PG&E customers should pay for pipeline improvements, company says
by Mike Taugher, Contra Costa Times
Pacific Gas & Electric continued to insist Tuesday that ratepayers pick up the bulk of the tab for upgrading its aging gas pipelines, though it did make a small concession by agreeing to pay for tests on some of its pipelines. Read More ›
Billionaire Insurance Baron Tries to Buy Off California Republican Party
by Brian Stedge-Stroud, Consumer Watchdog, California Progress Report
Consumer Watchdog Campaign and Consumer Federation of California were joined by Sharada Polavarapu, a San Francisco resident who relies solely on mass transit, to call on the Republican Party to oppose this ballot initiative as an attack on the middle class. Read More ›
Enforcement Chief at Postsecondary Bureau to Resign
by Jennifer Gollan, Bay Citizen
Newquist’s departure comes after The Bay Citizen revealed that the bureau had not fulfilled many of its fundamental oversight responsibilities, including aggressively investigating complaints, monitoring the quality of educational programs and rooting out unlicensed schools and diploma mills. Read More ›
New California Legislation Will Address Chemicals in Flame Retardants Found in Furniture
“Consumers shouldn’t have to worry about toxic ingredients in the products they buy, and manufacturers shouldn’t be forced to use toxic supplies to make their products meet regulatory guidelines,” states Richard Holober from the Consumer Federation of California. Read More ›
New Google Privacy Policy and Understanding “Do Not Track”
by Zack Kaldveer, CFC Communications Director, Privacy Revolt
The Do Not Track concept offers a glimpse of where the expected battle lines will likely be drawn: separating those that want privacy, and more control over their own data, versus those that want to profit off violating that privacy, and selling that data. Read More ›
Obama Administration Proposes Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights
by Zack Kaldveer, CFC Communications Director, Privacy Revolt
This rise in behavioral tracking has made it possible for consumer information to be potentially misused, increases the threat of identity theft, and is a fundamental violation of privacy. Read More ›
Calif. Bill Would Smoke Out Safety, End Use of Toxic Flame Retardants
by Ngoc Nguyen, New America Media
…tests by the furniture industry and then vetted by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission show California’s present regulation does not prevent small flames from igniting furniture. Read More ›
Ontario’s Maglite wants ‘Made in USA’ label
by KIMBERLY PIERCEALL , Press Enterprise
Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, opposes the bill because his group sees it as an opportunity to overturn a state Supreme Court decision in January 2011 that ruled consumers could claim harm was done if they were deceived into buying a product because it was purported to be ‘Made in the USA.’ Read More ›
Change in ‘Made in USA’ label debated
by Michael Gardner, San Diego Union Tribune
The labels are “beneficial to consumers who care where their products are made to have truthful information when determining what to buy,” Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, said in an interview. “The federal law is weaker so we are better off not changing a good standard.” Read More ›
State Sen. Fran Pavley In Competitive Run for Last Term
by Annemarie Donkin, Topanga Messenger
The Consumer Federation of California named Senator Pavley as its “Senator of the Year” for her tireless work to ban toxins such as lead, cadmium and BPA from children’s products; passing legislation to protect consumers from mortgage fraud; and efforts to crack down on elder abuse. Read More ›
Billionaire Insurance Baron Tries to Buy Off California Republican Party
Mercury Insurance Chairman George Joseph has given more than $8 million to fund his 2012 ballot initiative attack on long-standing consumer protections. The insurance executive and “Forbes 400” billionaire also made the largest single contribution to the California Republican Party in 2011… Read More ›
PUC, PG&E revive $3 million records settlement
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
State regulators and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have revived a $3 million settlement over the utility’s failure to produce gas-pipeline safety records after the San Bruno disaster – a fine that critics of the company denounced as too lenient. Read More ›
Google Secretly Bypassing Safari Privacy Settings
by Zack Kaldveer, CFC Communications Director, Privacy Revolt
The need for such consumer friendly and empowering solutions to this exploding data mining industry and tracking capabilities is clear because we KNOW marketers will stop at NOTHING to ensure they can monitor online behavior…so we can be better profiled by the government and marketed to by advertisers. Read More ›