Self-Driving Policy Announced With A Few Possible Loopholes
<p>The U.S. Department of Transportation and NHTSA announced their guidelines for self-driving cars.</p>
Insurance
Feds Outline Plans to Regulate Autonomous Cars
<p>SACRAMENTO—The Obama administration on Tuesday will roll out new policies governing autonomous vehicles that give the federal government a lead role in developing safety, testing and road-ready rules for the fast-growing industry.</p>
<p>The long-awaited policy, outlined broadly by federal officials in a press briefing Monday, includes a voluntary 15-point "safety assessment" for automakers developing and testing driverless cars as well as model state regulations expected to address areas where local agencies will have more discretion, such as liability standards.</p>
Consumer Watchdog Group Claims DWP Dragging Feet On Refunds
<p><strong>LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —</strong> <span class="vm-hook-outer vm-hook-default"><span class="vm-hook" style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0); border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 153, 0);">Consumer</span></span> Watchdog, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, claims ratepayers who overpaid the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power may not get refunds until mid-2017.</p>
Prop. 61 Seeks To Lower Drug Prices, Boost Transparency
<p>Counting on the growing public outrage over the soaring costs of prescription drugs - and bolstered by the recent fury generated by huge price hikes for lifesaving EpiPens - Proposition 61 proponents are gearing up for one of the most highly anticipated ballot measure showdowns this election season.</p>
Your Call: Covered California 2017 Rate Hikes
<p><a href="http://kalw.org/post/your-call-covered-california-2017-rate-hikes#stream/0">Click here to listen to the audio segment of this radio broadcast</a>.</p>
<p>On the September 6th edition of Your Call, we’ll discuss the rising cost of healthcare and health insurance in California. Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, has announced that in 2017, premiums will rise by an average of 13 percent.</p>
Stem Cell Company Paid $443,500 To Former Head Of State Agency That Funds Research
<p>The former president of the $3 billion California stem cell agency received $443,500 in total compensation from the Bay Area stem cell company that appointed him to its board of directors only seven days after he left his state post.</p>
<p>The stock and cash were provided over a two-year period to Alan Trounson by Newark-based StemCells Inc., a firm that was awarded more than $40 million in funding while Trounson headed the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, as the state stem cell agency is formally known.</p>
The Big Corporate Money Behind Jerry Brown
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<p>This November 4 will be the second anniversary of the passage of Proposition 1, Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial water bond, a measure that fishing groups, California Indian Tribes, grassroots conservation groups and environmental justice advocates opposed because they considered it to be a water grab for corporate agribusiness and Big Money interests.</p>
Covered California Premiums Projected To Rise 15.8 Percent In County
<p>In an increase that a watchdog contends could push people to drop health insurance, next year's premiums in the Covered California marketplace are expected to rise an average of 15.8 percent in Ventura County.</p>
<p>The weighted rate increase, which also affects Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, rises above the projected average hike of 13.2 percent across the statewide exchange. It ranks as the third largest increase among 19 Covered California pricing regions.</p>
State Farm Agrees To Cut Rates
<p>State Farm has agreed to reduce the average overall rates it charges California’s wholesale, retail, and service businesses by 4.0% after it was challenged by Consumer Watchdog for proposing rate increases on businesses' liability and property insurance.</p>
<p>The insurer also agreed not to raise the rates paid by professional offices.</p>
California Small Businesses May See Some Insurance Savings
<p style="text-indent:9px; padding-bottom:6px;">California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has approved rate reductions for a number of State Farm commercial policies that he says will bring millions of dollars in premium savings for tens of thousands of small businesses, farm owners, apartment owners, and condo associations across the state.</p>
No Legislative Or Voter Action Prompted By Announced Covered California Rate Increase
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<p>SANTA MONICA – A more than 13 percent increase in health insurance premiums for 2017 announced by <a href="http://www.coveredca.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Covered California</a> hasn't prompted any action from California lawmakers or voters, an industry spokeswoman said during a recent interview.</p>
More Ethics Questions Plague Brown Administration
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<p>On a cloudy Sacramento day in 2001, a low-level aide to then-Gov. Gray Davis secretly met a representative of the Oracle Corp. software company, accepting a $25,000 check for Davis’s re-election fund.</p>