PennPIRG

PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP & PENNPIRG EDUCATION FUND

Annual Report

Fiscal Year 2004

FROM THE DIRECTORThis year witnessed democracy at work in Pennsylvania

1.

Cover photos, clockwise from top left: Consumer Advocate Ed Mierzwinskireleased a report; Fuel Buyers Director Emily Schiller appeared on KYW-TV 3;Director Beth McConnell and allies held a news conference; the state capitol.

Over 5.7 million Pennsylvanians went to the polls on Nov. 2, making this the largest voter turnout year since

1960.

This increase in voting reinforced my belief that if you give people a chance to shape the decisions that affect

their lives, most people will take that opportunity in a heartbeat.

Consider PennPIRG’s work over this past year. Here in Pennsylvania, families faced rising prescription drug

prices, predatory lenders and a system that allowed some of the nation’s largest corporations to pay little or no

taxes at all, even while the rest of us paid more for reduced government services.

But when our staff, members and supporters had a chance to influence the big decisions on these issues, we took

full advantage. We helped convince lawmakers to offer low-income seniors more affordable drug prices. We also

helped convince them to reject the attempts of unscrupulous lenders to weaken consumer lending laws. And we

enlisted the support of Gov. Rendell and key legislative leaders for closing corporate tax loopholes.

I’m proud of the work of the New Voters Project, a PennPIRG-sponsored effort that helped boost voter turnout

among young people to new levels in Pennsylvania and, we hope, put these young people on a path toward a

lifetime of civic engagement.

I hope you share my pride in these achievements. As I look forward to PennPIRG’s agenda for the coming year,

my hopes are high, thanks in large part to this spirit of active citizenship. When it comes to big problems and the

powerful interests that often stand in the way of solving them, I’m counting on active citizens like you to help

overcome the odds and win new reforms.

Thank you for your support this past year. I hope you continue to join us as we work for a better Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,

Beth A. McConnell

In March 2004, PennPIRG filed a com-plaint with the Federal Trade Commis-sion (FTC) urging the agency to investi-gate potential violations by H&R Blockand Jackson Hewitt of federal consumerprivacy laws.

Company Practices Create RiskPennPIRG filed the complaint after re-leasing a study that showed that consum-ers who filed their taxes at kiosks in Wal-Mart stores may have been at an increasedrisk of identity theft. PennPIRG surveyed14 tax prep booths of Jackson Hewitt andH&R Block across the country in lateFebruary and found glaring holes in thecompanies’ privacy practices. In one case,our surveyor observed that she could eas-ily have stolen a consumer’s completedtax forms, which had been carelessly leftout; in others, our surveyors were able toread Social Security numbers from taxpreparers’ desks. In all but one case, deskswere set up so that passersby could eas-ily gain access to sensitive information.

“This is a perfect example of how con-sumer privacy can be violated when com-panies are careless with our information,”said PennPIRG’s Beth McConnell.“When they don’t take necessary precau-tions, it’s easy for thieves to get our per-sonal data and use it to damage our goodnames and our pocketbooks.”

Identity theft is the fastest-growing crimein the nation, affecting as many as 9 mil-

lion Americans between June 2002 andJune 2003.

In the complaint filed with the FTC,PennPIRG urged the commission to in-vestigate such booths nationwide, and toclarify Wal-Mart’s legal responsibility forprotecting consumer information atbooths in their stores.

With its FTC complaint still pending,PennPIRG plans to monitor tax kiosksagain during the 2005 tax season, and tourge the companies involved to take cor-rective action to protect consumer privacy.

When consumers are cheated or thevoices of ordinary citizens are drownedout by special interest lobbyists,PennPIRG speaks up and takes action.We uncover threats to public health andwell-being and fight to end them, usingthe time tested tools of investigativeresearch, media exposés, grassrootsorganizing, advocacy and litigation.PennPIRG’s mission is to deliver per-sistent, results-oriented activism thatencourages a fair, sustainable economyand fosters responsive, democraticgovernment.

PennPIRG Director Beth McConnell briefednational reporters on steps states can take toprotect consumers’ privacy.

Our Mission

EdMierzwinskiNationalConsumerAdvocate

“In Washington, I see first-hand thepower of special interests over deci-sions made by our elected officials.That’s why I’m proud to representPennPIRG’s members, to counteractthat influence and press for policiesthat will protect consumers.”

PennPIRG alerted the FTC to findings that tax prep booths atWal-Mart were failing to protect personal customer information

CONSUMERS’ PRIVACY AT RISKPennPIRG investigated tax preparers’ lax privacy practices

From The Staff

3.

Pennsylvania now enjoys two importantnew policies that give consumers accessto safer, more affordable health care,thanks in part to PennPIRG’s advocacy.

Cutting Prescription Drug CostsIn January 2004, thousands of older Penn-sylvanians became better able to affordthe medicines they need, as a PennPIRG-backed bill, signed into law by Gov.Rendell, went into effect.

The law expands the state-run pharmacyassistance programs for seniors known asPACE and PACENET.

“Far too many Pennsylvanians are strug-gling to afford the medicines they needto stay well,” said Director BethMcConnell. “That’s exactly why we needto expand programs like PACE andPACENET, and not let them collapse asdrug prices rise.”

Since October 2002, PennPIRG has en-dorsed the legislation, submitted testi-mony before House and Senate commit-tees, lobbied lawmakers to vote for thebill, and urged citizens to contact stateleaders in support of the proposal.

A PennPIRG analysis comparing the newstate law with the Medicare prescriptiondrug benefit—approved by PresidentBush just two days after the state law wassigned—showed that low-income seniorsmay benefit from the new Medicare ben-

efits, but some moderate-income seniorsin Pennsylvania will be better off stick-ing with the state’s improved programs.

“The new Medicare law is a first step forseniors, but doesn’t help the tens of thou-sands of Pennsylvanians who are under65 and don’t qualify for it,” saidPennPIRG Director Beth McConnell.“PennPIRG is advocating policies thatlower drug prices for all consumers, suchas the creation of buying pools to negoti-ate fairer prices.”

Buying pools operate like a Sam’s Clubor BJ’s for prescription drug buyers by

Annual Report 2004

Senior citizens are better able to afford prescrip-tion drugs thanks to a PennPIRG-backed billsigned into law by Gov. Rendell.

Gov. Rendell signed a bill to lower drug prices for seniors;the state advanced the release of hospital safety data

VICTORIES FOR HEALTH CAREPennPIRG advanced policies to reduce prescription drug prices and make hospitals safer

passing along much lower, state-negoti-ated drug prices to average consumers.

Healthier HospitalsIn 2004, PennPIRG also helped advancepolicies to reduce the number of prevent-able infections at Pennsylvania hospitals.Working with the People’s Medical Soci-ety and Consumers Union, publisher ofConsumer Reports, PennPIRG urged astate agency to enforce tough new rulesthat require public reporting of hospitalinfections.

In March 2004, the state agency, the Penn-sylvania Health Care Cost ContainmentCouncil (PHC4), announced it wouldmove forward on a PennPIRG-backedplan to require hospitals to report howmany patients contract preventable ill-nesses at their facilities due to inadequatesanitary practices and procedures.

Despite strong resistance from hospitals—including threats of legal action and otherdelay tactics—PHC4 finalized a July 2004deadline for hospitals to begin reportingthe information.

PennPIRG and its allies are now workingto make sure that information is madeavailable to the public as soon as possible.

Preventable Illness And DeathsIf hospitals do not strictly adhere to sani-tary guidelines, tragedy can result, as thecase of Pittsburgh-area resident Earl Fos-ter illustrates.

In 2002, Foster checked into AlleghenyGeneral Hospital for a series of tests hehoped would save his life. Instead, Foster

PennPIRG conducts investigativeresearch to demonstrate problemsfacing consumers, taxpayers and ourdemocracy and to highlight solutions.One example of our research was theJune 2004 report, “Mistakes DoHappen,” a survey of errors found inconsumers’ credit reports.

In the study, we found that one in fourcredit reports contained errors seriousenough to cost consumers a job or anapartment, or to result in their payingmore for credit. Noting that creditreports are virtually a consumer’sfinancial report card, PennPIRG usedthe research to educate consumersabout their rights to review their creditreports and correct errors, and calledon the Legislature to strengthenconsumers’ right to sue when a creditbureau fails to fix problems. The reportis available at www.pennpirg.org

Ajayi HarrisTelephoneOutreach ProjectDirector

“PennPIRG’s telephone project allowsus to communicate with ourmembers, learn what issues areimportant to them, and get theminvolved. This outreach is critical towinning victories for consumers,patients and taxpayers.”

Research

Poor Sanitary PracticesResearch shows that under lax sanitarypolicies, rushed health care workers of-ten neglect simple steps to avoid infec-tion, such as washing their hands.

A recent analysis by the Pittsburgh Tri-bune Review found that in UPMC Pres-byterian, workers in one unit washed theirhands only one percent of the time whenentering a patient’s room, and only halfthe time when they left. Other inspectionshave revealed that handwashing dispens-ers are often not filled with soap and in-struments are not thoroughly cleaned.

Given the seriousness of the consequencesof poor sanitary habits at hospitals,PennPIRG, Consumers Union, and thePeople’s Medical Society called on PHC4to make the information available to thepublic free of charge and as soon as pos-sible.

Giving consumers information about hos-pitals’ records on preventable infectionswill alert consumers to problems andprompt hospitals to be more vigilant inrequiring that equipment is properlycleaned and health care workers followhandwashing rules.

died one month later due to infection fromdirty hospital instruments. The bacterialoutbreak that caused Foster’s death is be-lieved to have sickened more than a dozenpatients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention (CDC) estimates that 2 millionpatients are infected in U.S. hospitals eachyear, and 90,000 die as a result.

Hospital-acquired infections are expen-sive, costing consumers $5 billion a yearin additional treatment and longer hospi-tal stays.

Unfortunately, although the PHC4 tookthe very positive step of requiring hospi-tals to report preventable infections, theagency weakened the requirements inMarch 2004 in response to pressure fromthe Hospital and Healthsystem Associa-tion of Pennsylvania.

Under the new requirements, hospitalsmust report only about half of all infec-tions.

PennPIRG and other concerned organi-zations also urged PHC4 to adopt morestringent reporting requirements by 2006.

From The StaffThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that infections caused at hospitalslead to longer hospital stays and up to $5 billion in extra costs nationwide yearly.

Hospital Infections Cost Billions AndLead To Longer Hospital Stays

Pneumonia: $5,000

Bloodstream Infection: $50,000

Urinary Tract Infection: $600

30Days

21Days

4 Days

5.

When large corporations don’t pay theirfair share of taxes, Pennsylvanians allsuffer. Smaller businesses and individu-als are forced to assume more of the taxresponsibility, while the lack of adequatefunds means decreased public services.

Research shows that 60 percent of busi-nesses in Pennsylvania eligible to paycorporate taxes paid nothing in 2001—evidence that some corporations areavoiding state taxes through tricky ac-counting.

In addition, state leaders have a historyof wasting tax dollars on self-serving ex-penditures while failing to adequatelyfund public projects such as transporta-tion, the environment and education.PennPIRG worked to ensure that our taxdollars are spent wisely, and that large cor-porations pick up their share.

Stopping The Corporate Tax DodgeA few powerful corporations would nolonger get away with avoiding state taxesif the state adopts the preliminary recom-mendations of a commission appointed byGov. Rendell.

PennPIRG backed the recommendations,which closely mirror those PennPIRG hasmade to the governor and Legislature overthe past year. The governor’s BusinessTax Reform Commission’s (BTRC) final,formal recommendations were due in No-vember 2004.

Working with United Pennsylvanians, astatewide coalition of political leaders,PennPIRG helped draft testimony pre-sented to the commission in support ofclosing a major corporate tax loophole.

The loophole allows major corporationsto escape paying their fair share of taxesby shifting their profits to out-of-state sub-sidiaries—which can be little more thana post office box.

PennPIRG’s 2003 report, “The Great Es-cape,” estimated that just 37 companieslikely using the loophole drain as much

The recommendation mirrors proposals PennPIRG has beenadvocating in the Legislature and with Gov. Rendell in the last year

ADVOCATES FOR TAXPAYERSGovernor’s commission moved to close corporate tax loopholes

Telephone Outreach Project staff Randi Weinbergand Jennifer Ray update citizen members onPennPIRG’s efforts.

PennPIRG

as $63 million in revenue from the stateevery year.

The results are a larger tax burden on in-dividuals and fewer resources for impor-tant government services like education,police and fire services, health care, trans-portation, and environmental protection.

The Great Corporate Tax EscapePennPIRG’s research shows that the loop-hole is used primarily by large, multi-stateretailers like Home Depot, The Gap,Staples and Burger King.

These companies set up “shell corpora-tions” in tax-haven states such as Dela-ware, then transfer ownership of companypatents and trademarks to the Delaware-based subsidiaries. The stores then paytheir Delaware subsidiary hefty royaltiesfor the right to use the patents and trade-marks, reporting ostensible large businessexpenses that reduce their profitabilityand thus their legal tax obligation.

Since Delaware does not asses taxes onincome business earned from “royalty”payments, the company avoids payingstate taxes.

Meanwhile, small businesses, which typi-cally do not have the resources to engagein the corporate shell game, as well as citi-zens paying income, property and salestaxes, either pay more to make up the defi-cit or suffer from decreased governmentservices—or both.

Holding Lawmakers AccountableWhile the BTRC considered the proposal,PennPIRG worked closely with legisla-

PennPIRG prioritizes working incoalition with other organizations toimprove our chances of advancingpolicies that protect consumers andtaxpayers. Here are just a few of theorganizations PennPIRG staff workedclosely with in fiscal year 2004:

• AFL-CIO• Action Alliance of Senior Citizens• Alliance of Retired Americans• Center for Digital Democracy• Common Cause• Communications Workers of America• Community Legal Services• Consumer Federation of America• Consumers Union• Keystone Research Center• Maternity Care Coalition• MediaTank• National Consumer Law Center• People’s Medical Society• Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth• Service Employees International Union• United Pennsylvanians

Coalitions

Navin NayakPublic InterestAdvocate

“PennPIRG's national office hassuccessfully lobbied to eliminate $26billion in federal spending that benefitsa few special interests at the expenseof public health and the environment.These concrete victories are a mark ofPennPIRG's success.”

From The Staff

tive leaders, including House MinorityWhip Michael Veon (Beaver) and Minor-ity Chair of the Finance Committee, Rep-resentative David Levdansky (Allegh-eny), to introduce a new package of bills.

These bills attempt both to close other cor-porate tax loopholes and to increase pub-lic accountability for government spend-ing of tax dollars. The bills gained 20 co-sponsors in 2004. PennPIRG continues towork to build support for their passagewhile awaiting the final results of theBTRC recommendations on closing thecorporate tax loophole.

eral legislators had spent taxpayer fundsfor self-serving or otherwise inappropri-ate purposes. According to the investiga-tion, for example, Sen. Vince Fumo spentnearly $73,000 of taxpayer dollars onmore than 100 trips to an upscale restau-rant between 2001 and 2002.

The reports also revealed that HouseSpeaker John Perzel spent $2.3 millionof taxpayer money running television adsthat helped to re-elect incumbent legisla-tors. And House Democratic Leader BillDeWeese spent $420,000 in tax dollarsfor the same purpose.

“PennPIRG is a welcome and neededvoice for people without access to

lobbyists and large sums of money.PennPIRG truly represents the publicinterest when it needs to be heard the

most, and it has made the difference on anumber of occasions.”

— Pennsylvania State HouseDemocratic Whip Mike Veon

PennPIRG also worked to ensure that thestate government spends our tax dollarswisely, on programs that benefit the pub-lic rather than on corporate giveaways orwasteful expenditures by politicians.

A Call To Return Misspent FundsAt a Nov. 17, 2003, news conference inHarrisburg, PennPIRG joined CommonCause, The Commonwealth Foundationand The Family Institute to ask certainstate lawmakers to refund taxpayers $3million that was spent for inappropriateor wasteful purposes.

Earlier that month, investigative news re-ports by the Philadelphia Inquirer and theAllentown Morning Call found that sev-

Legislative leaders refused to return themisspent funds. However, some lawmak-ers stood up for taxpayers by proposingmeasures that would limit some of themost outrageous spending.

For example, Senate Bill 229, sponsoredby Sen. Jane Earll, would prohibit the useof taxpayer dollars to fund advertising forelected officials within 120 days of anelection.

Another bill, House Resolution 40, byRep. Greg Vitali, would restrict the useof taxpayer dollars for mailings that in-fluence elections, and would prohibit us-ing tax dollars to fund television adver-tisements for elected officials.

MEDIA REFORMReforming our media to protect consumers and democracy

7.Annual Report 2004

PennPIRG opposed policies that would further concentrateownership of our media system into a few hands

At a news conference with AFL-CIO’s Bill George (center) and John Sweeney (second from right), aswell as Communications Workers of America’s Vince Maisano (right), Beth McConnell called onComcast to reduce rates and improve service.

Just a few corporations control the infor-mation the public gets from radio, televi-sion and newspapers, and the trend ofmedia consolidation continues.

FCC Guts Media Ownership RuleOn June 2, 2003, the Federal Communi-cations Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 toweaken the rules that limit how many TVstations a media giant can own, and elimi-nated the rule preventing powerful con-glomerates from owning newspapers andTV stations in the same markets.

“Fewer media owners mean less localismand fewer viewpoints,” said PennPIRG’sWashington, D.C., Consumer Advocate,Ed Mierzwinski. “And our democracysuffers too, since competitive news-gath-ering provides a healthy check on gov-ernment and corporate excess.”

PennPIRG and other state PIRGs alertedtheir members to the FCC’s action,prompting 87,000 e-mails to the FCC andmembers of Congress urging them to re-peal the changes. In all, a record 2 mil-lion individuals and groups asked thecommission to drop its plan.

In July 2003, the House voted 400-21 toreject part of the FCC rules. In October,200 representatives sent a letter to SpeakerDennis Hastert (Ill.) urging him to bringto the floor a PIRG-backed “Resolutionof Disapproval” of the rules. On Sept. 16,the Senate voted 55-40 for the resolution.

Media Merger Bid WithdrawnPennPIRG, with consumer, labor andother organizations, and hundreds of con-cerned citizens, helped defeat a proposedComcast-Disney merger that would havecreated a $140 billion media goliath tan-tamount to a monopoly on media in manymarkets, leading to fewer viewpoints rep-resented in the media and higher cablerates for consumers.

PennPIRG and others held rallies andspoke to reporters outside Disney’s an-nual shareholder meeting in Philadelphiaon March 3 and March 4 to oppose themerger. On April 28, Comcast withdrewtheir bid for Disney.

Our Democracy, Our AirwavesBroadcasters have an obligation to servethe public interest in exchange for usingpublic airwaves. However, many televi-sion and radio stations run more politicalads than news coverage of candidates.

In July 2003, Sens. John McCain (Az.),Russell Feingold (Wis.) and Dick Durbin(Ill.) introduced a PennPIRG-backed billto give free television and radio airtimeto qualified candidates. The bill wouldhelp level the playing field and ensure thatbroadcasters serve the public interest inexchange for using the airwaves.

On Nov. 21, 2003, Sens. McCain andFeingold and Reps. Chris Shays (Conn.)and Marty Meehan (Mass.) introduced aPennPIRG-backed bill to reform the presi-dential public financing system by in-creasing participation by small donors.

AdvocacyPennPIRG’s staff identify problemsfacing Pennsylvanians, promote com-mon-sense solutions, and work withpolicy-makers to implement thechanges. For example, as the stateexperienced significant budget deficitsin 2003, PennPIRG highlighted theexistence of state corporate tax loop-holes that contributed to the deficit.We then successfully urged Gov.Rendell to recommend closing theloopholes as part of his budget ad-dress in March of that year, andworked again in 2004 to craft legisla-tion with key state legislative leadersto close corporate tax loopholes.

EmilySchillerPIRG Fuel BuyersDirector

“At Fuel Buyers, I’ve found it extremelyrewarding to help families save moneyon their heating oil bills. With energycosts rising, those savings can some-times make all the difference in wintermonths for families to keep warm.”

National Consumer Advocate Ed Mierzwinskireleased a report that revealed that cablederegulation has not benefited consumers.

From The Staff

NATIONAL REPORTPennPIRG’s national office works to protect consumers and promote democracy

From Congress to the Supreme Court, PennPIRG’snational office fought for the public at the federal policy level

Consumer PrivacyLobbyists for powerful special interestshave many tricks up their sleeves, includ-ing amending bills in ways that purport toreform corporate abuses but end up serv-ing corporate interests instead.

A case in point was last year’s revision ofthe Fair Credit Reporting Act. The bill in-cluded several reforms backed byPennPIRG, such as giving consumers theright to one free credit report each year.

However, financial lobby groups con-vinced lawmakers to amend the bill so thatit permanently limits states’ authority toenact tougher credit reporting standards inthe future.

President Bush signed the bill into law onDec. 4, 2003. “Consumers finally gainedimportant new rights to fight identity theftand clean up credit bureau mistakes, butat the unacceptably high price of unfair,permanent limits on states’ rights,” said EdMierzwinski, a consumer advocate inPennPIRG’s Washington, D.C., office.

On July 31, Mierzwinski testified as oneof only three witnesses at the final Senatehearing on the issue. He spoke on behalfof 11 leading consumer, privacy and civilrights groups, and urged lawmakers touphold states’ authority to enact strongerprotections—especially given the fact thatthe best provisions in the new federal lawwere borrowed from state laws.

Campaign Finance ReformIn Washington, D.C., PennPIRG advo-cates Dana Mason and Adam Lioz ledefforts to address the shortcomings of theMcCain-Feingold campaign finance law.PennPIRG’s national office filed suit toblock the law’s doubling of contributionlimits from $1,000 to $2,000, chargingthat the increase denies less wealthyAmericans equal participation in the po-litical process, in violation of the EqualProtection Clause of the U.S. Constitu-tion. The case went all the way to the Su-preme Court, but on Dec. 10, 2003, thecourt upheld the increases.

Unscrupulous LendersIn the fall of 2003, PennPIRG and othergroups met with Banking Secretary Will-iam Schenck, urging him to reject a bidby “payday lenders” to weaken consumerprotection laws.

Payday lenders hook consumers into acycle of debt by offering small, short-termloans against their next paychecks, oftenat annual percentage rates (APRs) as highas 1,000 percent. State law caps small-loan rates at 23.75 percent, but legal loop-holes let payday lenders ignore the cap.

The industry proposed a bill that wouldlegalize its brand of loan-sharking.PennPIRG urged the secretary to holdpayday lenders accountable to the lawcapping state interest rates.

“These unscrupulous lenders take advan-tage of working families that live pay-check to paycheck,” said PennPIRG’sBeth McConnell. “Consumers desperateenough to accept these rates are unlikelyto be able to repay the loan next payday.”

Deregulation Lets Rates SoarOn Aug. 12, PennPIRG’s Washington,D.C., office released a report that foundcable rates have risen 50 percent on aver-age since deregulation in 1996. The re-

port noted that increased industry concen-tration and anti-competitive practiceshave hindered competitors.

PennPIRG urged Congress to empowerpublic utility commissions to regulatecable rates until real competition emerges.

Comcast Service Falls ShortAt a June 30, 2004, news conference out-side Comcast’s headquarters in Philadel-phia, PennPIRG Education Fund and a

Financial Information

Charts reflect financial information forPennPIRG, PennPIRG Education Fundand PennPIRG citizen outreachprograms.

FY04 Income FY04 Expenses

9.

ON GUARD IN THE MARKETPLACEPennPIRG worked to protect consumers from rip-offs and scams

Exposing predatory lending and offering consumers a better deal onheating oil are examples of PennPIRG’s work to protect consumers

Fuel Buyers and others worked to help consumers reap home energy savings. From left, Fuel Buyers’Emily Schiller, Action Fuel Oil’s Carl Forcillo, Southwest Community Development Corp.’s DonnaHenry, Fuel Buyers member Nancy Kahaulelio, and Energy Coordinating Agency’s Neal Resnick.

coalition of labor and community groupscalled on Comcast to be a better corpo-rate citizen, pointing out that the companyhas raised its rates but fallen short on ser-vice. The groups urged Comcast to adoptchanges to protect consumers.

Savings at PIRG Fuel BuyersPIRG Fuel Buyers, PennPIRG’s heatingoil collective, helped consumers save asmuch as $250 per household on their heat-ing oil bills during the 2003-2004 heat-ing season.

PIRG Fuel Buyers uses its collective buy-ing power to negotiate lower prices onhome heating oil.

Program 67% Fundraising 23% Administrative 10%

Citizen Donations 92% Grants 8%

FoundationsPennPIRG Education Fund, a501(c)(3) organization, conductsresearch and public education onemerging public interest issues.Contributions to PennPIRGEducation Fund are tax-deductible.PennPIRG Education Fund hasreceived recent grant awards from:

• 1957 Charity Foundation, Inc.• Center for Digital Democracy• Colston Warne Program of Consumers Union• Consumer Federation of America Foundation

Planned GivingMembers who include PennPIRGin their wills leave a legacy ofactivism that will protect consum-ers and taxpayers, as well asrevitalize participation in thedemocratic process for decades tocome.

For more information aboutincluding PennPIRG in your estateand major giving plans, call (800)841-7299 or e-mailplannedgiving@pennpirg.org.

FY04 Program Expenses Breakdown

National Lobbying 6.64%Consumer Privacy 4.86%Other 4.43%

Fair Prescription Drug Prices36.13%Taxpayer Advocate 30.71%Health Care 17.23%

Design And Photo Credits

Photo Credits: PIRG staff except as noted: cover: Schillerby KYW-TV, McConnell by Communications Work-ers of America, capitol by iStockPhoto; page 2: C-SPAN; page 3: ArtToday.com; page 4, chart informa-tion source Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion; staff photos by Jan Pelton and Peter Cutts. Designby Public Interest GRFX (215) 985-1113; Printing byConsolidated Drake Press. Printed on recycled paper.

Thousands of Pennsylvanians supported PennPIRG bymaking contributions in Fiscal Year 2004. The memberslisted below were particularly generous in their support ofour work. Names that appear in italics denote PennPIRGPublic Interest Partners. These members provide stabilityto the organization’s resources through our monthly givingprogram.

PARTNERS

PU

BLIC

INTERE

ST

PENNPIRG SUPPORTERSPennPIRG and the PennPIRG Education Fund

Development CommitteeMembers supported PennPIRGwith contributions of $1,000 ormore, or are Public InterestPartners giving $80 or moreeach month.

Susan BradleyMary CoeRobert Jennings Jr.Jonathan MarksPhilip ObleyDoug PhelpsJoseph Potz

Patrons supported PennPIRGwith contributions of $500 to$999, or are Public InterestPartners giving $40 to $79 eachmonth.

Nancy DavisDavid GambleDavid MatthewsDoug PetrillaJohn & Martha WolfMichael Zisman

Sponsors contributed $250 to$499, or are Public InterestPartners giving $20 to $39 eachmonth.

Bradford Beal

John BitmanJoann BodeyKate Browning-LaffeLissa Bryan-SmithAlice CaseNancy ClatterbuckJohn Colgan-DavisMarie ContiMichelle CravenNancy De StreelWendy EberlyShelley EdalatpourHoward EisenSamuel F. EtrisSuzanne FeldKaren FitzpatrickBarbara FortnerDon FoxGeraldine FruchtmanPhillip FunkeGeorge GerbnerKarl GheringKaren GillyMarilyn GilroyJane GoekeBetty GottliebDavid HakesKeith HarenskiJonathan HarrisChristina HayakawaEugene HirschMary HolmesTerry HoodakLisa Howe

Thomas HurleyJames KirchnerJane KuftaSteven LiebleinMarla & Peter LoevyBob LuisiRichard MalloyTracey MarinoPamela MehalickH. Stephen MillerPaul MintzBarbara MoneganTimothy MontagueHarvey M. MorrisR. Michael O’BrienSandra L. OrmerodA. Jeanne PruittJesse PryorJudith RishelTiffany RoccoLisa RooneyMichael RutkowskiLisa SamesVince SanfilippoDeborah SchmidtIrving SearsLorna SecrestAnn W. SpaethPat Nakayama & E. StankiewiczJoseph SteeleBridget TomasicchioKathleen Y. TroncellitiKathleen A. Washington

NONPROFITORG.

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDBROCKTON, MAPERMIT NO. 430

PennPIRGPennsylvania Public Interest Research Group, Inc.1334 Walnut St., 6th FloorPhiladelphia, PA 19107

Return service requested

PennPIRG1334 Walnut St., 6th FloorPhiladelphia, PA 19107(215) 732-3747 (ph)(215) 732-4599 (fx)

1015-A North Front StreetHarrisburg, PA 17102(717) 230-9710

www.pennpirg.orginfo@pennpirg.org

Contact us:

2004 Annual ReportPennsylvania Public Interest Research Group