Latest News Releases
CA Attorney General and Leading Consumer Privacy Agency Urged to Prevent “Clear and Present Danger” to Privacy by Clearview AI Facial Recognition Software
Los Angeles, CA - Clearview AI’s facial recognition software “represents a clear and present danger to our societal norms and our privacy,” Consumer Watchdog wrote to the California Attorney General and the California Privacy Protection Agency. Consumer Watchdog called...
Consumer Watchdog Exposes Oil Refiner Disinformation Campaign As Price Gouging Penalty Deliberations Begin At California Energy Commission
Sacramento, CA – Consumer Watchdog released a new video today to counter a disinformation campaign by the state’s oil refiners lobby as it seeks to discredit the price gouging penalty being developed by the California Energy Commission. Consumer Watchdog president Jamie...
New Poll Shows Voters Oppose Insurance Commissioner’s Home Insurance Plan By 2 To 1; Overwhelming Support Requiring Insurers To Cover All Who Fire Proof...
A new poll finds that Insurance Commissioner Lara’s plan to allow insurance companies to increase premiums for all Californians in exchange for a promise to insure homeowners in higher wildfire risk areas is opposed by a 2 to...
CVS Acted With “Deliberate Indifference” When It Implemented An Rx Drug Program That Discriminates Against People Living With HIV
Los Angeles, CA - CVS acted intentionally when it implemented a drug program that discriminates against people living with HIV, according to Consumer Watchdog and Whatley Kallas, LLP in a federal court filing late yesterday.
Download the legal brief here.
The...
Consumer Watchdog Calls on Medical Board to Comply with Consumer Protection Law Ahead of Resurrection of Substance Abusing Physicians Program
Sacramento, CA – Consumer advocates will address the Medical Board of California at a public hearing today to persuade the Board to follow the law and ensure that doctors entering programs for substance abuse face appropriate monitoring by the...
32 California House Representatives Express Concerns About Insurance Commissioner Lara’s “Sustainable Insurance Strategy”
35 Years Ago Today Voters Approved Insurance Reform Proposition 103
Washington, DC – Thirty-two members of California’s Democratic Congressional Delegation wrote a letter to Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara this week expressing concern that a plan he announced in September would...
Consumer Watchdog Warns Governor, Legislative Leaders that Insurance Commissioner Lara’s Deregulation Deal with Insurers Has No Consumer Benefits
Industry and Insurance Commissioner Respond with Attack on Consumer Watchdog
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog wrote Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate pro tem Toni Atkins and Speaker Robert Rivas to warn that the deregulation deal cut by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara...
Valero Posts $2.6 Billion 3rd Q Profit On CA Gasoline Margins 56.5% Greater Than Other Regions; Shows Need For Expedited Price Gouging Penalty, Consumer Watchdog...
*This press release has been updated: Valero posted 3rd Q profit on CA Gasoline Margins that are 56.5% greater than other regions, not 70%. It made 72 cents per gallon on the West Coast, not 78 cents.
Los Angeles, CA—Valero’s...
Records Show Insurance Commissioner’s Deal with Industry to Expand Wildfire Coverage is a Sham
Los Angeles, CA – Documents obtained under the Public Records Act and Prop 103 reveal details of the secret proposal to bail out the insurance industry that Commissioner Lara and insurers unsuccessfully tried to jam through the Legislature during...
John Doe v. California Department of Public Health et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. 20STCV3236
A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit affecting consumers enrolled in two California state-sponsored health care programs for individuals living with HIV. Notice of the Settlement was mailed on June 16, 2023.
The settlement addresses an alleged unauthorized...
Consumer Watchdog Challenges Recidivist Mercury Insurance for Policyholder Price-Gouging, Discrimination and Deception
Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today filed a Petition to Intervene in an enforcement action brought by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) against Mercury Insurance Group for overcharging, misleading and discriminating against California homeowners and motorists.
Read...
Governor Newsom signs AB 1167, the Orphan Well Prevention Act, and vetoes SB 842, bill that would have undermined the price gouging penalty law
Environmental and climate justice groups celebrate a “huge win” to make polluters pay to clean up idle oil wells and to continue holding refiners accountable for price gouging
Sacramento, Calif. — Groups celebrated as Governor Newsom signed a bevy of...
CalGEM Continues 2023 Oil Permit Approvals in Vulnerable Communities, Works Against Legislation Raising Billions in Oil Bonding to Plug Unproductive Wells; Newsom Must Ignore...
Los Angeles, CA—The state’s oil and gas regulator CalGEM has gone rogue, approving hundreds of oil permits this year in vulnerable communities breathing poisonous emissions from both active and idle wells. At the same time, the regulator has...
Patients Win Voice In Medical Board Doctor Discipline
Sacramento, CA – California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation containing reforms long sought by patient advocates that will increase families’ voice in medical board investigations into harm caused by a doctor.SB 815 by Senator Richard Roth will: Require...
California Apartment Association’s Abuse of the Ballot Initiative Process
The integrity of the California voter initiative process is under attack. The California Apartment Association is attempting to add to the ballot an unconstitutional initiative designed to silence a single outspoken proponent of rent control--the AIDS Healthcare Foundation...
Climate Risk Modelers’ Financial Conflicts Should Disqualify Their Use for Insurance Rates in California
Los Angeles, CA – The top two publicly-traded companies selling black box catastrophe models to insurance companies have financial conflicts of interest that should bar their use in California to set rates, Consumer Watchdog will testify at a California...
California Gas Price Gap With US Grows To $1.86 Per Gallon; New State Market Monitor Pins Price Spike On Potential Spot Market Manipulation &...
Los Angeles, CA - As new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows Californians pay $1.86 more per gallon than US drivers for gasoline, the state’s new oil market monitor has issued a letter pointing a finger at refinery outages and potential...
Lara’s Deal with Insurance Industry Does Nothing for Consumers and Does Not Address Climate Change
California Insurance Commissioner Lara’s behind-closed-doors deal will allow the insurance industry to raise home insurance premiums for 8.7 million Californians.
Consumer Watchdog Says Lara’s Undisclosed Deal Will Allow Insurance Companies to Use Algorithms And Reinsurance Costs to Hike Home Insurance Rates, Potentially Turning California...
Sacramento, CA --- Today’s announcement by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara that he would allow insurance companies to use secret algorithms to set rates for homeowners’ coverage for wildfire and to add reinsurance costs to premiums will lead to...
Consumer Watchdog Urges Newsom Not To Call State of Emergency On Insurance And Put Himself and Other 3% of Homeowners Over the 97% Who...
Sacramento, CA -- The leaders of Consumer Watchdog today wrote Governor Newsom to dissuade him from declaring a state of emergency on insurance that would give Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara the power to raise homeowner rates by waiving...
Latest Videos

Spectrum News 1 (San Fernando Valley) - Los Angeles, CA: Fire Insurance Affordability
03:51

KGTV-SD (ABC) - San Diego, CA: Doctor Accused of Putting Hidden Camera In A Hospital Restroom
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KGO(ABC)-San Francisco, CA: Consumer Watchdog and the Insurance Commissioner's Office Are In A Brawl
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KNBC-LA (NBC) - Los Angeles, CAL: CA To Consider New Rules For Property Insurance Pricing
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KPIX-SF (CBS) - San Francisco, CA: Insurance Overhaul
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NBC Nightly News: Climate Change Driving Up Home Insurance
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KCAL-LA - Los Angeles, CA: Insurance for High Risk Areas
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KTLA-LA (CW) - Los Angeles, CA: Insurance Companies Offering Coverage In CA Fire Zones Again
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KXTV-SAC (ABC) - Sacramento, CA: Changes Coming to Home Insurance Market
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