Accomplishments 2009-2010
Passing the largest student financial aid law in history.
In March, President Obama signed the largest student loan bill in history into law. The new law increases financial aid for students by $36 billion, and it won't cost taxpayers a dime because it's funded by cutting wasteful hand-outs to banks and loan companies like Sallie Mae and Citibank. Here at Smith we had hundreds of students call and sign petitions to their Congressmen asking them to take action. This added to the 10,000 students across the country that took actions that our DC staff worked tirelessly to bring to legislators and their staff.
Stopping the worst unfair practices by credit companies.
In February the Credit CARD Act went into effect. This law protects students and ends some of the worst unfair practices of credit card companies, making it illegal for credit card companies to profit by tricking people into paying late. It was the outcry of students like you that passed this law, and the banks aren't happy about it - this is the first time in 40 years any law opposed by credit card companies has passed.
Reforming the health care system in order to make health care affordable.
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the insurance industry to stop reform, health insurance reform became law. Our priority has been to make health care affordable. This law takes unprecedented steps to lower costs for families and small businesses, and it prohibits insurers from using pre-existing conditions, errors on forms, and lifetime or yearly caps to drop your coverage or price it out of reach. It also helps young adults – a highly uninsured demographic - by allowing them to stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26.
Building support for global warming solutions.
We're calling on the Senate to build a clean energy economy that will create jobs and enhance America’s national security while protecting the environment. Across the country, we mobilized over 30,000 students and community members to contact their Senators to call for clean, renewable energy and an end to our dependence on oil and coal. We held events on campus and off to educate thousands of people, resulting in more than 100 news stories about our work.
MASSPIRG chapters across the state, including Smith, made model wind turbines and gathered thousands of signatures, which we delivered to Senator Kerry in Boston before he went to Copenhagen. This semester MASSPIRG at Smith organized a panel discussion called “Past, Present, and Future Global Warming Solutions”, which featured Senator Rosenberg, Representative Kocot, Dano Weisbord from Smith, Todd Holland from the five colleges, and a representative from Northampton. Almost ninety people attended!
Helping rebuild Haiti, and fighting poverty here at home.
It's been a tough year for many American families, and the earthquake in Haiti has affected millions. Through our annual Hunger Cleanup students from Smith joined students across the country for a day of service in our communities. Together, MASSPIRG students raised $3,500 for local agencies, Oxfam’s Haiti Relief and national efforts to combat poverty.
Solutions- 
In 1982 MASSPIRG campaigned to get Massachusetts to pass the bottle bill, which put a 5 cent deposit on all carbonated beverages. This is the most successful recycling program in the state because it gives people an incentive to recycle. Unfortunately, the bottle bill doesn’t cover many containers like water and juice bottles. This semester we will be getting Northampton to join over 100 cities and towns who endorse Updating the Bottle Bill. Smith and colleges across the state will be gathering petitions and photos with bottle "Bill” to show our Reps. overwhelming support for the bill.