In an effort to tackle national obesity, the FDA's draft guidelines require any businesses with more than 20 locations to post the calorie information in the same size type as the menu item or price.

Overall, the repayment rates at these for-profit schools was only 36% in fiscal 2009, according to an analysis of the data conducted by the Institute for College Access and Success, a student-advocacy group. By comparison, the repayment rate at private nonprofit schools was 56%, the group found. At public state colleges and universities, the rate was 54%.

"It shouldn't matter if you're buying or renting - the car should be safe," said Rosemary Shahan of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, based in Sacramento. "There should be a uniform standard." The group has approached State Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, to propose a bill to require repairs of rental cars in California if there is a safety recall.

But you have to wonder: How much could it really cost to digitally record some value on the magnetic strip of a piece of plastic? A few taps on the keyboard, a swipe through the machine — that's a few bucks' worth of service?

Wells Fargo garnered more than $1.4 billion in overdraft fees just in California from 2005 to 2007, according to court documents. Nationwide, banks and credit unions collected almost $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

Oropeza wants to expand the credit card ban to include debit fees, which she contends amount to false advertising because they make the purchase price higher than the listed cost. The charges are harmful...in part because many government assistance programs - including veterans' and Social Security benefits - are often paid with debit cards.

The LAO's nonpartisan analysis released last week revealed that Proposition 26 would nullify the "Gas Tax Swap" approved by the legislature in March, and eliminate about one billion dollars annually in anticipated revenues from the general fund for schools and other programs.

It creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with a director appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate and independent rule-making and enforcement authority. Inexplicably, Congress chose to put it in the Federal Reserve; a truly stand-alone agency would have been preferable, particularly in the regulation of mortgage and credit card practices.

The legislators with the most sponsored bills collect the most contributions. Of the 14 legislators in the 2007-08 session who received $20,000 or more from private interest sponsors, 13 carried five or more private interest bills in that session.

Corporate taxes accounted for 15.4 percent of the general revenue collected by California in 1976. By 2014, after the breaks take hold, corporations would account for 9.4 percent of general tax collections, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office says.

...companies such as Google and Facebook may know more details about their personal interests than their families does. That's fine as long as users don't mind. But those who want to protect their privacy should be able to do so — easily.

...California voters rejected Proposition 16, a statewide ballot initiative that PG&E spent $46 million to promote. Outraged at that use of ratepayer revenues, state Sen. Mark Leno...announced legislation that would prohibit PG&E from using ratepayer funds for future political campaigns.

New federal rules, expected to be formally proposed in coming days, would tighten oversight of the industry. One...proposal would cut federal aid to for-profit schools...if graduates spend more than 8 percent of their starting salaries to repay loans.

PG&E and Mercury Insurance were in a contest to see which would stoop the lowest to buy a law through the ballot box. Voters saw through PG&E's $46 million spending spree on Prop 16 and Mercury Insurance's $16 million contribution to Prop 17.

Tesla Motors Inc., bolstered by a $50-million investment from Toyota Motor Corp., will start making electric cars next year at a recently closed plant in Northern California.

A Sacramento bill, SB933 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza, a Long Beach Democrat, would bar the debit card surcharges. It's built on basic fairness: debit plastic should operate with the same rules faced by credit cards.

In California, Jones is pushing a bill that would extend Proposition 103 to health insurers. The proposition was ratified by voters in 1988 and allows the insurance commissioner to review auto and property insurance rates.

The abandonment of the Nummi plant represents a grim departure from the spirit of "The Toyota Way" that transformed the old General Motors facility on 380 acres off Interstate 880 into a highly productive facility with a unionized workforce.

Industry analysts say there is little choice because of excess capacity, but consumer advocates such as Public Citizen and Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog think refiners are just trying to keep the price of gas artificially high by constraining supplies.

It's not too late for Toyota to change its mind...it could help rebuild loyalty among California customers that has been shaken in recent weeks. If...Toyota closes NUMMI, it shouldn't be shocked if fewer Californians show up in its showrooms.

Rosenfield's opposition stems from the "zero-sum" nature of California insurance premium regulations...every discount given to a motorist must be balanced out by a "surcharge" imposed on someone else, according to the Department of Insurance.

Ignoring the 20,000 jobs that will be lost - directly and indirectly - when NUMMI closes, Schwarzenegger instead dwells on his proposals that may or may not create a single job, let alone 20,000.

Scrutiny of California's health insurers intensified Thursday with both Attorney General Jerry Brown and the state Assembly demanding more financial information from the industry.

Under pressure from consumer advocates who say an insurance initiative would raise rates for thousands of state drivers, Attorney General Jerry Brown's office has submitted new language to describe Proposition 17 on the June ballot.

Federal and state lawmakers called Monday for a closer examination of Mercury Insurance Group in the wake of a state report that suggests the firm may have engaged in illegal practices, including deceptive pricing and discrimination against military personnel and people in other occupations.

A high-profile California insurance company that is backing a controversial insurance measure on the June ballot has engaged in practices that may be illegal, including deceptive pricing and discrimination against consumers such as active members of the military and drivers of emergency vehicles...

Senate Bill 885 by state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, would require retailers to give cash back on cards if the remaining balance is less than $20. Corbett's 2007 bill established the current limit of less than $10.

Mercury Insurance's whopping surcharges to motorists who've had a lapse in their coverage in other states is "smoking gun" proof that Californian motorists will face the same hit to their wallets if voters approve a ballot measure underwritten by Mercury...

Bank cards offer consumers the flexibility of shopping at a wider range of retailers, but at the risk of wiping out the value of the card if it's not used quickly...more than a fourth of the people...do not use them within a year.

The University of Phoenix has paid $78.5 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit in Sacramento federal court after two former employees pressed the case - even when the federal government left it to them to go it alone.

The battle over health coverage has taken a new twist in California courts, where accident victims and insurers for those who caused the accidents are squaring off over the amount due for the victims' medical bills - a total that could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

As oil companies continue to reap record profits amid strained state revenues, a pair of Democratic lawmakers are hoping to tap into their deep pockets by installing an oil severance tax that could relieve growing pressures to cut more state services.

"Auto sales and service complaints consistently top the list of consumer complaints to state and local consumer protection agencies, and car-buying scams cost consumers billions in excessive, often hidden charges..."

A bill now on the governor's desk would require dealers to pay off a trade-in within 21 days, and before they resell it. The bill passed the legislature with no problem, but the governor's director of finance...says the bill is not needed, that a restitution fund set up last year is doing the job.

Elimination of the corporation tax would disproportionately benefit out-of-state shareholders and the federal government. Corporations doing business in California put demands on California services.

Just as most ATMs will tell you if you have insufficient funds in your account for a transaction, why can't a similar alert be immediately provided at the cash register when you use your debit card, or when you make a payment online?

Since 2001, Intuit has spent more than $1.7 million to lobby lawmakers. The company's lobbying firm, Lang, O'Malley, Hansen and Miller, is one of the most well-connected firms in the state, and has close ties to Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth.

California is in deep trouble because it has a dysfunctional system of government..."All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote." It would change two words in the Constitution, turning "two-thirds" to "majority" in two places.

A split between Democratic activists and the political pros who run the party may be growing over how to approach the issue that has bedeviled the party for years: the two-thirds vote required to pass taxes and budgets in the Legislature.

The two-thirds rule is not used merely to protect taxpayers from politicians trying to reach deeper into their pockets. It's used by special interests - mainly big business - to game the system; a tool handy for legislative leverage, or extortion.

The Commission on the 21st Century Economy...appears poised today to recommend a massive shift in the cost of financing public services from the wealthy and corporations to middle-income families. The biggest winners would be the state’s millionaires, who would receive personal income tax breaks averaging $109,000 per year.

Opponents of Assembly Member Mary Hayashi’s (D-Hayward) auto insurance industry-sponsored legislation, A.B. 1200, released a set of documents today they claim show the intent of Hayashi's bill is profit for insurers, not consumer information or safety.

Consumer advocates have long maintained that one of the more unfair practices in the business world is a provision in many service contracts preventing customers from joining class-action lawsuits and having to submit instead to binding arbitration to settle disputes.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, has introduced AB1200 to roll back California's consumer protections by allowing your insurance company to pressure you into choosing their shop even after you have selected where you want your vehicle fixed.

Over the past decade, state spending on education is down, while spending on prisons is up. Despite California's maddening two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget or any tax increase, crafting a state budget is still ultimately about choices and values.

CFC's Interim Consumer Scorecard provides a snapshot of lawmakers' votes on several key consumer protection bills. The scorecard includes votes cast before the legislature adjourned for the summer recess.

On Thursday, I introduced legislation to create an oil severance tax of 10% of the gross value of each barrel of oil pumped in California. This will result in approximately $1.5 billion in increased General Fund revenues annually.

California will be in a bad position when it negotiates a new Medicare agreement to determine its share of federal matching dollars: Why should the state be given a break when it has passed up matching funds and generally failed to meet prior obligations to care for the needy?

...a coalition of tax reform and labor groups has filed a proposed ballot initiative for 2010 that would eliminate an estimated $2.5 billion worth of corporate tax breaks that the governor and state lawmakers approved since last September.

California is in the midst of a fiscal meltdown in part because of the Legislature's inability to muster the necessary two-thirds vote to pass a budget. This raises the question in some circles: Why should it have to?

The auto insurer's alter ego, Californians for Fair Auto Insurance Rates, is sponsoring a bill that it says will surely lower our insurance bills...I'm inclined to think the company has something else on its mind, and...giving customers a break isn't it. Forewarned is forearmed: Hang on to your wallets.

...every dollar that Goldman, Morgan and the rest use to inflate oil prices is a dollar they are not investing in real economic activity that could create middle-class jobs.

Senate Democrats are having second thoughts about corporate tax breaks that the Legislature never should have granted this year. Legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slipped in the cuts, which could eventually total $2.5 billion a year, as part of the February budget under heavy lobbying from business groups and without public hearings.

...there is a plethora of tax hikes from which to choose, including: Increasing the top personal income tax rate from 9.3 percent to 10 percent for incomes of more than $250,000 and 11 percent for incomes of more than $500,000...Imposing an oil production tax... • Reassessing all commercial property, thus raising property taxes on nonresidential property.

Californians reject two-thirds of all initiatives...But clunkers still win...Such was the case when voters approved Proposition 64 in 2004, a measure sold as a way to rein in bad lawyers and bogus lawsuits. It was a particularly seductive sales job.

A more permanent, homegrown solution to California's woes would require the state to eliminate the two-thirds threshold for enacting taxes, to repeal Proposition 13's freeze on the value of commercial properties (some of which are still assessed at their 1978 levels)...

President Obama on Monday called for curbing offshore tax havens and corporate tax breaks to collect billions of dollars more from multinational companies and wealthy individuals.

More families request aid, but universities and the government tighten up, jeopardizing enrollment of some students at schools where the cost of a four-year education can reach $200,000.

As voters prepare to ratify or reject the complex budget deals represented in the six propositions -- 1A through F -- on the May 19 ballot, there is one part of the budget deal they don't get to decide on: huge new corporate loopholes.

"As services are cut and every ordinary taxpayer will have to pay more, it is appalling that major multinational corporations get new tax breaks," said Lenny Goldberg, executive director of the...California Tax Reform Association. "Everybody is being asked to sacrifice, except for large corporations, who instead get huge tax cuts."

Sixty-seven California-based banks have received $27.6 billion in federal bailout money under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to U.S. Treasury data analyzed by The Bee.

California opinion leaders who turned out Tuesday at a forum on government reforms said their top priority is getting rid of the Legislature's requirement for a two-thirds vote to approve state budgets and taxes, which has been blamed for record-long budget delays.

The national wave of auto dealership closures has come crashing down on thousands of people who are on the hook for used-car loans that dealers were supposed to absolve.

The bill, SB95, introduced Tuesday by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, would make it more difficult for dealers with shaky finances to sell cars by boosting the bond amount they'd have to pay to operate, and would require dealers to pay off liens on used cars before reselling them.

As the magnitude of California's fiscal crisis deepens, one proposal that has been rejected by lawmakers and voters in the past is getting serious consideration - a tax on oil as it is pumped from the ground.

The U.S. average retail gasoline price fell for the 25th straight week to a level not seen since early 2004...But California's gasoline prices inched higher by nearly half a penny over the week as supplies lagged behind even the weakened demand for fuel.

On Wall Street, lawmakers are talking about how "toxic debt" threatens banks and lending. Out on Main Street, shoppers better start thinking about "toxic" gift cards from companies that could go bankrupt. They won't be worth the plastic they are printed on.

Though faced with a daunting state budget deficit and a global economic crisis, California's voters decided Tuesday to spend billions of dollars on public projects, including a high-speed rail system...

Reports filed last week with the California Secretary of State's office offer further proof that Proposition 10 is nothing more than a shrewd business investment by Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens.

Nearly all $13 million in campaign contributions so far has come from Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who stands to profit from its passage. Pickens is founder of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. of Seal Beach, the nation's largest supplier of natural gas for fleets of vehicles...

Once the Merrill buyout is complete, BofA will rank as the country's largest retail bank, the largest credit card issuer, the largest mortgage provider and the largest retail brokerage.

Proposition 1A...would authorize the sale of $9.95 billion in bonds to help start construction of an 800-mile high-speed rail network that would send electric trains zipping between Northern and Southern California at up to 220 mph.

Working Partnerships USA, an arm of the South Bay Labor Council, is pushing a plan to boost the economic standing of all airport workers, including employees of airline subcontractors.

Consumer spending is starting to play a lesser role in our economy, as households -- even wealthy ones -- downsize their lifestyles.

There was indeed a flight, but they'd been bumped from it. Their assigned seats had been sold to someone else. It's funny how every story of airline misbehavior inevitably arrives at this junction...a passenger must debunk a blatant lie to learn the truth.

The survey provided a snapshot of the challenges that consumers and consumer agencies faced in 2007 and also uncovered some critically important and larger issues that must be addressed, especially as consumers’ wallets get squeezed in the current economic downturn.

The billionaire oilman turned pitchman for alternative energy is the force behind Proposition 10, the initiative on the November ballot that calls for floating $5 billion in bonds to develop alternative energy. As it happens, he'd also profit from it.

...after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could be next?

Passengers are more dissatisfied with airlines' customer service than they have been in years at a time when carriers are charging more and more for tickets and services.

By a 57-17 vote, Assembly sends to Senate a bill that would guarantee food, water, electricity and fresh air for passengers stuck on grounded planes for more than three hours.

The record number of delayed and canceled flights in 2007 can partly be blamed on airlines knowingly scheduling more flights than airports had the capacity to handle, according to a report released Wednesday by the Department of Transportation's inspector general.

A coalition of consumer groups have come up with a detailed policy platform for dealing with a host of unfair credit card practices.

With the opening of another tax season, consumer advocates at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) are warning taxpayers to steer clear of refund anticipation loans (RALs), one of the most avoidable tax-time expenses.