State and Local Policy

The Center for American Progress constantly strives to find meaningful solutions and pathways to promote progressive policy advancement at the state and local level. Our work focuses on locally driven solutions as well as the vast policy and communications expertise in the organization. We hope this research and data can help facilitate thoughtful debate among state and local leaders so that we can bring about progressive change in an ever-changing political landscape.

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CAP’s Response to the FTC’s Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement on Personalized Pricing Article

CAP’s Response to the FTC’s Proposed Enforcement Policy Statement on Personalized Pricing

The Center for American Progress submitted comments in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed enforcement policy statement on personalized pricing, urging the commission to go beyond disclosure and establish stronger protections against harmful surveillance pricing.

Iran War Triggered a Diesel and Fertilizer Crisis for America’s Farmers Video
A farmer fuels a large tractor from a storage tank, with a cornfield in the background.

Iran War Triggered a Diesel and Fertilizer Crisis for America’s Farmers

Fertilizer and diesel prices have spiked to record highs due to the war in Iran, making it difficult for American farmers such as Aaron Lehman to grow their crops and make a living, and consumers are paying more for the food that they eat.

5 Ways the FTC Can Protect Americans From AI-Fueled Surveillance Pricing Report
Sign reading

5 Ways the FTC Can Protect Americans From AI-Fueled Surveillance Pricing

As artificial intelligence makes surveillance pricing more intrusive, unfair, and opaque, the Federal Trade Commission should go beyond disclosure by limiting the harmful ways businesses can use personal data and giving consumers meaningful control over how their information is used to set prices.

Down to the Roots: Building Rural Policy Around Rural Needs Past Event
A man walks through a field of soybeans at sunset.

Down to the Roots: Building Rural Policy Around Rural Needs

This event will explore what it means to invest in rural communities on their own terms and build a rural policy agenda rooted in resilience, opportunity, and shared prosperity.

Center for American Progress and online via Zoom

Protecting the 2026 Midterm Elections: The Role of Key State Officials Past Event
Election workers process ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center in the state’s primary election on June 2, 2026. (Getty/Mario Tama)

Protecting the 2026 Midterm Elections: The Role of Key State Officials

The Center for American Progress is hosting a discussion with state officials about their critical work to ensure Americans can cast their ballots in November.

Center for American Progress and online via Zoom

FEMA Was a Lifeline After Hurricane Helene Decimated What Was Once Considered a ‘Climate Haven’ Video

FEMA Was a Lifeline After Hurricane Helene Decimated What Was Once Considered a ‘Climate Haven’

The Center for American Progress' award-winning documentary, "Asheville is Calling: A Climate Change Emergency," centers on Colleen Daly, an Asheville, North Carolina, native and small-business owner who lost her home and nearly lost her business to Hurricane Helene. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided the essential lifeline that got her through the immediate crisis, seven months later, she and her community were still struggling to rebuild.

The Long Game on Energy Affordability Report
Electrical transmission lines hang over a housing development in Sylmar.

The Long Game on Energy Affordability

As electricity costs rise and states make important decisions about energy affordability, the most successful approaches protect consumers today while continuing to invest in energy efficiency and clean energy resources that lower bills over time.

Frederick Bell

The SAVE Act May Be Stalled in Congress, But State Versions Are Being Advanced All Across the Country Report
Voters check in with poll workers before casting their ballots.

The SAVE Act May Be Stalled in Congress, But State Versions Are Being Advanced All Across the Country

Fourteen states now have SAVE Act-like laws on the books requiring Americans to provide proof of their citizenship, chiefly a passport or birth certificate, to register to vote or stay registered; more are following in their footsteps.

Gréta Bedekovics, Devon Ombres

2026 CAP IDEAS Conference Past Event

2026 CAP IDEAS Conference

The Center for American Progress’ signature event, now celebrating its 15th year, where CAP convenes the big thinkers and doers on the center-left for a day of not only identifying the problems facing Americans, but also sharing solutions to improve the lives of all Americans.

Online via Zoom

America’s Licensed Child Care Deserts Report
Two young children standing at table, with bulletin board and other decorations in background

America’s Licensed Child Care Deserts

Eight years after our initial report, CAP’s 2026 analyses of U.S. licensed child care supply reveal that just fewer than half of the nation's young children still live in child care deserts.

Hailey Gibbs, Casey Peeks

State Climate Action in 2026: How States Are Delivering Real Benefits Through Climate and Clean Energy Policy Report
An electric vehicle is seen charging in a parking lot in Storrs, Connecticut, on March 31, 2026.

State Climate Action in 2026: How States Are Delivering Real Benefits Through Climate and Clean Energy Policy

As the Trump administration drives up costs and creates new challenges, states are making timely decisions on infrastructure and accountability, advancing policies that tackle climate change, lower energy bills, improve air quality, and support good-paying clean energy jobs.

Frederick Bell

Why Alaska and U.S. Territories Get Damage, Not Dollars, From Deep-Sea Mining Article
Person sitting on beach and others in the ocean, with city buildings in the background

Why Alaska and U.S. Territories Get Damage, Not Dollars, From Deep-Sea Mining

The Trump administration is advancing deep-sea mining in U.S. waters near the Pacific territories and Alaska, a process Indigenous leaders have identified as "resource colonialism" due to its prioritization of corporate interests, the permanent ecological damage it causes, and the fact that its profits flow outward to shareholders while providing no economic benefits to communities struggling with high costs, precarious jobs, and faltering public services.

Stabilizing and Strengthening State Funding for Public Higher Education After the Big Beautiful Bill Report
A hand raising a graduation cap

Stabilizing and Strengthening State Funding for Public Higher Education After the Big Beautiful Bill

Despite steep federal funding cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill, states can continue to support public higher education by creating progressive state tax revenue streams and strengthening rainy day funds to support postsecondary student success and degree completion.

Sara Partridge

What City Leaders Say Is Helping Drive Down Gun Violence in Their Communities Report
A group of people stand gathered at a march to denounce gun violence. A man in the foreground raises his fist in the air.

What City Leaders Say Is Helping Drive Down Gun Violence in Their Communities

Estimates suggest that 2025 marked another historic year of declining gun violence nationwide since the COVID-era surge. Here is what officials from cities seeing the largest declines in gun violence are saying about how they have improved public safety since 2021.

Chandler Hall

Fact Sheet: 5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels Fact Sheet
The Houston skyline is seen from an oil refinery.

Fact Sheet: 5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels

Contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, fossil fuel industries have benefited heavily from government subsidies in the form of direct tax incentives, steep discounts on public lands, reduced permitting barriers, government services, and lack of accountability for their pollution and public health impacts.

Alia Hidayat, Sophie Conroy, Gianna Sala

5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels Report
Pumpjacks lift oil from wells at an oil field near Taft, California, on October 17, 2025.

5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels

While renewables have received scrutiny from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over subsidies, the administration’s narrative hides how fossil fuel industries reap the benefits of a distorted market that has made Americans pay more for polluting fossil energy for decades.

Alia Hidayat, Sophie Conroy, Gianna Sala

Gun Violence in Rural America Is the Forgotten Public Health Epidemic Report
Silhouetted student in classroom beneath American flag

Gun Violence in Rural America Is the Forgotten Public Health Epidemic

Rural American communities are facing a growing crisis involving gun homicides and suicides that has long been ignored as narratives around gun violence have disproportionately and unjustly focused on urban communities.

Chandler Hall

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Related Priorities

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice
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Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy
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Restoring Social Trust in Democracy

Democracy is under attack at home and abroad. We must act to ensure it is accessible to all, accountable, and can serve as a force of good.

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