CALPIRG Blog

Sustaining Public Transit Ridership

By Emily - 05/12/2008 As recent stories in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Contra Costa Times, and other news outlets have indicated, the rise in gas prices has led to a jump in public transit ridership in cities around the country.

Makers of Specialty Drugs Gouge Patients

By mike - 04/18/2008 One drug manufacturer jacked up the price for their product by 1,400%. The reason? Because they could.

Oil Prices Hit Record $105 a Barrel

By Emily - 03/06/2008 As oil prices hit a record high today, CALPIRG Education Fund released a new report quantifying the amount of oil California saves from our existing public transit.

Drug Companies Pay for Doctor "Education"

By mike - 02/26/2008 Drug makers' attempts to promote their products via "educational grants" and paying for continuing medical education seminars are starting to come under scrutiny.

Come to a CALPIRG Community Meeting on Health Care Reform!

By mike - 2/21/2008 The California Public Interest Research Group, CALPIRG, is sponsoring a community meeting on health care reform and prescription drug issues.

The Scissors are Out

By Emily - 02/15/2008 The state legislature is considering major mid-year budget cuts, and transit - once again - is on the chopping block.

There's No Such Thing as Zero-Risk Health Care Reform

By mike - 02/08/2008 The Senate Health Committee’s rejection of California’s comprehensive health care reform bill, ABX1-1, was a triumph for the fear of change and a loss for California.

By Emily - 01/21/2008 Tomorrow, January 22nd, is the deadline for registering to vote in the February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election.

Our "presponse" to the State of the State Address

By Emily - 01/08/2008 In anticipation of Governor Schwarzenegger’s State of the State Address this afternoon, we made our own policy recommendations to the governor on critical issues facing the state of California in 2008.

Health Care Reform Legislation a Framework for Real, Positive Change

By mike - 12/21/2007 The new health care legislation, ABX1-1, is a landmark bill that will catapult California out of the dark ages and towards a nation-leading health care system.

Insurers' Days of Retroactively Dumping Consumers May Be Numbered

By mike - 12/06/2007 Yesterday's L.A. Times reported on encouraging developments in a lawsuit that could bring to an end one of the health insurance industry's most abusive practices.

Petition to EPA Highlights Need for High Speed Rail

By Emily - 12/05/2007 Today’s lawsuit by Attorney General Jerry Brown underlines the importance of reducing harmful pollution from air travel.

Restoring the Public's Right to Know about Toxics

By Emily - 11/29/2007 CALPIRG applauds Attorney General Jerry Brown, who sued the EPA yesterday for restricting public access to local toxic pollution information.

Fiftysomethings Out of Luck When Attempting to Buy Health Insurance on Their Own

By mike - 11/23/2007 An article this week in the San Francisco Chronicle puts a human face on one of the most important pieces of the health care reforms currently in the final stages of negotiation in Sacramento

CALPIRG's Toy Soldiers

By pedro - 11/20/2007 Today CALPIRG staff held nine press conferences from San Diego to Sacramento to highlight the need for the reform of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and to release CALPIRG's 22nd annual toy safety report "Trouble In Toyland".

Google Government

By Emily - 11/15/2007 A new report highlights that California lags behind many other states in making state contracts and subsidies more transparent to the public.

Democrats in Legislature Release New Health Care Reform Proposal

By mike - 11/07/2007 On Tuesday, the leaders of the California legislature released their proposal for health care reform, and while some of the details are still being nailed down, there’s a lot there to like.

Another Unsafe Drug Pulled

By mike - 11/05/2007 An article in today's New York Times about a pharmaceutical company stopping sales of a possibly-dangerous drug highlights the importance of preventing drug companies from hiding safety information.

Affordable Health Care Means Keeping Insurance Companies Honest

By mike - 11/02/2007 Comprehensive health care reform has to give consumers a fair shake when dealing with insurance companies, and access to useful coverage at an affordable price.

product safety reform is on the way

By pedro - 10/31/2007 S. 2045 (Pryor), a bill to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) passed out of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee yesterday. The bill will give the CPSC the tools it needs to effectively protect consumers from dangerous products.

Send a Text Message to the Governor for Health Care Reform

By Emily - 10/30/2007 Tomorrow is a big day for health care reform. For the first time this year, the Legislature is holding a hearing on the governor's health care proposal.

CALPIRG Launches TruthAboutCredit.org Project

By Emily - 10/10/2007 Today CALPIRG's campus chapters officially launched our new "Truth About Credit" project.

New Report on Traffic Congestion Released Yesterday

By Emily - 09/19/2007 A new report released yesterday by the Texas Transportation Institute found that Los Angeles commuters continue to suffer from the worst traffic congestion in the nation.

Those Pesky ATM Fees Keep Going Up

By Emily - 09/14/2007 Last month Bank of America raised its ATM fees for non-customers to $3. Since most customers also pay a fee to their own bank as well for the use of "foreign" ATMs, consumers could pay $5 or more just to take out a twenty.

Congress Sends Student Loan Reform Bill to the President

By Emily - 09/07/2007 Today the House followed the Senate in passing strong student loan reform legislation. PIRG students were active in efforts to pass the bill.

Public Transit is Feeling the Budget Cuts Already

By Emily - 07/26/2007 The California Transportation Commission decided yesterday to postpone more than $800 million in transportation projects.

A Short-sighted Budget from the Assembly

By Emily - 07/20/2007 Raiding needed funds for public transit is foolish and short-sighted, but doing it while also passing $500 million in new corporate tax breaks is inexcusable.

Preparing for 60 Million Californians By 2050

By Emily - 7/10/2007 The Department of Finance released new population estimates yesterday that predicted California's population, currently at just over 37 million people, would grow to 60 million people by 2050.

CALPIRG Bills on Safe Medicine, Affordable Textbooks Pass Out of Key Committees

By Emily - 7/05/2007 SB 832 (Corbett) requires textbook publishers to disclose the price of their products in the marketing materials and on their website so that faculty can make informed decisions about the books they assign to students. Students spend an average of $900 a year on textbooks, and our surveys of professors found that they often cannot find or get the prices of textbooks before they assign them to their students.

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