Insurance

Schwarzenegger’s Homeowners Insurance Tax – Dumb Idea

January 10, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> When I first heard (yesterday) about Schwarzenegger's plan to tax homeowners on their insurance policies as a way to fill some of his massive budget hole, I assumed I was being told about a terrible idea that never got anywhere, "but boy Doug you'll thik it's funny they even considered this." </p>

Gov. plans to seek fire levy;

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div class="postDetail"> <p style="font-size: 11px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Los Angeles Times</span><br/> January 9, 2008 </p> <p style="font-size: 10px"> by Marc Lifsher & Evan Halper, Times Staff Writers </p> ...</div>

Gov. plans to seek fire levy;

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>The 1.25% fee, added to property insurance bills, would boost firefighting and aid overall budget. Critics call it a tax.</h3><p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>As the money came in, the governor could cut existing funds from firefighting agencies and use it to help close a budget gap that his office projects at $14 billion, said one consumer advocate, who asked why the burden would fall on property owners instead of insurance companies. "If the governor wants to fill the budget gap, he should find an honest way to do it," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "He's wrong to target insurance customers, whose premiums are already too high."</p>

Will Mercury Insurance and Insurance Broker lobbyists try to change the rules in order to charge customers more?

January 9, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> For several years Mercury Insurance and lobbyists for insurance brokers have desperately tried to change California's insurance rules governing who is an insurance broker who gets to charge customers an unregulated fee and who is an... </p>

Consumer Watchdog challenging earthquake insurance rate hike by GeoVera

January 8, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

CW attorney Todd Foreman is in San Francisco this week trying to block a proposed earthquake insurance rate hike by GeoVera Insurance.  The company wants to raise rates by about 6 percent.  But when we crunched the numbers, that the...

Text of Proposition 103

January 1, 2008  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<!-- excerpt --> <p> The full text, with amendments, of California's 1988 historic insurance reform law. </p>

Online consumer advocate resolves disputes

December 29, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<div class="postDetail"> <p style="font-size: 11px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Contra Costa Times (California)</span><br/> December 29, 2007 </p> <p style="font-size: 10px"> by Janis Mara STAFF WRITER </p> <h2>Online...</h2> </div>

Online Consumer Advocate Resolves Disputes;

December 29, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

"This is fascinating. It's like having a John Edwards-style tort lawyer at a cut rate for smaller consumer complaints," said Judy Dugan, research director for Santa Monica consumer advocacy group, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

Senator Taps Unions, Firms to Aid Charity

December 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p> Mark Ridley-Thomas has raised $200,000 this year for a nonprofit he founded. The timing troubles watchdogs. </p> <p> As he vies for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas has tapped...</p>

The politics of the health care vote

December 20, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Capitol Weekly</p> <p>Jerry Flanagan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights called the $25 million "slush-fund money to do the work the union should be doing themselves." Flanagan said these amendments were "stuck in at the last moment and hidden in the fine print of the bill."</p>

Do Austrian children play the game Telephone?

December 20, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

Honest disclosure from Governor Schwarzenegger about who has been funding his luxury lifestyle as celebrity governor is long overdue.<br/> <br/> Admissions to the ...

Núñez sweetens deal for unions

December 20, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Los Angeles Times</p> <p>"We were waiting for the payoff to show up," said Jerry Flanagan, healthcare policy director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit that believes the Núñez plan will be too expensive for some consumers. "It's really remarkable, in terms of the express aiming of this money toward two particular unions."</p>