Consumer Federation of California

The Consumer Federation of California recently recognized state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) for his 2010 voting record with a 100 percent score on its annual legislative scorecard.

‘Senator Simitian has been a steadfast advocate for California consumers,’ said Richard Holober, executive director of the CFC. ‘Both through the legislation he has authored and other bills he has supported, he has consistently fought for consumer rights.’

Simitian, who represents Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, was one of four senators described by the consumer-rights organization as ‘standout legislators (who) deserve special recognition as consumer champions,’ based on perfect or near-perfect scores over the past six years.

‘I’m grateful for this recognition from an organization that champions consumer rights,’ Simitian said. ‘While we have made progress in protecting consumers over the last few years, work remains to be done. I will continue to put forward legislation to safeguard consumers.’

Two of Simitian’s bills were among the nine senate and four assembly bills the CFC used to rate legislators. Both were privacy-protection measures: SB 1268, signed into law, prohibits transportation agencies from sharing personal information collected as part of FasTrak and other automated toll payment systems, and SB1166 ‘ approved in the Legislature but vetoed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘ specified the information that potential victims of a database security breach must receive to learn how to protect themselves against identity theft.

‘I’m not giving up on better information for potential victims of database breaches,’ Simitian said. ‘The bill is a common-sense improvement to a law that served as a national model. I’ll be reintroducing it this year.’

For more information, visit www.senatorsimitian.com.