Reports

Consumer Watchdog ReportsConsumer Watchdog investigates and reports on industries, corporations and politicians that defy our ethical customs, social mores and rules of law. Our in-depth reports below span decades and take on the most powerful politicians and industries in America.

Latest Reports

At Your Convenience: How California Can Make Refunding Bottle Deposits As Easy As Buying Beverages In The First Place.

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...

Unseen Hand: How Automatic Decision-making Breeds Discrimination and What Can Be Done About It

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...

Privacy Dawn: What’s At Stake With Our Data and How It’s Being Protected

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...

Taxing Oil Refiners’ Profits: How To Get Back What Californians Overpay At the Pump

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...

Pilot Error : How CalRecycle’s New CRV Refund Pilots are Crashing and Burning

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...

Up In Smoke: How Insurance Companies and the Insurance Commissioner Burn Wildfire Victims

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...

Black Gold: The $10 Trillion Dollar Cost of California Oil

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...

Lift The Cap: How Fairly Compensating Injured Patients Will Save Taxpayer Dollars

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...

Connected Cars and the Threat to Your Privacy

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...

Cash For Trash: Recycling Fraud In California

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.

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