Frontier Group
U.S. Pirg Education Fund
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10/28/2011
This report describes the quality, cost, corruption, and access issues 28 states experienced when they contracted out the monitoring and control of traffic violations to private companies.
PBS Need to Know Series, 9/16/2011
The first episode of Need to Know's begins with a question being heard in this year's campaign: What is the role of government? Are there things that citizens, or even private companies can do instead of government? As communities across the country struggle to make ends meet, leasing public assets to private investors is an increasingly attractive way to generate much needed cash. "City for Sale" stories come from Chicago and Harrisburg, Pa.: two of the many cities that face urgent budget problems despite deep spending cuts and tax increases. Correspondent Rick Karr reports.
Project on Government Oversight (POGO), 9/12/2011
This report compares the total annual compensation of federal and private sector employees with federal contractor billing rates in order to determine whether the current costs of federal service contracting serves the public interest.
Policy Matters Ohio, 8/2/2011
The new state budget calls for a massive sell-off of Ohio public assets worth billions of dollars. Among the properties that may be privatized are the Ohio Turnpike, six prisons and the liquor distribution business. The budget also authorizes local and exempted village school districts to contract out their bus transportation, universities to enter into agreements transferring buildings and parking facilities to outside entities for up to 99 years, and cities to lease their parking meters for up to 30 years. Little evidence has been put forward that the public will benefit from these privatization moves, which raise numerous questions. This August 2011 brief describes privatization moves in the Ohio budget.
US PIRG Education Fund, 7/19/2011
High-speed rail PPPs and efforts toward rail privatization abroad have a mixed track record. The report reviews a number of international cases of better and worse cases of contracting in Europe and Asia. Public officials in the US should use a set of common-sense principles to evaluate public-private partnerships - and should refuse to pursue PPPs that do not serve the public interest.
In The Public Interest, 6/15/2011
This backgrounder brief explores problems related to the privatization of municipal services, and provides examples of experiences from cities around the country that have considered or have privatized critical services. Specifically, this brief examines privatization in the following areas: park maintenance, street maintenance, garbage collection, building inspection, information technology, printing services, and "contract cities."
Food and Water Watch, 6/1/2011
This fact sheet outlines the increase in rates consumers face after their water system goes private.
ALA Committee on Library Advocacy’s Task Force on Privatization, 6/1/2011
This report is designed to help librarians, trustees, and other library supporters address the issue of
privatization and prepare for any discussions about privatization that might arise in their communities.
Justice Policy Institute, 6/1/2011
This report explores the role of private prison companies in promoting policies that lead to higher rates of incarceration.
AFSCME, 5/1/2011
This report from AFSCME follows the money from corporations to the lawmakers who are now pushing lucrative prison privatization contracts across states.
