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On Government Transparency There is Common Ground
By pedro - 2009-08-04 This op-ed by CALPIRG and the Howard Jarvis Tax Payers Association was in today’s Sacramento Bee. This is particularly interesting because HJTA is a pretty far right anti-tax group that doesn’t usually agree with us on policy. Government transparency is one place where we can come together.

CALPIRG vs. Big Banks
By Emily - 2009-07-16 A report from Washington on the hearings for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Mortgage Reform Moving Right Along
By pedro - 2009-07-14 Key mortgage reforms passed their second policy committee today in the state senate. Their next stop is senate appropriations committee.

Hat trick For Mortgage Reform
By pedro - 2009-07-09 Consumers scored a hatrick today in the Senate Banking committee. 3 bills that will curb some of the most egregious abuses in the lending industry passed this committee, which was considered one of their biggest hurdles.

Californians Stuck Behind the Wheel
By Emily - 2009-07-08 The Texas Transportation Institute released a new study on traffic congestion that quantifies the wasted time, fuel, and money as a result of stop-and-go commutes in California. The silver lining? It would be worse, much worse, without public transportation options. Too bad California is cutting back on service.

Consumers May Get a Seat at the Financial Regulatory Table
By pedro - 2009-06-17 President Obama has proposed a credit safety agency for consumers. The agency would have broad powers to ensure that credit and payment products do not have predatory or deceptive features that can harm consumers or lock them into unaffordable loans.

Google Government
By pedro - 2009-06-10 I thought that since all eyes are on the budget right now an update on the happenings around budget transparency would be appropriate.

SEC Calls Countrywide Chiefs, Crooks
By pedro - 2009-06-05 The SEC announced that they will be filing civil charges against Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo and several other company executives.

What's Wrong With the Public Health Insurance Option?
By mike - 2009-06-04 According to opposition, the problem is that it'll be too good. Or terrible. Or both?

The Knives are Starting to Come Out
By mike - 2009-05-21 With health care legislation soon to be introduced in Congress, the opposition is getting ready to attack.

Credit Card Bill Passes Senate
By Emily - 2009-05-19 The Credit CARD Act passed out of the Senate with overwhelming support today. Our Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski notes, "I’ve been in Washington twenty years. For the first 19 we couldn’t even get a committee vote on credit card reform despite these [anti-consumer] practices."

Big Pharma and Big Insurance as Cost-Cutting Champions?
By mike - 2009-05-11 The special interests are moving aggressively to reduce our health care costs -- or so they say

Tough Times, Tough Choices
By Emily - 2009-05-07 This week CALPIRG endorsed Prop 1A on the May 19th ballot to enact a stronger rainy day fund for California. Read more about why.

Bringing Together Transportation Allies
By Emily - 2009-04-29 Join Congressman Xavier Becerra, Judge Quentin Kopp of the High-Speed Rail Authority, Assemblymembers Mike Eng and Bob Blumenfield, Councilmember Jan Perry, new LA MTA head Art Leahy and many others at CALPIRG's conference this Friday: 21st Century Transportation for Los Angeles.

Does Health Care Need an X-Prize?
By mike - 2009-04-20 Is health care really that much harder than space flight?

Californians Don't Get a Tax Haven, Why Should AIG?
By Emily - 2009-04-15 On Tax Day, isn't it maddening to know that some corporations pay little to no taxes? In fact, as our new report points out, corporations hide up to $100 billion in taxes very year in offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

We want rail!
By Emily - 2009-04-07 A new survey released this week found more than half of Americans (54 percent) would choose modern high-speed trains over automobile (33 percent) and air travel (13 percent) if fares and travel time were about the same. Any day now we expect the Obama Administration to come out with their guidelines for the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds dedicated to inter-city trains.

Mortgage Reform From the Capitol
By pedro - 2009-03-30 Last week the most comprehensive mortgage reform bill introduced this year in the legislature passed its first committee.

Doing the Right Thing Last
By mike - 2009-03-25 The health insurers' trade group has finally said they're willing to accept a health care reform that stops them from discriminating against the sick.

President Clinton Gets It Right
By mike - 2009-03-13 It's been a busy few weeks in the health care world, but it's former President Clinton who had one of the most interesting takes on reform.

Paying for Change
By mike - 2009-02-27 This week, President Obama took the first steps in his effort to reform the country's health care system.

Realtors' Poll Highlights Public Support for Transit and Smart Growth
By Emily - 2009-02-26 A poll just released by the National Association of Realtors and Transportation for America found that when it comes to the top priorities for federal transportation funding, 47 percent of those polled preferred improving public transportation, 25 percent chose building communities that encourage people not to drive, and 20 percent preferred building new roads.

Repair transportation or fuel congestion?
By erin - 2009-02-03 The House officially passed H.R. 1, the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act last Wednesday. Now the transportation ball is in the Senate’s court.

Fighting to Keep Health Care Unaffordable
By mike - 2009-02-13 Special interests will spend millions to keep the rest of us paying billions

California gets an "A"! (It's not the good kind)
By pedro - 2009-02-05 The foreclosure crisis takes California's economy to a new low.

View From the Other Side
By mike - 2009-01-28 CALPIRG Health Care Advocate Mike Russo reports from the inside of a drug industry conference.

Billions for Roads?
By Emily - 2009-01-26 Last week the House of Representatives introduced an economic recovery package that marked 75 percent of transportation funding to roads, and only 25 percent to public transportation projects. What an old, out-dated way of funding transportation.

Legislators Need To Open Their Eyes To Public Transit
By kevin - 2009-01-22 CALPIRG fellow Kevin Powers critiques the way legislators have overlooked the benefits of public transit funding.

For Drug Company, $1.4 Billion is Just the Cost of Doing Business
By mike - 2009-01-15 Drug giant Eli Lilly is in the final stages of negotiating a settlement in a case alleging that it marketed Zyprexa, an antipsychotic drug, for purposes that the FDA never approved.

President-Elect Barack Obama on High-Speed Rail
By Emily - 2008-11-05 We couldn't be more thrilled that California voters committed to high-speed rail by passing Prop 1A. Although there's still a long road ahead to getting the train on tracks, I'd be a lot more nervous if we didn't have such strong support from state and national leaders. Here's what President-Elect Barack Obama, Vice-President Elect Joseph Biden, and other California leaders have said about high-speed rail.

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