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Media Hit | Public Health

Viewpoints: Legislature must protect public health on antibiotics and livestock

California should be at the forefront of protecting public health by ending the use of antibiotics on animals that are not sick. We applaud the Legislature for tackling the issue this year, but we’re troubled that it is pushing through a bill that will bring little change instead of a measure that would have a real impact.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/18/6564275/viewpoints-legislature-must-pro...

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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.

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Media Hit | Public Health

Overuse of antibiotics on farms (radio interview)

CALPIRG Legislative Advocate Garo Manjikian spoke with Kelli McKay of KVTA about the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

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News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Bill to allow California Voters to Take a Stand Against Big Money in Politics Passes Out of Key Comittee

California Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee passed SB 1272 (Lieu), a bill to put a voter instruction measure on the 2014 ballot that calls for a constitutional amendment of Citizens United vs FEC. 

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Tax

Study: 70% of Fortune 500 Companies Used Tax Havens in 2013

SACRAMENTO – Tax loopholes encouraged more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies – HP, Google, and Apple here in California – to maintain subsidiaries in offshore tax havens as of 2013, according to “Offshore Shell Games,” released today by CALPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice. Collectively, the companies reported booking nearly $2 trillion offshore for tax purposes, with just 30 companies accounting for 62 percent of the total, or $1.2 trillion.

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Media Hit | Public Health

Viewpoints: Legislature must protect public health on antibiotics and livestock

California should be at the forefront of protecting public health by ending the use of antibiotics on animals that are not sick. We applaud the Legislature for tackling the issue this year, but we’re troubled that it is pushing through a bill that will bring little change instead of a measure that would have a real impact.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/18/6564275/viewpoints-legislature-must-pro...

> Keep Reading
Media Hit | Public Health

Overuse of antibiotics on farms (radio interview)

CALPIRG Legislative Advocate Garo Manjikian spoke with Kelli McKay of KVTA about the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Democracy

Bill to allow California Voters to Take a Stand Against Big Money in Politics Passes Out of Key Comittee

California Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee passed SB 1272 (Lieu), a bill to put a voter instruction measure on the 2014 ballot that calls for a constitutional amendment of Citizens United vs FEC. 

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Tax

Study: 70% of Fortune 500 Companies Used Tax Havens in 2013

SACRAMENTO – Tax loopholes encouraged more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies – HP, Google, and Apple here in California – to maintain subsidiaries in offshore tax havens as of 2013, according to “Offshore Shell Games,” released today by CALPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice. Collectively, the companies reported booking nearly $2 trillion offshore for tax purposes, with just 30 companies accounting for 62 percent of the total, or $1.2 trillion.

> Keep Reading
News Release | CALPIRG | Food

Bill to Label GMOs Narrowly Fails on California Senate Floor

SACRAMENTO — A bill that would require the labeling of all foods sold in California containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) narrowly failed on the California Senate floor today, falling just two votes short of the 21 it needed to pass.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 | Health Care

California Health Insurance Rate Review

In its first three years, health insurance rate review in California has saved consumers and small businesses $349 million.

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Report | CALPIRG | Tax

Picking Up the Tab: Average Citizens and Small Businesses Pay the Price for Offshore Tax Havens

New report finds that corporate abuse of offshore tax havens is costing Californians billions of dollars, and individual taxpayers and smal business owners are the ones who end up footing th ebill

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

The Unfriendly Skies

It seems as if every consumer has an airline problem story—how they were trapped on the tarmac, tricked by fees, missed their connection, or lost their bag. What many consumers don’t know is that they have a number of new rights as well as a right to complain, both to the airline and to the government. This report tracks five years of consumer complaints and highlights which airlines received the most complaints and what kinds of complaints were most common.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2014

California received an F when it comes to government spending transparency, according to “Following the Money 2014: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the fifth annual report of its kind by the California Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. 

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Report | CALPIRG | Public Health

CALPIRG Supports State Bill to Limit Use of Antibiotics in Farm Animals

Since they were developed in the 1940s, antibiotics have been one of the most important tools in modern medicine to protect our health.

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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.

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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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  • A GROWING THREAT
    The World Health Organization warns that the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms is contributing to the rise of resistant bacteria and putting our health at risk.
    Find Out More
  • 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
  • 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?
    Get the facts
  • Making Health Care Work
    We're making sure Californians have access to high-quality, affordable health care.
    Learn More

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.

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