CPR's Mission

The Center for Progressive Reform is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to protecting health, safety, and the environment through analysis and commentary. CPR believes sensible safeguards in these areas serve important shared values, including doing the best we can to prevent harm to people and the environment, distributing environmental harms and benefits fairly, and protecting the earth for future generations. CPR rejects the view that the economic efficiency of private markets should be the only value used to guide government action. Rather, CPR supports thoughtful government action and reform to advance the well-being of human life and the environment. Additionally, CPR believes people play a crucial role in ensuring both private and public sector decisions that result in improved protection of consumers, public health and safety, and the environment. Accordingly, CPR supports ready public access to the courts, enhanced public participation, and improved public access to information.

Overview: Problem & Solutions

Current laws and the civil justice system have substantially enhanced protection of people and the environment. But flagging enforcement of regulations and increasing restrictions on people's rights to seek redress for their injuries in the courts have significantly undermined many of these protections. Many serious threats remain largely unaddressed. In addition, novel technological developments present potential new dangers that must be managed. CPR therefore seeks to restore and preserve existing regulatory and common law methods of protection that are under attack by regulated industries and the think tanks and lobbying organizations they support. In addition, CPR supports developing new or revised ways to protect people and the environment. Such reforms include providing individuals with more and better information about health, safety, financial and environmental risks, and holding companies responsible for the full range of their risk-producing actions through new forms of corporate governance. CPR also works to open the regulatory process to greater public scrutiny, particularly by facilitating the participation of groups representing the public interest that are often hobbled by restrictions on their ability to access information upon which decision-makers rely.

CPR Issues

CPR works on a range of current issues, including:

• risk and cost/benefit analysis;
• the role of science in the regulatory process;
• devolution of federal authority to the states;
• the implications of budget shortfalls;
• enforcement policy and practice;
• so-called "second generation" proposals, including "market-based" remedies and "performance-based" systems;
• secrecy in government; and
• the role of corporate governance, information disclosure, and tort law in holding corporations accountable for harm to people and the environment.

CPR: Who We Are and How We Work

Founded in 2002, CPR is a coalition of university-affiliated academic Member Scholars with expertise in legal, economic, and scientific fields. Scholars are not paid for their contributions to CPR's work, but rather donate their time and expertise to the organization. CPR Member Scholars and staff prepare studies, reports, articles, and other analyses, and participate in educational forums and conferences to promote informed and effective public policy.

CPR's "member scholars" are working academics, employed by colleges and universities across the nation. They represent diverse research agendas, areas of expertise, and geographic location. CPR's President is Rena Steinzor (University of Maryland School of Law), and its Board of Directors includes John Applegate (Indiana University School of Law – Bloomington), Robert L. Glicksman (University of Kansas Law School), Thomas O. McGarity (University of Texas Law School, immediate past president of CPR), Sidney A. Shapiro (Wake Forest University School of Law), Amy Sinden (Temple University Beasley School of Law), and Robert R.M. Verchick (Loyola University New Orleans School of Law). (University affiliations are for purposes of identification only.) CPR's Scholars Group consists of a larger group of individuals who are united in their commitment to CPR’s mission and who volunteer their time for CPR projects.

Meet the CPR member scholars.

Meet the CPR staff. Send an email to staff.

To arrange interviews with CPR scholars, send email to our Media Office.