Florida Public Interest Research Group (Florida PIRG) Education Fund

Jennifer Rubiello, who has previously worked in multiple roles with left-leaning organizations like America Votes and the Green Corps, is executive director of the Florida PIRG Education Fund. ³

Activities

In 2012, the Florida PIRG Education Fund joined with Rock the Vote and the League of Women Voters of Florida to file a lawsuit against a Florida law that mandated voter identification cards. ⁴

Florida PIRG Education Fund’s activism has promoted left-of-center environmentalist policies. The Fund has published reports with recommendations including banning all single-use plastics and transitioning all homes to environmentalist energy sources . ^{1 2} The organization has also sought for the United States to transition to a so-called “circular economy,” mandating recycling and composting in order to reduce waste and placing the burden for creating this new system on manufacturers by forcing them to build longer-lasting products. ⁵

Leadership

Jennifer Rubiello was listed as the principal officer of the Florida PIRG Education Fund on the organization’s 2019 tax filings. ⁶ Rubiello is currently the Florida deputy state director of the left-leaning America Votes. Prior to joining America Votes, Rubiello worked as state director of Environment Florida, a left-of-center environmentalist organization which sought to ban all Styrofoam takeout containers and transition the United States entirely to environmentalist energy sources. ^{3 7 8} Rubiello has also worked as canvassing director at Work for Progress,³ a left-of-center organization associated with the Public Interest Network (PIN), and at Green Corps, an environmentalist activism training organization. ^{9 3 10}

The extent of Rubiello’s involvement with the Fund is unclear. She is not listed as a staff member on the Florida PIRG Education Fund website, which only lists national PIRG officials and does not specify Florida PIRG Education Fund staff. ¹¹