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OSPIRG Executive Director Dave Rosenfeld stands up for Oregon consumers, to lower health care costs and watchdog unjustified health insurance premium increases.
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH & EDUCATION
OSPIRG Foundation is an independent, non-partisan group that works for consumers and the public interest. Through research, public education and outreach, we serve as counterweights to the influence of powerful special interests that threaten our health, safety or well-being.
OUR MISSION
With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursuing their own narrow agendas, OSPIRG Foundation offers an independent voice that works on behalf of the public interest. OSPIRG Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer meaningful opportunities for civic participation.
OUR TOP PRIORITIES
Using the time-tested tools of investigative research, media exposés, grassroots organizing and litigation, OSPIRG Foundation stands up to powerful interests and delivers concrete results.
STANDING UP FOR THE PUBLIC ON HEALTH CARE
As our leaders put the health care reform law into practice, we’re working to promote a more competitive health insurance marketplace that lowers costs for consumers.
PUTTING PUBLIC HEALTH AHEAD OF BIG AG
One in three school-age kids are overweight or obese, yet our government is wasting $16 billion each year on subsidies for sugar-laden, high-fat foods.
CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLES
Corporate tax dodgers cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. That’s why OSPIRG Foundation is working to close the loopholes that allow ExxonMobil, Bank of America and others to shift profits overseas to avoid paying their taxes.
THE FEDERATION OF STATE PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUPS
OSPIRG Foundation is an independent, state-based, citizen-funded organization that advocates for the public interest and is a member of U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
Since 1970, state PIRGs have delivered results-oriented citizen activism, 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 PIRGs employ close to 400 organizers, policy analysts, scientists and attorneys, and are active in 47 states, with a federal office in Washington, D.C. On national issues that impact our state, we also coordinate our efforts, pool resources, and share expertise so that we can have the biggest impact — here at home and for the country at large.
OSPIRG Foundation Staff
OSPIRG Foundation is an advocate for the public interest. When consumers are cheated, or the voices of ordinary citizens are drowned out by special interest lobbyists, OSPIRG Foundation speaks up and takes action. We uncover threats to public health and well-being and fight for the public interest. Find out more about our staff
What's New
Portland, OR - Oregon loses $175 million in tax revenue each year due to corporate tax avoidance, largely through abuse of offshore tax havens, according to a new report. The report by OSPIRG Foundation and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “A Simple Fix for a $17 Billion Loophole,” comes as the state legislature convenes with eyes towards closing an estimated $623 million budget shortfall. According to the report, adopting worldwide combined report, or “Complete Reporting” would allow the state to recapture lost revenue from corporate tax avoidance, which would account for more than half of the anticipated shortfall in the 2019-2020 budget cycle.
Every year, corporations use complicated schemes to shift U.S. earnings to subsidiaries in offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes—in order to reduce their state and federal income tax liability by billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, smaller, wholly-domestic U.S. businesses cannot game the system in the same way. The result is that large multinational businesses compete on an uneven playing field, avoiding taxes that their small competitors must pay. Innovation in the marketplace is replaced by innovation in the tax code.
While we are glad that Fiat Chrysler is paying something for damaging the health of Americans and deceiving customers, this settlement does not go far enough. It neither ensures these violations of the public trust won’t happen again nor makes consumers whole.
McDonald's Commits to Reducing Medically Important Antibiotic Use in its Beef Supply Chain
Car seats are supposed to keep our youngest children safe. But though they may protect infants and toddlers during accidents, car seats have a history of containing toxic flame-retardant chemicals.
That’s finally changing.
Today, a coalition of groups including U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Ecology Center’s “Healthy Stuff” program released test results on car seats in a new report, Hidden Hazards:Flame Retardants and PFAS in Children’s Car Seats. The authors collaborated with researchers from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame.
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Your tax-deductible donation supports OSPIRG Foundation’s work to educate consumers on the issues that matter, and the powerful interests that are blocking progress.
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You can also support OSPIRG Foundation’s work through bequests, contributions from life insurance or retirement plans, securities contributions and vehicle donations.