Posts Tagged: consumer

Labeling on children’s products would hurt business

Chilldren at play with assorted toys. (Photo: Iakov Filimonov, Shutterstock)

by MARK FELLIN posted 08.18.2015

Californians are inundated with consumer labels. Some of these labels communicate valuable information, others do not. The sheer number of required labels almost guarantees that most of us will be overwhelmed by the fine print and the labels never read. This week, California policymakers are considering a bill (SB 763) that would add yet another label – this time to children’s products.

Drug-cost disclosure hits obstacle

Pharmaceuticals and money -- elements in the debate over a cost-disclosure bill. (Photo: O.S. Fisher, Shutterstock)

by ALVIN CHEN posted 06.10.2015

An attempt to force drug makers to disclose their costs and profits for drugs that sell wholesale for more than $10,000 annually was derailed in the Legislature, facing strong opposition from an industry targeting similar measures in other states. The forces battling over the bill include some of the most powerful in California.

Privacy getting taken for a ride

A ride-sharing illustration. Photo: PP77LSK, via Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 04.22.2015

It’s as if they can read your mind: Before customers even ask to be picked up, apps let Uber or Lyft know you’ll need them. That’s because personal data housed in smart phones tell ride-sharing companies when and where their customers most frequently need rides. It’s innovated the car-service industry, critics say, at the expense of users’ privacy.

A bare-knuckle brawl in the 7th Senate District

Candidates in the 7th Senate District: Orinda Mayor Steve Glazer and Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. (Photo illustration, separate images combined: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 03.29.2015

Welcome to the 7th Senate District, where money and hardball politics came together in the primary election. The runoff likely will not be much different. Even in a state now accustomed to seven-digit spending in legislative campaigns, the 7th District showdown in May is likely to set records. And powerful interests that weighed in during the primary – organized labor, business interests, the dentists, the doctors and the fire fighters, for example – are all but certain to pony up again.

A failure to ride herd over a major state computer project more than tripled the cost, led to numerous delays and allowed scores of warnings to slip by without being addressed, according to a sharply critical report from the state auditor.

OPINION: The fact that the oil industry is using front groups to battle against clean energy progress is no surprise to anyone who has been working in California or around the west to protect clean air laws. This kind of tactic has been used for decades. It was front and center for voters in 2010 when out-of-state oil companies spent millions to derail AB 32.

In the face of $150 million in opposition spending, two ballot measures to regulate health insurance insurance rates, require drug testing for doctors and ease caps on medical malpractice awards have declined sharply in popular support, according to the final Field Poll of this year’s election.

Doctors’ drug tests: a divisive issue

A surgical team works on a patient. (Photo: AUSaid)

by SIGRID BATHEN posted 10.19.2014

On Oct. 23, 2013, San Diego physician Dr. Scott D. Greer submitted urine and hair samples to an investigator for the Medical Board of California, which oversees physician licensing and discipline. Laboratory tests found the samples to be positive for opiates and oxycodone, but not for alcohol. Nearly one year later, on Sept. 8, Greer was placed on probation for seven years by the board. His license was suspended for 30 days, effective Oct. 24

Prop. 45: Dems split over regulating health care rates

Two aspects of health care: A claim form and money,. (Photo: Zimmytws via Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 10.13.2014

A high-stakes ballot measure going before voters Nov. 4 has divided California Democrats, with the state party and some of its most prominent politicians on opposite sides. The initiative, Proposition 45, would empower the state’s elected insurance commissioner to approve health insurance rates.

Led by medical insurers, opponents of two November ballot initiatives aimed at regulating insurance rates, raising the limits on pain-and-suffering awards and requiring doctors to be drug tested have raised nearly $92 million from their largest donors, according to figures compiled by the state’s political watchdog.