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News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

Free, Consumer-Friendly Credit Freeze Bill Passes First California Committee Today

On Tuesday afternoon, in response to the massive Equifax data breach last year, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 823, authored by Senator Jerry Hill, to prevent the credit reporting agencies from charging consumers who request a "freeze" to keep our credit report information secure.

Blog Post | Public Health

Home remodeling shouldn’t be a deadly project: Toxic paint removers being sold by Lowe’s and other stores | Dev Gowda

No one should lose a loved one to deadly chemicals. But right now you can walk into Lowe’s and other stores and buy paint removers containing highly toxic chemicals.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves

U.S. PIRG Education Fund joins Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Lowe’s to stop selling paint strippers made with methylene chloride and the chemical NMP.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

More Info On Our Testing Methodology for Asbestos in Makeup

Claire’s Stores Inc. incorrectly claims that our testing methods are unsound. Its accusations are misinformed at best, and seem to be designed to distract from the bottom-line: that Claire’s is selling makeup that contains asbestos to preteens.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Asbestos Found in Claire’s Kids Makeup

Independent lab results confirm that makeup CALPIRG Education Fund found for sale at Claire’s retail stores across the country is contaminated with asbestos, which causes cancer.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Consumer Protection

Free, Consumer-Friendly Credit Freeze Bill Passes First California Committee Today

On Tuesday afternoon, in response to the massive Equifax data breach last year, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 823, authored by Senator Jerry Hill, to prevent the credit reporting agencies from charging consumers who request a "freeze" to keep our credit report information secure.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Grieving parents & health advocates urge Lowe’s to pull deadly paint strippers from store shelves

U.S. PIRG Education Fund joins Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, and the Natural Resources Defense Council in calling on Lowe’s to stop selling paint strippers made with methylene chloride and the chemical NMP.

News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Public Health

More Info On Our Testing Methodology for Asbestos in Makeup

Claire’s Stores Inc. incorrectly claims that our testing methods are unsound. Its accusations are misinformed at best, and seem to be designed to distract from the bottom-line: that Claire’s is selling makeup that contains asbestos to preteens.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Asbestos Found in Claire’s Kids Makeup

Independent lab results confirm that makeup CALPIRG Education Fund found for sale at Claire’s retail stores across the country is contaminated with asbestos, which causes cancer.

News Release | CALPIRG | Solid Waste

After Apple Slows Phones, Interest In Repair Spikes in California

A new survey released by CALPIRG shows that interest in additional phone repair options surged as battery issues with iPhones made headlines. Findings show that we throw out 46,900 phones each day in California, highlighting need for expanded access to repair.

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Result | Democracy

Delivering one million petitions to President Obama on dark money

U.S. PIRG joined a broad coalition to deliver one million petitions from Americans, including U.S. PIRG members and supporters, calling on President Obama to shine a light on dark money, or secret political spending.

Result | Health Care

Consumer-Friendly Health Care

In the fall of 2015, the state Legislature passed a series of CALPIRG-backed bills designed to help promote a more consumer-friendly and affordable health care system in California. State Bill (SB) 137 will give consumers accurate, up-to-date information about their health plan’s network; Assembly Bill (AB) 339 will ensure people with chronic health conditions are not discriminated against by insurers; AB 1305 will limit deductibles and annual out-of-pocket maximums for individual members of families; and SB 546 will require health insurance companies to justify rate increases for large employers’ health insurance plans.

Result | Consumer Protection

30 years of toy safety

For the past thirty years, our sister organization U.S. PIRG Education Fund has taken a close look at the safety of toys sold in stores. Their reports have led to more than 150 regulatory actions. In November 2015, they released our 30th annual Trouble in Toyland report.

Result | Consumer Protection

Keeping Children Safe From Dangerous Toys

Every year, as consumers begin purchasing toys for the holiday season, CALPIRG Education Fund visits numerous toy stores, malls and dollar stores to find potentially dangerous toys sitting on store shelves. In November 2015, we released our 30th annual report, "Trouble in Toyland 2015." Over the years, our reports have led to more than 150 recalls and other regulatory actions, helping to remove dangerous products from store shelves and keep children safe.

Result | Democracy

Giving more Americans a greater voice in our elections

In our democracy, the size of your wallet shouldn’t determine the volume of your voice. In 2015, we helped win reforms in Maine and Seattle to ensure that more Americans have a greater say in our elections. Seattle’s Initiative-122 empowers small donors with “democracy vouchers” that can be donated to local candidates and lowers the cap on contributions. In Maine, the state’s Clean Elections Act was improved by strengthening campaign finance disclosure laws and offering qualifying candidates increased public funding.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

In Your Face

The negative health effects of asbestos are well-known. Most people may associate asbestos contamination with the workplace or decades-old construction material, but alarmingly, recent media reports have found asbestos contamination in kids' makeup from popular stores. PIRG decided to do its own asbestos testing at an accredited laboratory.

Report | CALPIRG | Solid Waste

Recharge Repair

A new survey released by CALPIRG shows that interest in additional phone repair options surged as battery issues with iPhones made headlines, and also notes scale of phone waste.

Report | CALPIRG

CALPIRG's 2018 Legislative Agenda

CALPIRG's 2018 Legislative Agenda is focused on protecting public health from toxic chemicals, protecting consumers, clean, efficient energy use, and high-quality, affordable health care. Take a look at some of the legislative proposals we're actively supporting in 2018. We'll be adding to this list as the legislature continues to meet throughout the year.

Report | CALPIRG

2017 Legislative Scorecard

When consumers are cheated, when our public health is threatened, or powerful interests have more say than ordinary people, our job is to stand up for the public interest. We’re funded by tens of thousands of supporters, from across the political spectrum, which allows us to be independent and focus on doing what’s best for the public. This scorecard grades legislators on their votes on a dozen significant legislative bills CALPIRG supported this year.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

Among the toys surveyed this year, we found potential choking hazards, and two products with concentrations of lead exceeding federal standards for children’s products. We also found data-collecting toys that may violate children’s privacy laws. This report not only lists the potentially dangerous toys that we found this year, but also describes why and how the toys could harm children.

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Blog Post | Public Health

Home remodeling shouldn’t be a deadly project: Toxic paint removers being sold by Lowe’s and other stores | Dev Gowda

No one should lose a loved one to deadly chemicals. But right now you can walk into Lowe’s and other stores and buy paint removers containing highly toxic chemicals.

Blog Post | Public Health

Lead-Free Schools: Steps forward in Oakland but more work to do | Emily Rusch

What could be more basic than providing clean, safe drinking water for our kids in schools? On Wednesday night the Oakland Unified School Board meeting voted to approve a new drinking water policy to help identify and remove sources of lead exposure to kids in drinking water fountains.

Blog Post | Transportation

To Build A 21st Century America, Start Here | Jeff Robinson

The stakes in the current infrastructure debate are high. But what matters most is not the size of any federal infrastructure package, nor how it is financed, nor even how many jobs it creates in the coming years. What matters most is building the infrastructure that will enable America to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Blog Post | Solid Waste

Why is it so hard to repair our stuff? | Nathan Proctor

We generate way too much waste, and companies use their power in the marketplace to make things harder to repair. That’s the idea behind “Right to Repair” laws -- they check companies ability to limit repairs and empower us to fix our own stuff.

Blog Post

States Can Give Bees A Safe Place To Exist | Kara Cook-Schultz

Bees are dying at unprecedented rates, with real consequences for our food supply, environment and economy. We're calling on states to take action.

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STAND UP FOR BEES THIS EARTH DAY

Bees pollinate 70 percent of the world’s crops. Protect bees and the health of our planet by telling our governor to ban bee-killing pesticides.

TAKE ACTION
TELL CONGRESS TO STAND UP FOR CONSUMERS

The House is considering a bill that benefits credit bureaus at the expense of average consumers and servicemembers. Tell Congress to oppose it.

TAKE ACTION
STOP THE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS ON FARMS

Antibiotics are often given to animals that aren’t even sick, and are given without a duration limit. Tell Congress: Protect our life-saving medicines.

TAKE ACTION
ASBESTOS FOUND IN CHILDREN’S MAKEUP

Some makeup sold by Claire’s retail stores is contaminated with asbestos. Tell your representatives: Kids’ makeup shouldn’t contain toxic chemicals.

TAKE ACTION

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