Home

What's New

News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Study Shows Big Donors Dominated Competitive 2014 Congressional Races

CALPIRG released new information documenting the dominance of big donors in the 2014 midterm elections, and looked ahead to see how proposed reforms could impact fundraising in the 2016 California Senate race. 

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG | Democracy

The Cost of Running for US Senate in California

A comparison of fundraising practices for a U.S. Senate seat in California under current law and how fundraising could change if the Fair Elections Now Act became law.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG | Democracy

The Money Chase: Moving from Big Donor Dominance in the 2014 Midterms to a Small Donor Democracy

Five years after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, what are the roles of large donors and average voters in selecting and supporting candidates for Congress? This report examines the role of money in the 2014 congressional elections from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, and demonstrates how matching small political contributions with limited public funds can change the campaign landscape for grassroots candidates.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Financial Reform

House Floor Vote on Budget Delayed over Special Interest "Riders" From Wall Street, Other Powerful Interests | Ed Mierzwinski

UPDATED: Opposition to a controversial provision authored by Citibank forced House leaders to delay consideration of the "CRomnibus" appropriations package just hours before funding for the federal government expired at midnight Thursday. Eventually the bill passed narrowly with the Wall Street provision intact. Action now shifts to the Senate, which has a 48-hour window to pass the bill, but any one Senator can block it under Senate rules. The provision would again allow Wall Street banks to place risky bets with taxpayer-backed funds, and require taxpayers to bail them out if the bets fail, repealing a key protection added in the 2010 Wall Street reform law. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Supreme Court decision added $24.8 million in additional campaign spending by mega-donors

A small cadre of megadonors were the only ones to benefit from the Supreme Court's continued wrongheaded approach to protecting "free speech" in their McCutecheon v. FEC decision, from earlier this year. CALPIRG found that 510 large donors surpassed the $123,200 aggregate limit on giving to federal candidates that McCutcheon struck down, leading to an additional $24.8 million in big donor spending nationally. 

> Keep Reading

Pages

News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Study Shows Big Donors Dominated Competitive 2014 Congressional Races

CALPIRG released new information documenting the dominance of big donors in the 2014 midterm elections, and looked ahead to see how proposed reforms could impact fundraising in the 2016 California Senate race. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Supreme Court decision added $24.8 million in additional campaign spending by mega-donors

A small cadre of megadonors were the only ones to benefit from the Supreme Court's continued wrongheaded approach to protecting "free speech" in their McCutecheon v. FEC decision, from earlier this year. CALPIRG found that 510 large donors surpassed the $123,200 aggregate limit on giving to federal candidates that McCutcheon struck down, leading to an additional $24.8 million in big donor spending nationally. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Supreme Court decision added $24.8 million in additional campaign spending by mega-donors

A small cadre of megadonors were the only ones to benefit from the Supreme Court's continued wrongheaded approach to protecting "free speech" in their McCutecheon v. FEC decision, from earlier this year. CALPIRG found that 510 large donors surpassed the $123,200 aggregate limit on giving to federal candidates that McCutcheon struck down, leading to an additional $24.8 million in big donor spending nationally. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Survey Finds Dangerous Toys on Store Shelves

For 29 years, the CALPIRG Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children, and provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

SuperPACs and Mega-donors dominate Congressional elections

In California’s just-concluded congressional elections, bigger wallets gave mega-donors an outsized voice, according to new information released today by CALPIRG and Demos.

> Keep Reading

Pages

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.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Report | CALPIRG | Democracy

The Cost of Running for US Senate in California

A comparison of fundraising practices for a U.S. Senate seat in California under current law and how fundraising could change if the Fair Elections Now Act became law.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG | Democracy

The Money Chase: Moving from Big Donor Dominance in the 2014 Midterms to a Small Donor Democracy

Five years after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision, what are the roles of large donors and average voters in selecting and supporting candidates for Congress? This report examines the role of money in the 2014 congressional elections from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, and demonstrates how matching small political contributions with limited public funds can change the campaign landscape for grassroots candidates.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland 2014

Among the toys surveyed this year, we found numerous choking hazards and five toys with concentrations of toxics exceeding federal standards. In addition to reporting on potentially hazardous products found in stores in 2014, this installment of the report describes the potential hazards in toys and children’s products.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG Education Fund and Demos | Democracy

The Dominance of Big Money in the 2014 Congressional Elections

In 2014, large donors accounted for the vast majority of all individual federal election contributions this cycle, just as they have in previous elections. Seven of every 10 individual contribution dollars to the federal candidates, parties, PACs and Super PACs that were active in the 2013-2014 election cycle came from donors who gave $200 or more. Candidates alone got 84 percent of their individual contributions from large donors.

> Keep Reading
Report | CALPIRG and Consumers Union | Public Health

Prescription For Change

Our September 2014 survey of physicians paints a grim picture of the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant infections. The overwhelming majority of surveyed doctors reported that one or more of their patients had been diagnosed with a presumed or confirmed case of a multi-drug resistant bacterial infection in the past twelve months. They also expressed concern about the use of antibiotics in livestock production facilities on healthy animals in order to promote growth and prevent disease.

> Keep Reading

Pages

Blog Post | Financial Reform

House Floor Vote on Budget Delayed over Special Interest "Riders" From Wall Street, Other Powerful Interests | Ed Mierzwinski

UPDATED: Opposition to a controversial provision authored by Citibank forced House leaders to delay consideration of the "CRomnibus" appropriations package just hours before funding for the federal government expired at midnight Thursday. Eventually the bill passed narrowly with the Wall Street provision intact. Action now shifts to the Senate, which has a 48-hour window to pass the bill, but any one Senator can block it under Senate rules. The provision would again allow Wall Street banks to place risky bets with taxpayer-backed funds, and require taxpayers to bail them out if the bets fail, repealing a key protection added in the 2010 Wall Street reform law. 

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

We oppose merger between giants Comcast & Time Warner Cable | Ed Mierzwinski

Along with a number of state PIRGs, we have joined the Consumer Federation of America in a petition to deny the merger of cable/Internet giants Comcast & Time Warner Cable. The petition argues that the FCC must deny the merger, which would perpetuate unrestrained cable price increases, allow terrible service to deteriorate further and stifle innovation.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Consumer Protection

The CFPB at Three: A Child Prodigy | Ed Mierzwinski

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) turned just three years old Monday, July 21st, but when you look at its massive and compelling body of work, you must wonder: Are watchdog years like plain old dog years? Is the CFPB now a full-sized, 21-year-old adult? The answer is no, not yet. The CFPB is still growing and developing and adding programs and projects. The CFPB is, however, at three years old, certainly a child prodigy. Despite overwhelming public support, however, powerful special interests continue to attack it. Yet, the idea of the CFPB needs no defense, only more defenders.

> Keep Reading
Blog Post | Public Health

World health Organization releases report on spread of antibiotic resistance | Garo Manjikian

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its first-ever report on the spread of antibiotic resistance around the world. Their findings sound the alarm for aggressive action to stop the misuse of antibiotics in order to preserve their effectiveness for years to come.

> Keep Reading
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.

> Keep Reading

Pages

  • 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."
    Add your voice
  • Far from antibiotic-free
    Over 93% of doctors are concerned that antibiotic overuse threatens our health. Yet every day factory farms put antibiotics into millions of healthy animals. Why?
    Get The Facts
  • Stop the Highway Boondoggles
    Americans are finding alternative ways to get around, but our transportation priorities are stuck in the past. Our research has found 11 projects that should be sent back to the drawing board.
    Read the report

Priority Action

The overuse of antibiotics on factory farms is threatening the effectiveness of lifesaving antibiotics. Call on the state Legislature to ban the mass distribution of antibiotics to livestock.

Take Action

Support Us

Your donation supports CALPIRG’s work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.

donate today

Consumer Alerts

Join our network and stay up to date on our campaigns, get important consumer updates and take action on critical issues.
Optional Member Code