AB 2393 insures that a private post-secondary proprietary school that reports or disseminates information on student success, job placement rates or graduates’ salaries in any apprenticeable occupation, bases that information on the standards for job duties and mastery of job training curriculum that the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards has developed.

SB 933 would prohibit retailers from imposing a surcharge on consumers who use their debit cards to make a purchase.

SB 885 would allow consumers to redeem the remaining value of their gift card if the cash value is up to $20.

SB 1264 would provide protections for passengers who are forced to remain on a plane for more than two hours by requiring airlines to provide water, food, fresh air, and functioning restrooms.

A white paper on the NUMMI plant closing was recently prepared by Professor Harley Shaiken from the University of California, Berkeley entitled "Commitment Is a Two-Way Street: Toyota, California, and NUMMI".

Consumer groups that successfully challenge insurance rate increases can recoup their legal fees from the insurers, even when the companies drop their requests or agree to a compromise, a state appeals court has ruled.

Consumers deserve to know the terms and conditions of any product advertisement, and should have the information they need to terminate an automatically renewing subscription. SB 340 (Lee) would help restrict the deceptive marketing of product subscriptions.

PG&E spent $46 million of its ratepayer dollars on Prop 16 to make sure our electric rates remain high, without asking the consent of its ratepayers.

...the effect of broadcasters' refusal to provide under-funded campaigns free response time since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine for ballot measures...has been to increase the amount of one-sided information voters receive before entering the voting booth.

In addition to reforming our pay-to-play campaign finance system, we progressives must redouble our efforts if we expect to pose any kind of challenge to the moneyed interests that dominate the state capitol.

Governor Schwarzenegger's final verdict on a host of critical consumer protection bills this past weekend left consumer advocates disappointed. Of the 14 bills identified by the Consumer Federation of California (CFC) as most important, in only six instances did the Governor take the side of the consumer.

A move to ban alcohol sales at market self-checkout counters in California is being fueled by two San Diego studies that suggest they make it easier for underaged buyers. Legislation to enact such a ban could come up on the state Senate floor as early as Wednesday.

In their shared comment submission, Consumer Federation of California, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and Margaret Reiter...voiced support for the proposed rules but offered up amendments aimed at tightening consumer protections.

Richard Holober of the Consumer Federation of California said.."It's an effort to say 'we have a cost and we have chosen not to fix these errors because it's more expensive to fix than ignore...all those little ATM mistakes could be a windfall for Wells.

Current California law prohibits merchants from applying checkout fees to credit card purchases. But the law is silent on debit cards, allowing merchants to bill debit-card users an additional fee set by the retailers. To halt these debit-card surcharges, I authored Senate Bill 933.

In an effort to tackle national obesity, the FDA's draft guidelines require any businesses with more than 20 locations to post the calorie information in the same size type as the menu item or price.

Overall, the repayment rates at these for-profit schools was only 36% in fiscal 2009, according to an analysis of the data conducted by the Institute for College Access and Success, a student-advocacy group. By comparison, the repayment rate at private nonprofit schools was 56%, the group found. At public state colleges and universities, the rate was 54%.

"It shouldn't matter if you're buying or renting - the car should be safe," said Rosemary Shahan of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, based in Sacramento. "There should be a uniform standard." The group has approached State Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, to propose a bill to require repairs of rental cars in California if there is a safety recall.

But you have to wonder: How much could it really cost to digitally record some value on the magnetic strip of a piece of plastic? A few taps on the keyboard, a swipe through the machine — that's a few bucks' worth of service?

"These are a few bright spots in a pretty dismal year for consumers. The most far reaching, pro-consumer legislation failed to even pass the legislature," said Richard Holober, Executive Director of the CFC. "Of the 14 bills we identified as most important that did reach the Governor’s desk, he took the side of the consumer in only six instances..."

"We are disappointed that the Governor sided with big business interests and against consumers on the majority of bills that reached his desk. The Governor turned a deaf ear to California consumers on key food safety, automobile insurance and financial privacy proposals."

2009 Interim Consumer Scorecard provides a snapshot of state lawmakers’ votes on several key consumer protection bills. The scorecard includes votes cast before the legislature adjourned for the summer recess.

Lawmakers returning from summer recess today will be greeted by a letter from nine consumer rights organizations outlining legislative priorities during the final month of the 2009 session.