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Blog Post | COVID-19

Worried about taxes during the COVID-19 pandemic? Here's something that can help. | Claudia Deeg

In response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the IRS has extended the tax filing deadline to July 15, 2020. If you’ve been impacted by the economic ramifications of the outbreak, you may qualify for free tax filing software.

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News Release | CALPIRG Students | Solid Waste

University of California, Berkeley, leads the way with country’s strongest single-use plastic ban

BERKELEY, Calif. — The University of California, Berkeley has committed to eliminating all non-essential single-use plastic with viable alternatives by 2030. CALPIRG's student chapter on campus played a significant role in advocating for the new policy. 

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | COVID-19

Statement: CALPIRG supports Gov. Newsom’s call for more comprehensive COVID-19 testing

California Gov. Gavin Newsom today laid out key steps necessary for our state to return to something similar to normal life in the future. Step one, he said, toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic is the “ability to monitor and protect our communities through testing, contact tracing, isolating and supporting those who are positive or exposed.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Tips, COVID-19

Consumer complaints of COVID-19 fraud surpass 15,000

Scammers and other bad actors are trying to take advantage of Americans’ heightened fears around the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and fraud complaints are soaring. Consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to the virus surpassed 15,000 Thursday.

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Blog Post | Consumer Tips

The worst possible option for paying your bills | Claudia Deeg

Living in California, I’m currently spending 56% of my income on rent. Most financial advisers say you shouldn’t spend more than 30%. Apparently this qualifies me as “severely cost-burdened,” according to the California Budget & Policy Center.

However, I’m extremely lucky that I’ve kept my job so far since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. When rent was due on April 1st, I could pay it. Sadly, many others couldn’t.

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News Release | U.S. PIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection, Financial Reform

Equifax penalty is a “sweetheart deal” that leaves consumers at risk

Our response to Equifax paying a $650 million penalty for exposing the social security numbers of 148 million Americans to identity theft.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Today Marks Key Deadline for Testing School Drinking Water for Lead

Today, July 1, 2019, is the deadline for schools to test their drinking water for lead under a 2017 law authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez. Unfortunately, more than 1,600 school drinking water fountains tested positive for lead. Additionally, based on the most recent data available, some schools likely missed the deadline for getting their water tested. 

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Transportation

“High Desert Freeway” makes national list of highway boondoggles

“To improve California’s transportation system and hit our climate and clean air goals, we must reduce our reliance on cars and highways,” said Emily Rusch, CALPIRG Education Fund executive director. “This project does the opposite, doubling down on a car-centric system that will encourage more people to hit the roads -- leading to more traffic, sprawl and pollution.”

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News Release | US PIRG | Public Health

Statement: State jury orders Bayer to pay more than $2 billion to couple in Roundup cancer case

A state jury in Oakland decided that the use of Roundup by a California couple for residential landscaping over a 30 year period was a “substantial factor” that led to them developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund | Public Health

Statement: California bans brain-harming pesticide chlorpyrifos

In a major victory for California families,state officials announced this week they will prohibit the use of chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxic pesticide linked to permanent brain damage in young children.Gov. Newsom also announced funding to help farmers transition to safer alternatives. The process is expected to take from six months to two years.

 

With this decision, California becomes the third state to ban chlorpyrifos, following Hawaii and New York. This is also the first time the Golden State canceled the registration of a currently-used pesticide.

 

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Trouble in Toyland

For 30 years, CALPIRG Education Fund has conducted an annual survey of toy safety, which has led to over 150 recalls and other regulatory actions over the years, and has helped educate the public and policymakers on the need for continued action to protect the health and wellbeing of children. Among the toys surveyed this year, we found potential choking and noise hazards, one toy that exceeded federal toxic standards, and three toys that preliminary testing showed may exceed federal toxic standards.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice | Tax

Offshore Shell Games 2015

U.S.-based multinational corporations are allowed to play by a different set of rules than small and domestic businesses or individuals when it comes to the tax code. Rather than paying their full share, many multinational corporations use accounting tricks to pretend for tax purposes that a substantial portion of their profits are generated in offshore tax havens, countries with minimal or no taxes where a company’s presence may be as little as a mailbox. Multinational corporations’ use of tax havens allows them to avoid an estimated $90 billion in federal income taxes each year.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

Mortgages and Mortgage Complaints

"Mortgages and Mortgage Complaints: The CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database Gets Real Results for Victims of Mortgage Problems,” is the latest in a series of reports by the CALPIRG Education Fund that analyze the complaints in the CFPB’s public Consumer Complaints Database.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Consumer Protection

CarMax’s Sales Practices Endanger Lives in California

This report finds that CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, is selling many unsafe, unrepaired, recalled vehicles in California that are hazardous not only to the people who buy CarMax cars, but also to their families, other motorists, bike riders, and pedestrians.

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Report | CALPIRG Education Fund | Transportation

Who Pays For Roads?

Many Americans believe that drivers pay the full cost of the roads they use through gas taxes and other user fees. That has never been true, and it is less true now than at any other point in modern times. Today, general taxes paid by all taxpayers cover nearly as much of the cost of building and maintaining highways as the gas tax and other fees paid by drivers.

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Blog Post | Antibiotics

Delivered Right to KFC's Doorstep | Jason Pfeifle

Over the past few days our staff and volunteers went to KFC restaurants in San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and the San Francisco Bay Area and delivered a petition with over 9,000 signatures from concerned Californians, calling on the Colonel of fried chicken to stop serving meat raised with antibiotic overuse. 

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Blog Post | Consumer Protection

Consumers Count: Five years of the CFPB standing up for consumers | Kathryn Lee

This week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau turns five years old! As part of our efforts to tell more people about the CFPB, we're cross-posting this video blog and comments written by Zixta Q. Martinez of the CFPB (check out the infographic at the end, too!).

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Blog Post | Antibiotics

CALPIRG Celebrates National Fried Chicken Day by Calling on KFC to Save Antibiotics | Jason Pfeifle

Yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day. At CALPIRG, we decided to celebrate by calling on the largest national fried chicken chain to help stop the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

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Blog Post | Transportation

Don’t Believe the Hype – Millennials’ Transportation Habits Are Changing | Sean Doyle

Despite news stories claiming that Millennials are buying up cars at record rates, the reality is quite different. After adjusting previous studies to account for differences in the size of the generations measured, on a per-capita basis, Millennials are 29 percent less likely than members of Generation X to own a car.

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Blog Post | Transportation

All Americans Deserve Clean Air to Breathe, On Earth Day and Every Day | Sean Doyle

U.S. DOT asks if we should measure global warming pollution from transportation.

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Blog Post

20 Questions to Ask Your Nursing Home during COVID

Whether you have a loved one currently in a nursing home or rehabilitation facility, or whether you’re shopping for one, you should arm yourself with a list of questions to gauge how safe the environment is. Here’s a guide to those questions, and the answers you should expect.

Blog Post

California is uncovering secret ingredients in cosmetics

The FDA allows cosmetic companies to hide toxic fragrance ingredients from consumers. But this fall, California passed a landmark bill to change this.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund

35th annual Trouble in Toyland report uncovers mislabeled and dangerous toys

CALPIRG Education Fund’s Trouble in Toyland report has helped identify dangerous toys for 35 years. But 2020 is unique, and as Americans have worked, learned and played from home to protect themselves from COVID-19, children could be more susceptible to certain toy-related hazards.

News Release | CALPIRG Education Fund

California groups urge Whole Foods: Put planet over plastic and eliminate plastic packaging

CALPIRG Education Fund and Environment California Research & Policy Center launched a campaign to call on Whole Foods to eliminate single-use plastic packaging from its stores.

Report | CALPIRG Education Fund

Nursing Home Safety During COVID: PPE Shortages

At any given time, about 1.3 million people with long-term medical issues or short-term rehabilitation needs are residing in the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes. And too many of them are at risk, according to an analysis of government data by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group.

  • COVID-19 CONSUMER TIPS
    Avoid online scams, protect your credit and more. We have assembled a set of consumer tips and guides, and will add more in the days to come.
    OUR TIPS
  • THE FIX IS IN
    Our survey shows that independent shops are struggling to access parts, service information and repair software which is necessary to fix phones — which manufacturers won’t let these independent shops have.
    OUR REPORT
  • FOOD RECALL FAILURE
    Will your supermarket warn you about hazardous food? Our survey grades 26 of the largest grocery stores in the country to determine the efficacy of their policies and practices notifying consumers about food recalls.
    OUR REPORT
  • CHAIN REACTION V
    The overuse of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can cause life-threatening infections in people. Our report ranks restaurant chains on their policies relating to antibiotic use in their beef supply chains.
    SEE THE GRADES

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