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STANDING UP FOR CONSUMERS—For more than 20 years, Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski has helped us stand up against big banks and credit card companies.

Independent Research and Education

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund conducts research and public education on behalf of Arizona’s consumers and the public interest. Our research, analysis, reports and outreach serve as counterweights to the influence of powerful special interests that threaten our health, safety or well-being.

With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursuing their own narrow agendas, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund offers an independent voice that works on behalf of the public interest. The Arizona PIRG Education Fund works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer citizens meaningful opportunities for civic participation.

For information about a specific report, please contact the author. If you are a foundation interested in supporting the Arizona PIRG Education Fund's work, or if you have general inquiries, please contact us here.

Our Top Priorities

 

Using the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, advocacy and litigation, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund stands up to powerful interests and delivers concrete results. 


 

CONNECTING ARIZONA WITH RAIL

Arizonans drive more miles, experience more congestion and produce more pollution than they did two decades ago. It’s clear that we need to update and expand our transit system to meet our needs in the 21st century.
 


 

SAVING ENERGY AND MONEY, CUTTING POLLUTION

Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest and cleanest way for Arizona to meet its growing energy needs. Arizona PIRG Education Fund is working to educate Arizonans on this clean and healthy alterntative to dirty energy.
 


 

ENSURING SPENDING TRANSPARENCY IN ARIZONA

Seeing how government uses the public purse is fundamental to democracy. Spending transparency checks corruption, bolsters public confidence, and promotes fiscal responsibility.

 
 

For information about a specific report, please contact the author. If you are a foundation interested in supporting the Arizona PIRG Education Fund's work, or if you have general inquiries, please contact us here.

Arizona PIRG Education Fund Staff - A Partial List

Arizona PIRG Education Fund is an advocate for the public interest. When consumers are cheated, or the voices of ordinary citizens are drowned out by special interest lobbyists, Arizona PIRG Education Fund speaks up and takes action. We uncover threats to public health and well-being and fight for the public interest.

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DIANE E. BROWN

Executive Director

(602) 252-9227

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SERENA UNREIN

Public Interest Advocate

(602) 252-1184

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>BIO
 

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PHINEAS BAXANDALL

Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy

(617) 747-4351

>CONTACT
>BIO
 

 

THE FEDERATION OF STATE PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP EDUCATION FUNDS

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund is an independent, state-based organization that conducts research and educates for the public interest. 

 

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund is a member of the U.S. PIRG Education Fund.  Together in our state and across the country, we have delivered results-oriented policies, stood up to powerful special interests, and used the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing, and litigation to win real results on issues that matter.

 

Across the country, state PIRG Education Funds employ close to 400 policy analysts, scientists and attorneys, and organizers and are active in 47 states, with a federal office in Washington, D.C. On national issues, we also coordinate our efforts, pool resources, and share expertise so that we can have the biggest impact.

 

What's New

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Major Arizona Municipalities Are Below the National Recycling Rate | Diane Brown

To mark America Recycles Day, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund thought it would be helpful to shine a light on the recycling and compost rates for ten of the most populated municipalities in Arizona and offer solutions for improvement.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Getting good data on rate designs is worth the effort | Diane Brown

There’s been good national conversation in recent years around the need for transparency and responsiveness from electric utilities and regulators when it comes to data on rates and pilots, assessing impacts on consumers, and consumer outreach and education. At the local level, though, it can take quite a bit of work to turn guidelines into reality. 

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund

Paying for Electric Buses

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Antibiotics

Chain Reaction report urges burger restaurants to beef up policies to eliminate routine use of antibiotics

Two growing burger chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi, stand out from the herd when it comes to serving beef raised without the routine use of antibiotics in the burger industry. They were the only restaurants to earn an “A” on the fourth annual Chain Reaction scorecard released today by six major consumer and environmental organizations. The vast majority of hamburger chains — 22 of the top 25, including giants such as McDonald’s — got an “F” grade because they lack established policies restricting antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Tucson Unanimously Adopts the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code | Aaron Kane

Last night, Mayor Rothschild and the Tucson City Council unanimously adopted the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code as recommended by the Tucson-Pima County Joint Consolidated Code Committee. The Committee’s recommendation was developed as a result of a rigorous, ten-month-long stakeholder process open to all interested participants. We are quite pleased with this vote.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG | Public Health

Johnson & Johnson commits to disclose fragrance ingredients in baby products by August 1

J&J said it intends to disclose 100 percent of the ingredients in its babycare products next month.

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News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

New Report Identifies Nine Wasteful Highway Projects Across the Country

Highway projects are notorious for wasting taxpayer dollars. Now, a new report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group identifies nine wasteful highway expansion projects across the country, slated collectively to cost at least $30 billion.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

L'Oréal commits to disclose fragrance ingredients

We applaud L'Oréal, the manufacturer behind popular brands like Garnier, Maybelline, and numerous perfumes and colognes, for its commitment today to tell customers the ingredients in its product line. But L'Oréal needs to set a timeline to disclose its ingredients. Customers deserve to know what ingredients we are using, because "we’re worth it."

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

European government agencies order Claire’s to stop selling asbestos-contaminated makeup products

In the wake of a recent U.S. PIRG study showing that U.S.-based retailer Claire’s is selling makeup contaminated with asbestos, a government agency in The Netherlands confirmed the results of U.S. PIRG’s study. The Dutch Health and Safety Authority (ILT) ordered Claire’s to remove several makeup products from Dutch store shelves after the agency’s lab testing confirmed that there is asbestos in two makeup products.

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News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

New Report: Arizona Receives "A-" on Transparency of Government Spending

In a new report by the Arizona PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, Arizona received an “A-” for its government spending transparency website. Arizona tied for 5th among the states in providing online access to government spending data.

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund and Demos | Democracy

The Dominance of Big Money in the 2014 Congressional Elections

In 2014, large donors accounted for the vast majority of all individual federal election contributions this cycle, just as they have in previous elections. Seven of every 10 individual contribution dollars to the federal candidates, parties, PACs and Super PACs that were active in the 2013-2014 election cycle came from donors who gave $200 or more. Candidates alone got 84 percent of their individual contributions from large donors.

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Big Money Dominates in Congressional Primaries

Our analysis of fund-raising data from 2014’s congressional primaries examines the way these dynamics are playing out state by state across the country. While some states show markedly more inequity than others, the picture painted by the data is of a primary money race where large donors carry more weight than ordinary Americans. Nationwide, just under two-thirds of all candidate contributions came from the largest donors (those giving over $1,000). And fewer than 5,500 large donors matched the primary contributions coming from at least 440,000 donors nationwide.

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Highway Boondoggles

Even though the Driving Boom is now over, state and federal governments continue to pour vast sums of money into the construction of new highways and expansion of old ones – at the expense of urgent needs such as road and bridge repairs, improvements in public transportation and other transportation priorities. Eleven proposed highway projects across the country – slated to cost at least $13 billion – exemplify the need for a fresh approach to transportation spending.

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Weak Medicine

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect more than 2 million people per year in the United States, causing more than 23,000 deaths. State governments, the FDA and other branches of the federal government should take steps to protect human health from the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can develop on factory farms.

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Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Bikes, Trains and Less Driving

Arizona, like the rest of America, is experiencing a shift in how people travel. The Driving Boom – a six decade-long period of steady increase in per-capita driving across the United States – is over. Driving miles per person are down especially sharply among Millennials, America’s largest generation that will increasingly dominate transportation trends. Since 2005 Arizonans have been driving fewer miles per person, and they increasingly look to public transportation to get around.

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Blog Post | Public Health

A Soggy Statement from Subway | Anya Vanecek

Subway recently made a statement about their antibiotics policy. Here's where they fall short.

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Blog Post | Public Health

A Fresh Celebration | Anya Vanecek

How do you get a major chain like Subway to celebrate public health? You keep the issue fresh in their minds.

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Blog Post | Public Health

Meet the [antibiotic-free] Chef: Hosea Rosenberg, BlackBelly | Anya Vanecek

Recently, I sat down with Chef Hosea Rosenberg, owner of BlackBelly restaurant in Boulder, CO, to find out why antibiotic-free meat was as good for business as it is for public health.

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Blog Post | Public Health, Consumer Protection

What’s up with the ‘DARK Act’? | Anya Vanecek

The House just passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. This will have major implications for GMO labeling and consumer information about the foods they eat.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

The CFPB is 4 years old and has a lot to show for it! | Ed Mierzwinski

Tuesday, July 21, marks four years to the day since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors to protect consumers and make financial markets work. We've summarized some of the ways CFPB works for you on a new web page.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Deadly infant products sold after recalls at T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that discount stores T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods sold 19 different recalled products to consumers between 2014 and 2019. In the case of five products, the stores’ parent company TJX initiated the recall. The products included the Rock ‘N Play and Kids II inclined infant sleepers, which are responsible for a number of fatalities, rattles that can break and pose a choking hazard, and electronics that overheat or explode.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

New study outlines issues, case studies and remedies for U.S. recycling across the country

Recycling challenges vary across the country, but, overall, states are failing to both reduce unnecessary waste and adjust to a changing recycling landscape, according to a new study from U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Environment America Research & Policy Center.

News Release | U.S. PIRG

CDC estimates at least 35,000 die from drug-resistant infections annually

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its new Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States report, which estimates at least 35,000 Americans die annually from infections that antibiotics can no longer effectively treat.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Nestle cookie dough recalled, may contain pieces of rubber

Report | U.S. PIRG Education Fund

Chain Reaction V

The Chain Reaction V report grades the top fast food and fast casual chanins on antibiotic use policies for their beef supply chains. 

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Your tax-deductible donation supports Arizona PIRG Education Fund's work to educate consumers on the issues that matter, and to stand up to the powerful interests that are blocking progress.

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You can also support Arizona PIRG Education Fund’s work through bequests, contributions from life insurance or retirement plans, securities contributions and vehicle donations. 

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Poll: Which of these positive changes do you most want to see in 2020?
More restaurant chains commit to stopping their overuse of antibiotics.
Stop using Roundup, which has been linked to cancer, on our parks and playgrounds.
Ban the worst single-use plastics.



Arizona PIRG Education Fund is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to getting things done.