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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Food

A Year of Progress

As of 2013, 90% of the corn and 93% of the soy grown in the U.S. are GMO varieties, and by the mid-2000s, 87% of the domestic canola crop was genetically modified. Despite USDA and FDA regulations leaving consumers in the dark, many companies have been responding independantly to the overwhelming consumer support for GMO labeling.

Report | CALPIRG

CALPIRG's 2014 Legislative Priorities

CALPIRG’s mission is to deliver persistent, result-oriented public interest activism that protects consumers, encourages a fair, sustainable economy, and fosters responsive, democratic government. Click to see CALPIRG's current 2014 legislative priorities.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Debt Collectors, Debt Complaints

This is the fifth in a series of reports that review complaints to the CFPB nationally and on a state-by-state level. In this report we explore consumer complaints about debt collection, with the aim of uncovering patterns in the problems consumers are experiencing with debt collectors and documenting the role of the CFPB in helping consumers successfully resolve their complaints.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Comments on the Anthem Blue Cross Proposal to Raise Health Insurance Rates

Anthem Blue Cross has proposed rate increases as high as 24.9% for policyholders in their “grandfathered” health insurance plans that were established before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The rate changes average out to a 16 percent increase for 153,000 policyholders, impacting a total of 238,000 Californians currently covered under the plans. Our review found that Anthem failed to provide adequate justification for this rate increase.

Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Capital One says it can show up at cardholders' homes, workplaces

Los Angeles Times: Emily Rusch, Executive Director of the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, said it's especially troubling for Cap One to declare itself a spoofer as people grapple with recent security breaches involving Target, Neiman Marcus and other businesses.

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Media Hit | Consumer Protection

Capital One says it can show up at cardholders' homes, workplaces

Los Angeles Times: Emily Rusch, Executive Director of the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, said it's especially troubling for Cap One to declare itself a spoofer as people grapple with recent security breaches involving Target, Neiman Marcus and other businesses.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Transportation

New Report: University Campuses Like UC Davis Are Transportation Trailblazers as Students Lead Shift From Driving

Davis, February 5th – As Millennials lead a national shift away from driving, universities like UC Davis are giving students new options for getting around and becoming innovators in transportation policy, according to a new report released today. The report, titled, “A New Course: How Innovative University Programs Are Reducing Driving on Campus and Creating New Models for Transportation Policy,” was released by CALPIRG Education Fund and features UC Davis.

News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

CALPIRG Applauds the Introduction of the Government by the People Act

The Government By the People Act (H.R. 20), introduced today, would allow candidates to run competitive campaigns for office by relying on small dollar donors. Seventeen California representatives are original co-sponsors of the bill.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Tax

California Could Save $246 Million With Simple, Proven Method to Curb Offshore Tax Dodging, New Study Finds

Sacramento, January 30th – California taxpayers could save $246 million from a simple reform to crack down on offshore tax dodging, according to a new report released today by CALPIRG. The reform, which has already been proven effective in Montana and passed in Oregon, would require companies to treat profits booked to notorious tax havens as domestic taxable income.

Media Hit | Health Care

Anthem to raise some premiums as much as 25%

Los Angeles Times: "We are very concerned Anthem proposed a rate hike this high without adequate justification," said Emily Rusch, CALPIRG's director.

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Result | Health Care

New Health Care Marketplace Opens

We helped win real reforms that led to the creation of a new California health care marketplace, Covered California. New health insurance options are now available to small businesses and individuals that could save consumers a lot of money. Consumers are able to make choices based not only on cost, and access to care, but the quality of that care.

Result | Democracy

CALPIRG Helps Register 40,000 New Voters

In 2012, CALPIRG worked with college campuses across the state to ensure that both online and paper voter registration options were made available to students. Through our outreach, we helped to register more than 40,000 young Californians to vote.

Result | Democracy

Legislature Passes Resolution Against Citizens United

More than 50,000 Californians, many of them CALPIRG members, joined our call to put our state on record in opposition to the Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates to a torrent of Super PAC-fueled campaign spending. The California Legislature passed our resolution — joining more than a dozen other states — calling for a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision.

Result | Health Care

Pro-consumer Health Care Reform

CALPIRG’s advocacy helped ensure the health care law will bring down costs by setting up a competitive health insurance marketplace. In 2010, California became the first state in the country to begin setting up our state health insurance exchange.

Result | Health Care

Fighting To Make Health Care Affordable

Thanks to a new CALPIRG-backed law, insurance companies actually have to justify rate hikes to the public, bringing some much-needed accountability. Thanks in part to the new law — and public pressure, including 1,200 public comments from CALPIRG supporters — Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California both backed off of double-digit rate hikes.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Food

A Year of Progress

As of 2013, 90% of the corn and 93% of the soy grown in the U.S. are GMO varieties, and by the mid-2000s, 87% of the domestic canola crop was genetically modified. Despite USDA and FDA regulations leaving consumers in the dark, many companies have been responding independantly to the overwhelming consumer support for GMO labeling.

Report | CALPIRG

CALPIRG's 2014 Legislative Priorities

CALPIRG’s mission is to deliver persistent, result-oriented public interest activism that protects consumers, encourages a fair, sustainable economy, and fosters responsive, democratic government. Click to see CALPIRG's current 2014 legislative priorities.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Debt Collectors, Debt Complaints

This is the fifth in a series of reports that review complaints to the CFPB nationally and on a state-by-state level. In this report we explore consumer complaints about debt collection, with the aim of uncovering patterns in the problems consumers are experiencing with debt collectors and documenting the role of the CFPB in helping consumers successfully resolve their complaints.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Health Care

Comments on the Anthem Blue Cross Proposal to Raise Health Insurance Rates

Anthem Blue Cross has proposed rate increases as high as 24.9% for policyholders in their “grandfathered” health insurance plans that were established before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The rate changes average out to a 16 percent increase for 153,000 policyholders, impacting a total of 238,000 Californians currently covered under the plans. Our review found that Anthem failed to provide adequate justification for this rate increase.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Transportation

A New Course

Universities and colleges across the country are taking steps to encourage their communities, students, faculty and staff to decrease their reliance on personal vehicles. These efforts are working well - saving money for universities, improving the quality of life college in towns, and giving today's students experience in living life without depending on a car.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

FTC Chairwoman Answers Privacy Questions on Reddit | Jon Fox

Maureen Ohlhausen, the newly appointed FTC Commissioner, took questions on a broad range of privacy issues on Reddit, a user-generated interactive news website.

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Blog Post | Budget

California Senate Passes Bill to reform California's Enterprise Zone program | Garo Manjikian

Yesterday the Senate took a major step to reform California Enterprise Zone program by passing AB 93 a bill strongly backed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection, Democracy

Coming together, pushing back | Jon Fox

Observations from the annual National Conference on Media Reform.

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Blog Post | Public Health, Health Care

Supreme Court hears arguments on ‘Pay for Delay’ Case

Big Pharma’s anti-competitive practice costs consumers $3.5 billion a year. The 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act was originally intended to increase the availability of generic drugs by allowing generic manufacturers to challenge the patents of name-brand drugs. What emerged in the aftermath was a practice where patent-holding pharmaceutical companies simply paid generic manufacturers not to challenge their patents, thus delaying the release of generic drugs for years.

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Free Cookies - Strings Attached | Jon Fox

The price consumers pay to access most online content is the tracking of their every click on the World Wide Web by data miners and ad networks. Consumer and privacy advocates are seeking to address such online tracking through Do-Not-Track regulation.

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Why do GMOs matter?

GMOs aren't without risk, but it's usually impossible for consumers to tell if they're in our food. So why are we being kept in the dark?

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Safer Chemicals, Safer California

This accident in Richmond was a stark reminder of the threat of toxic accidents. Tell the EPA: protect our communities from toxic threats.

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Making Health Care Work

We're making sure Californians have access to high-quality, affordable health care.

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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.

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Priority Action

Tell the CEO of Safeway: Stand with consumers and give us the right to know what's in our food. Label your store-brand products that contain GMOs.

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