organizing partners with  communities leading the charge. All policy campaigns help to build a cohesive state and national narrative. Defensive fights undermine the faux populist narrative leveraged by extremists and create a platform that speaks directly to the material needs of working families. Offensive campaigns offer real-world models for how the government can offer meaningful services directly to people.

5) Collaborative Governance: Our organizing model centers directly-impacted people working alongside and acting as key decision-makers with state policymakers. This includes policy drafting, passage, and implementation. Co-governance advances racial, gender, and economic justice while restoring trust in a government, by improving the material conditions of people and providing services better than corporations can. Ultimately, we seek to build an economy that serves people by promoting public options, fully-funded safety nets, and well-resourced state agencies. 

The work ahead: 

It’s hard to overstate the influence of corporations in every aspect of our lives. From our freedom to vote to the price of groceries; the cost of housing and healthcare to the curriculum we teach in schools; child labor and the right of workers to organize; the climate crisis, immigrant detention, and mass incarceration– you will find corporate influence at nearly at every level of government , undermining our public institutions to centralize power and profits at the expense of our livelihoods and freedoms. 

After a year of planning, partner cultivation, and strategy development, SiX formally launched our Challenging Corporate Power Initiative at our 2023 Accelerator Conference. We organized legislators and partners from across 16 states and DC to learn about the far-reaching impacts of corporate monopolies on workers, consumers, and local businesses, and how we can build an economy that works for us all.

We began the convening with a history of corporate power in the United States, fromour Rural, Agriculture & Food Systems team. The presentation links the concentration of corporate power to white supremacy and the foundation of the US economy, including the genocide of and landgrab from Indigenous people and the exploitation of Africans and Black Americans trafficked into the slave trade. With that foundation, we demonstrated how both everyday people and elected officials have successfully taken on corporate power to advance justice, how corporate power has fought back, and brought us to the present crisis we are in now. 

With legislators inspired by the convening, we launched a sign-on letter in partnership with the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), rallying legislators behind the federal government's draft corporate merger guidelines. In less than a week, we secured 56 state legislators from 22 states in support of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed corporate merger guidelines.

As legislative sessions grind on, our team is on the ground and working across state lines to organize lawmakers, workers, and local businesses and leverage legislatures to fight back in ways that advance justice and build long term, durable power. We invite you to join us in this effort to challenge corporate power in our state capitols and our communities, towards a future where people, not multinational corporations, have what they need to thrive.

Acknowledgement: Gratitude to our Agriculture & Food Systems team members Kendra Kimbirakuskas and Siena Chrisman, for their work, and contributions to this piece. 

Pressure's On: How SiX Legislators are Fighting Back

By: Nahal Zamani, Senior Vice President, State Strategy & Services

Across the country many statehouses have wrapped up their legislative sessions, and have faced extraordinary challenges along the way. SiX’s network of legislators engages in a strategic deliberation each legislative session by responding to immediate threats and the onslaught of attacks on our rights, while also daring to be visionary. This is never an easy balance.

Below, we share significant learnings and moments from this year’s legislative session: 

When anti-abortion lawmakers came after bodily autonomy, SiX’s network of legislators was on the frontlines.

This June, our SiX Reproductive Rights team premiered Fractured, a five-part, first-of-its-kind docuseries spotlighting legislators in action amid one of the most contentious and monumental fights of our lifetime. 

Caption: North Carolina Sen. Natalie Murdock, Former Kentucky Rep. Attica Scott, and Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, all participants in the Fractured docuseries, hold pañuelos verde, a symbol of solidarity with the transnational movement for abortion rights ignited in Argentina.

Fractured captures lawmakers from our Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council, medical professionals, faith leaders, and activists mounting a response to the most dire assault on abortion rights in decades. At a time when Americans’ fundamental rights are increasingly under threat from authoritarian forces, Fractured showcased a cross-section of elected officials who work with communities, not against them; support bodily autonomy, not undermine it; and inspire hope, not cynicism. 

This legislative session, our Reproductive Rights team worked closely with legislators and movement partners to advance and protect abortion access across the country. Despite consistent public opinion in support of legal abortion, abortion is banned in 13 states, leaving large regions of the country without abortion care and contributing to increased wait times at clinics in states where abortion remains legal. Some states are further testing the legal limits of the post-Roe landscape by passing extreme restrictions, such as a ban on helping a young person travel out of state to access legal abortion care. Find out more in our latest publication, The State Abortion Policy Landscape One Year Post-Roe, in partnership with the Guttmacher Institute. 

Lastly, states like GA, TX, MS, and MO expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage, an issue that has been championed by Black women legislators and reproductive justice groups for years. And in a major win, over-the-counter and pharmacist-prescribed birth control was expanded in states like IL, NV, NY, and MD.

We championed working families and advanced economic justice.

In May, a strong comprehensive paid family and medical leave insurance program was signed into law in MN, making it the first midwestern state to pass paid family and medical leave. Under the new program, most workers in the state will be able to take up to 20 weeks of job-protected paid leave if they qualify. This legislation was led by Sen. Alice Mann and Rep. Ruth Richardson, members of SiX’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Legislator Cohort Project.

Earlier this month, ME became the 13th state, along with D.C., to pass paid family and medical leave legislation. Under this legislation, nearly all workers in ME will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid leave each year if they qualify. This legislation was also led by our cohort members, Sen. Maddie Daughtry and Rep. Kristen Cloutier. Similarly,  MI repealed its  anti-worker ‘right-to-work’ law; NV and VT passed state-sponsored retirement savings plans; and MN passed a new antitrust law establishing a “public interest standard” for hospital mergers,  protecting access to care and workers’ collective bargaining power. 

The fight continues in all states, and as we celebrate the victories, we also recognize that working families faced a plethora of regressive legislative proposals, too. IA and AR passed dangerous laws weakening child labor protections; FL passed legislation undermining public sector unions' right to organize, and TX passed an omnibus preemption law erasing countless local laws, including heat stress protections for outdoor workers. 

We remained steadfast in our commitment to advocate for Black farmers and rural communities against corporate lobbyists.

We hosted U.S. Sen. Cory Booker’s staff for a Justice for Black Farmers: Where Are We Now? Webinar, focusing on the Justice for Black Farmers Act and how to advance farmer equity in the states. The SiX Agriculture & food systems team also supported legislators who organized alongside advocates and impacted individuals to advance farmer equity bills, including a Black farmer breakfast for legislators in GA and Black Farmer Lobby days in NC and IL. This work demonstrates the power that comes from legislators and advocates working in partnership to advance good policy forward. 

For the past two years in OR, rural community members, advocates, and legislators have been attempting to strengthen the way the state regulates mega livestock operations or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) in order to protect rural communities and the environment from the negative impacts associated with raising massive numbers of animals in confinement. SiX  partnered with local impacted communities to host a legislator tour of proposed poultry CAFO sites, leading to a working group examining shortcomings with how states regulated mega livestock operations and culminating with the introduction of the CAFO Moratorium bill. This bill, despite being amended and weakened due in part to pressure from the corporate agribusiness lobby, demonstrates what can be achieved when legislators work directly with impacted communities, farmers, and advocates instead of corporate lobbyists.  

Protecting democracy remains a crucible for our work together.

Democracy remains under threat. This legislative session, CT expanded early in-person voting, preclearance requirements for problematic jurisdictions, expanded language assistance, increased protections against discrimination in voting, and instituted  a civil offense for poll worker intimidation; ME expanded mail ballot access for caregivers and people with disabilities, and instituted  automatic voter registration; in AL, compensation for election clerks and inspectors was raised; NV created a new reservation based polling system; and in AR, we saw increased flexibility for overseas voters returning ballots and for election officials to establish vote centers. CT, MN, and NM passed state Voting Rights Acts. We also remain extraordinarily proud of the leadership of the legislators of Southern Freedom to Vote Alliance who are working across the South to advance democracy.

As we saw in the resolution of crucial U.S. Supreme Court cases, state legislators remain at the front lines of how we protect our freedom to vote and uphold the tenets of our democracy. 

We fought back against the passage of anti-LGBTQ+ laws that were both heinous and insidious.

This session, we also saw efforts to protect access to gender affirming care, expand existing civil rights provisions, and ban conversion therapy. When anti-LGBTQ fights in FL spread outside the state into NC, SiX connected advocates on the ground in FL to both NC and GA to learn best practices and build off of our collective work. 

SiX has maintained a deep focus on organizing and caucus work, especially with regard to racial, gender, and LGBTQ identity. We believe that supporting and empowering identity caucuses is one of the most powerful strategies for legislators to reshape the center of power in their respective legislatures, and to ultimately build long-term durable power for their communities. From helping launch the first LGBTQ caucus in NV, to coordinating public support from all four identity caucuses in CO for the Equal Pay bill, to garnering support from members to speak up for OK State Rep. Mauree Turner and MT State Rep. Zooey Zephyr after they faced calls for censure for defending the rights and dignity of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people – SiX is embedded with our caucus members and chairs. 

The road ahead.

While we may have struggled, each and every one of us consistently showed up and engaged to fight for our values and defend our freedoms. What some consider to be “legislative losses,” SiX sees opportunities for guiding how we must work and govern differently. Together, we must look forward and strategize with our movement partners and our legislator network to shape the country we want to live in. 

This is co-governance at its finest.

SiX is proud to parter with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance on Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), a week of education and advocacy around the experiences of Black Mamas. From April 11th through April 17th, through a series of digital and community events, BMHW will uplift Black-women led entities to focus on the root causes of poor maternal health outcomes while also leaning on Black voices to drive conversation around tangible community-driven policy, programs, and solutions.

Join us on the webinars and by sharing social media content below! 

You're invited to these Black Maternal Health Week Webinars

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Black Maternal Health Resources

• Advancing Holistic Maternal Care for Black Women Through
• PolicySetting the Standard for Holistic Care Of and For Black Women

You can check out the full list of Black Maternal Health Week activities here.