After decades of consumer and media criticism of California’s failed bottle deposit return program, Governor Newsom and the California Legislature last year finally passed a substantive reform of the program. They placed the ultimate responsibility for recycling onto...

Consumer Watchdog released a report spotlighting the profiling flaws of algorithms and submitted a letter this week to the state privacy agency outlining how new state regulations can be drawn to stop them. The report, “Unseen Hand: How Automatic...

Our personal data is sold hundreds of times a day and worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but if regulations for a first-in-the-nation privacy law are drawn correctly, consumers will get unprecedented control over their personal information beginning...

Pointing to windfall profits reported by California oil refiners to their investors, Consumer Watchdog issued a report showing that a windfall profits tax is needed to bring California gas prices under control and outlining how to structure the...

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. But a Consumer Watchdog investigation reveals...

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...

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...

Analysis shows California will save up to nearly $18 million by reforming the state’s outdated cap on damages in medical malpractice cases. A study by Consumer Watchdog shows that Medicaid programs in states without a cap on compensation in...

A new report details the privacy problems posed for consumers from connected cars and points to new rules to be developed in California as a potential model across the country, if the rules can withstand lobbying by the...

Recycling fraud is costing Californians hundreds of millions of dollars annually. This report explains the problem and how to fix it. Read the report here.