By Daily Press staff
Have you ever wanted to see the voting records of the California Legislature? Now’s your chance to find out.
CALPIRG, a consumer advocacy group, has released its scorecard for the 120 members of the California legislature Twelve senators and 28 assemblymembers scored 100 percent for the 2005 session, according to CALPIRG’s grading system for consumer-friendly laws. The average score in the Senate was 64 percent and the average assembly score was 62 percent.
“We applaud the 40 consumer champions for their perfect scores,” said Steve Blackledge, legislative director for CALPIRG. “They put the interests of consumers over special interests, whether the issue was safe medicine or stopping auto loan rip-offs and their constituents need to know that they were well represented on consumer issues in 2005.”
The scorecards enable California voters to learn more about their elected officials’ voting records, giving them the information needed to praise or criticize.
Several important new consumer protections were signed into law last year. The laws will protect consumers shopping for new cars, prevent life-threatening fires caused by smoldering cigarettes, require disclosure of instant tax refund fees and require greater disclosure of hospital costs to help consumers find affordable health care. In addition, a resolution was passed that calls for tight conflict of interest rules to ensure the state’s multi-billion dollar stem cell research fund is spent wisely.
“CALPIRG thanks Assembly Speaker Núñez, Majority Leader Frommer and Assemblymembers Koretz, Montañez, and Negrete McLeod for authoring these important consumer protections,” Blackledge said.
The Legislature also passed several other consumer bills last year that were vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The list of vetoed legislation includes proposals to improve the state’s drug buying pool to access affordable medicine for more Californians; create a Web site for consumers to find affordable medicine options; regulate drug company middlemen, prevent unnecessary gag orders in court settlements that silence consumer complaints and streamline the process for students applying for financial aid.
There are still many consumer protections that have not yet become law because they still need to pass one or both of the Legislative houses. CALPIRG will continue to work to pass those laws in the coming year.
“We’re ready and excited to work with legislators and the Governor in the coming year to enact legislation to prevent another Vioxx-like scandal and ensure safe medicine for all Californians, to protect homeowners from insurance policies that penalize them for filing claims and to pass a state budget that reflects the priorities of ordinary citizens,” Blackledge said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 26, 2006. Read the original PDF.