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The Center for Progressive Reform, which advocates for more protective federal and state rules, likely has not been on the radar screens of many progressive donors.
That’s a shame. Regulations are vitally important to the safety of our medical and consumer products, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the fate of the planet. So it would be a mistake to dismiss CPR as a wonky legal think tank.
A Modest Budget
Since 2002, CPR, with less than a dozen staffers, has effectively educated and advocated for a regulatory process that values people over profits, and that takes into account the lived experience of the groups most affected by polluting industries.
While many progressive nonprofits focus on certain regulations to support or oppose, CPR looks at the entire regulatory process—the laws and policies that help or hinder federal agencies from developing and enforcing rules to keep the public safe. It also has spoken up for government as a positive force for good, a point of view often discounted by politicians on both sides of the aisle.
It’s the go-to resource for much larger progressive groups, as they get into the legal weeds of rulemaking. As Andrew Rosenberg, executive director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists put it, CPR “can explain really arcane issues.” And it has also helped out small, grassroots groups throughout the country fighting for safer regulations.
How can this small nonprofit accomplish such a big task? Its “secret sauce” is the pro bono work and expertise of 60 law professors all over the country. CPR calls them its “member scholars,” and they are giants in the legal niche of administrative law. It has also operated for virtually its entire existence avoiding rental and other office-related costs.
And those progressive scholars not only influence the academic debate on regulation, they engage far more directly. They work with staff, writing CPR reports on a variety of issues, offer help to citizen activists in the locales where they teach, and often testify before Congress on regulatory issues. Their op-eds appear in both national and regional publications.
The value they bring, according to board president and Loyola University Law Professor Robert Verchick, is likely worth “tens of millions of dollars” to the organization.
For that reason, CPR has been able to hold its own against very well-funded conservative groups advocating for business-friendly regulations that downplay health and environmental risks.
Beltway Influence
CPR member scholars served in the Obama White House and now hold prominent positions in the Biden administration. And after playing defense during the Trump years, the nonprofit’s efforts to make the regulatory process more transparent and accessible to the public have finally gained the attention of Congress.
This year, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Washington) sponsored a regulatory reform bill that merited a House hearing, and seems on track for a committee vote. CPR helped refine the bill over the course of three years.
The introduction of the House bill and a subsequent hearing reflects a turning point in gaining progressive support for regulatory reform, CPR senior policy analyst James Goodwin told Blue Tent.
While it’s unlikely the bill will become a law in the current Congress, Goodwin said House action had shown real progress. When CPR began, “no one in Congress was willing” to speak up for improving the regulatory process, Goodwin said. “Through careful work, we changed the narrative about regulation.”
Needed: More Funding
That said, even a very good cost-effective operation could use more resources to be able to advance a progressive agenda and push Congress and state legislatures to pass laws making it possible for the average citizen to understand the regulatory process and have their views taken seriously.
Last year, CPR hired a new executive director and expanded its board, making it more diverse and inclusive. It wants to take advantage of the current zeitgeist, using the threat of climate change and the growing support for environmental justice to make its case for fundamental reform.
Over the next three years, CPR wants to double its annual budget of about $1 million, and increase its staff. That’s an ambitious goal, but reaching it would help the organization grow even more in the future.
With the future of the planet hanging in the balance, and our growing realization that lax regulation hurts people of color and other marginalized groups the most, CPR should finally get the attention and support from progressive donors that it deserves.