PIRG in the News

Yesterday, the Diamondback editorialized about textbook costs and the proposed state law that would create a tax holidays for textbooks during the first 2 weeks of the semester. Unforuntately, this is not a real solution to textbook affordability and the Diamondback agrees. Check out the full article and the quotes from our US PIRG report about textbook affordability.

On Thursday, MaryPIRG had it's first chapter meeting of the year. We heard from a guest speaker, Matt Dernoga, who works in Prine George's County Councilwoman Mary Lehman's office. Dernoga spoke about the upcoming legislation in the Maryland State Legislature that would allow Prince George's County to pass and implement a disposable bag fee on single-use plastic bags. Similar fees have been implemented in Washington D.C. and Montgomery County where, according to Dernoga, the results have been overwhelmingly positive. "D.C. has seen an 80% reduction in plastic bag use in the last two years since the fee was implemented. They have also raised $3.5 million for River and Bay cleanup efforts." Read the full story here!