Los Angeles, CA -- As a two-day comment period begins today over new privacy regulations, Consumer Watchdog is highlighting stringent rules for personal data use as well as red flags to be addressed if Californians wish to maximize control over their personal information.  
 

Los Angeles, CA -- With two weeks left in the legislative session, Consumer Watchdog today urged Governor Newsom to reform a hopelessly shattered bottle deposit system via a budget trailer bill as the group unveiled the top 10 signs of the system’s collapse.
 

California lawmakers enacted the nation’s strongest online privacy law in 2018 with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and voters strengthened that law’s protections at the ballot in 2020 with the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

Sacramento, CA – Senator Anthony Portantino’s Senate Appropriations Committee killed good government legislation today using one of the Legislature’s most undemocratic tactics, the “suspense file,” which legislative leadership uses to bury bills without public debate or a vote.

Los Angeles, CA— A review of California’s five big oil refiners’ investor reports from the second quarter shows unprecedented, windfall profits that top $1 per gallon.  
 

Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara should reject GEICO’s proposed $268 million auto insurance rate hike and its job- and education-based discriminatory rating system, wrote Consumer Watchdog in a petition filed with the California

Los Angeles -- CSAA – the northern California Auto Club affiliate – overcharged its customers by at least $150 million for auto insurance during the pandemic, and they’re going to court to get their money back.

Late Friday a federal court in San Francisco allowed a case against subsidiaries of CVS Health Corporation brought by HIV-positive “John Doe” plaintiffs to proceed, denying CVS’s motion to dismiss the case.

By Tom Elias, VENTURA COUNTY STAR

August 2, 2022

Los Angeles, CA - Today’s revelation by the California Department of Insurance(CDI) that Mercury Insurance Company has engaged in massive violations of Proposition

Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara should reject the Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club’s (“Auto Club”) proposed $202 million auto insurance rate hike and its job- and education-based discriminatory rating

Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court called on the California Assembly Select Committee on Gasoline Supply and Pricing to look to the recent extreme profit taking by California’s consolidated oil refiners and consider the strongest possible responses, including taking back e

Los Angeles, CA – Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara should reject Mercury Insurance Company’s proposed $131 million auto insurance rate hike and its job- and education-based discriminatory rating system under which working-class Californians pay up to 20% higher premiums, wrote Consumer Watchdo

Los Angeles, CA — CalRecycle is banking on pilot programs around the state, including “mobile” return pilots, to make it easier for consumers to get California Redemption Value (CRV) refunds as the bottle deposit system crumbles.

Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog filed its Opening Brief in a California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) lawsuit against Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the Department of Insurance.  The CPRA suit alleges that Lara and the Department of Insurance failed to search for and produce records r

Los Angeles, CA — State approvals for permits to fix or deepen existing oil wells skyrocketed in the second quarter by 124% over the same time last year, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance said today.  Some of the permit approvals by the California Geologic Energy Management Division (Cal

Los Angeles, CA -- A Consumer Watchdog examination of public filings reveals that insurance companies have inserted provisions into the fine print of their home, condo and renters’ insurance policies that allow them to limit or deny coverage after a wildfire in violation of California la

Los Angeles, CA - A bill requiring oil refiners to disclose their per gallon profits monthly passed out of the California Assembly Natural Resources Committee by a vote of 8 - 3. The legislation has already passed out of the California Senate by a vote of 22 - 4.

Monday, in the Natural Resources Committee, California Assembly Members will have the opportunity to answer the top question on their constituents' minds: why is the price of California gasoline so high and how much are oil refiners making off every gallon of gasoline?

Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog filed a “friend of the court” brief urging the California Supreme Court to reaffirm the ability of non-profit organizations and other groups to bring lawsuits on behalf of the public under California’s land

Los Angeles, CA - Today, the California State Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill 11-0 that would require agencies to retain all public records for a minimum of two years.

Los Angeles, CA—The true cost to the public of California’s oil and gas production and combustion is estimated to reach $10 trillion by 2045, a new report released today by Consumer Watchdog finds.  Californians will be paying more than $400 billion annually in public costs caused by fossil fuels

Los Angeles, CA -- Seven insurance companies have contributed $122,500 to the LGBTQ Caucus, which in turn spent the money on an independent expenditure campaign to re-elect Ricardo Lara as insurance commissioner without disclosing the source of the donations.
 

Los Angeles, CA - Today, the California State Assembly passed a bill 65-0 that would close a loophole in state law that allowed Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to influence decision-making at the Department of Insurance without registering as a lobbyist.  On Monday, the Assembly voted 73-0 t

Los Angeles, CA - A bill requiring oil refiners to disclose their per gallon profits monthly passed out of the California Senate by a vote of 22 to 4 and will now be heard in the California Assembly.

VIDEO AVAILABLE: HD Video of Medical Malpractice Survivors’ Press Conference Commenting on Bill Available Here: https://youtu.be/sC6Gz0onikA

Los Angeles, CA - The Department of Insurance has engaged in a “pattern and practice of obstructing access to public records,” according to Consumer Watchdog.  
 

The era of more online privacy is approaching, and California is a pioneer. This is our first Truth in Privacy dispatch.

Photo: Steven and Scott Olsen, whose tragic story inspired today’s medical malpractice reform.

Los Angeles, CA -- The latest investor profits reports show that California oil refiners are making unprecedented profits from refining oil into gasoline in the first quarter of 2022.