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News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Los Angeles Moves Ahead to Get Money Out of Politics

L.A. City Council voted to move ahead with an initiative for the May ballot that would allow voters to weigh-in on the unlimited campaign spending that is a result of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Let Los Angeles vote

This week, the Los Angeles City Council is voting on whether or not to give voters the opportunity to weigh-in on the Citizen’s United ruling.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

CALPIRG Applauds AG’s New Privacy Guidelines for Online Apps

New guidelines urge mobile app developers to be judicious in the data they collect while being mindful of user privacy - shining the spotlight on consumer privacy.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Aetna reduces rate following CALPIRG Ed Fund's review

 This week, Aetna Life Insurance Company announced plans to reduce its proposed increase in health insurance premiums. In November, CALPIRG Education Fund completed a review of the rate hike and recommended that the California Department of Insurance declare it unreasonable. Now, 68,000 small business employees impacted by the rate hike will see a significantly smaller increase in their health insurance premiums.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Review of Anthem's Rate Increase on Individual Policies

CALPIRG Education Fund has reviewed a massive new rate increase proposal from Anthem Blue Cross. 340,000 Californians can expect to see rates increase an average of 20% this year, with some as high as 24.9%. CALPIRG Ed Fund has recommended that the California Department of Insurance request that Anthem amend the rate change or make an official determination that the proposed rate change is unreasonable.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Distorted Democracy: Big Money and Dark Money in the 2012 Elections

A new analysis of pre-election data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and other sources by CALPIRG and Demos shows that outside spending in the first presidential election since Citizens United is living up to its hype: new waves of “outside spending” have been fueled by dark money and unlimited fundraising from a small number of wealthy donors.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

Gov. Brown signs two social media privacy laws, protecting consumers on social networks

Gov. Jerry Brown signs two CALPIRG-supported bills protecting the privacy of social media accounts.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Higher Bank Fees Now the Norm for Consumers

New report confirms what consumers already know – bank fees are increasing and free checking accounts are harder to find.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

Starting Today, Californians Can Register to Vote Online

Statement by Daniela Uribe, CALPIRG New Voters’ Project Fellow Regarding Online Voter Registrations for Californians.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Budget

100 Small Farms in California Call for an End to Wasteful Subsidies in Farm Bill

Over the past 15 years, America has spent more than $260 billion on agricultural subsidies. A number of these subsidies were created during the Great Depression to provide emergency aid to small family farmers. Unfortunately, in the decades that followed, many of these programs have lost their way.  Today 74 percent of agricultural subsidies go to just 4 percent of all farmers – including some of the largest operations in the country.  This is a list of the 100 family farms in California that have endoresed CALPIRGs campaign to end wasteful agricultural subsidies.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace

The creation of a new health insurance exchange offers our state the chance to build a better marketplace for health care.  The exchange can help individuals and small businesses by increasing competition and improving choices in the state’s insurance market.  By providing better options and better information, and negotiating on behalf of its enrollees, the exchange can level the playing field for consumers.

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Report | Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) & University of Massachusetts, Amherst | Consumer Protection

How Wall Street Speculation is Driving Up Gasoline Prices Today

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace Brief #7

The exchange is a store where consumers can buy health insurance products – and anyone who’s worked retail knows that however much work has gone into crafting strong policies and building an efficient back-office, if customers  can’t understand, compare and choose the products that are right for them, it just won’t work.  

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Building a Better Health Care Marketplace: Policy Briefing #6

Medicaid will see its eligibility significantly increased in 2014, the same year the state exchange will open its doors. 

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Report | CALPIRG | Budget, Tax

Tax Shell Game

The United States loses approximately $100 billion in tax revenues every year due to corporations and individuals sending their money to offshore tax havens.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Tax

FTC Supports Do Not Track, Meekly

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released today a new report calling on Internet companies to put in place a "Do Not Track" system that would give consumers more control over their personal data online by the end of the year . The FTC also called on Congress to pass privacy legislation that would allow consumers to see how their online data is collected, used and sold, and give consumers the ability to stop such practices. 
 

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Tax

CFPB launches new consumer Q&A resource page | Jon Fox

The CFPB launches a new interactive online tool that helps consumers find answers to their basic financial questions.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Tax

Paying Taxes, Safe and Sound | Jon Fox

With less than a month left to “Tax Day”, that special time of year when taxes are due, CALPIRG releases a new Questions & Answer guide to paying taxes.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Don’t Freeze our Public Health and Consumer Safety Protections | Jon Fox

In the 175 days that the U.S. House of Representatives was in session during 2011, it passed more than 190 anti-regulatory bills. Congress put profits over public safety and they are still at it.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

50 Years Ago This Week, JFK Ushered in Modern Consumer Protection Era | Ed Mierzwinski

I've got a new column at Huffington Post, "50 Years Ago This Week, JFK Ushered in Modern Consumer Protection Era." I discuss President Kennedy's visionary "Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest" announced on March 15, 1962. He declared that consumers have rights and government should protect them. Read the full column after the jump.

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Tools & Resources

  • YOUR TAX DOLLARS BECOME CORN SYRUP
    At a time when one-in-three kids is overweight or obese, over a billion taxpayer dollars go to high-fructose corn syrup and junk food ingredients.
    Learn more
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  • STOP TAX DODGERS
    Corporate tax avoidance cost taxpayers $100 billion last year. We're working to close the loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying the taxes they owe.
    Learn more
    Take Action
  • FIGHTING UNJUSTIFIED PREMIUM HIKES
    It’s time for health insurers to get serious about lowering the cost of care instead of raising deductibles and hiking premiums.
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  • Reclaim Democracy
    The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision ushered in an era of unprecedented spending by big money in our elections, but we're working to return our democracy back to the principle of "one person, one vote."
    Learn more
    ADD YOUR VOICE

You Can Help

We have a chance to cut billions in junk food subsidies this year. Your support will help us do the research, advocacy and grassroots organizing to convince our elected officials to act.

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PRIORITY ACTION

Each year, our tax dollars pay for enough junk food additives to buy 8.5 two-liter bottles of soda for each person under 18. Help stop the subsidies for junk food.

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Consumer Alerts

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