by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Zack Kaldveer
Consumer Federation of California

That's right, the final score of this battle over keeping prescription drug records private reads California consumers 1 - drug stores, pharmaceutical companies, and drug marketers 0.

I have posted a lot about SB 1096 in recent weeks, and I'm happy to say that the roller coaster ride is over! My first post on the topic was regarding its initial, and short lived defeat in the Senate. But alas, the bill was not dead...and came back to win Senate approval by a single vote.

It was at that time that the media started to cover the issue, with thanks to such reporters as the San Francisco Chronicle's Elizabeth Fernandez and the Los Angeles Times David Lazarus. The media's scrutiny of the bill's claims, along with the effective and outspoken opposition of groups such as ours (CFC) and Consumer Watchdog, combined with the outpouring of public sentiment AGAINST the legislation that arose in the last week created a kind of legislative "perfect storm". And Thankfully, our lawmakers were listening, as evidenced by its near unanimous defeat in the Assembly Health Committee.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Last week I wrote a post about SB 1096, a bill to allow pharmacies to sell prescription data. Apparently that post got some attention, partially for my rather crass snark, but also for the subject of the bill.  One particular response was noteworthy. I publish the following email with permission of the author; the phone number is for the main line at Calderon's Sacramento office.

Brian,

You should go back to public policy school and learn how to read a bill. You apparently don’t know how to or are too lazy. If you had bothered to do that, rather than taking the word of others who haven’t read the bill either, you’d have known how inaccurate your misinformed little column is. And accuracy should be important, even for bloggers. If you would like to discuss you can reach me at (916) 651-4030.

read more »

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Zack Kaldveer
Consumer Federation of California

The California Senate rejected a bill this week by a vote of 17 to 17 (21 needed to “pass”) that would have allowed the sharing of a patient's confidential medical information regarding prescription drugs among a pharmacy, third party corporations and pharmaceutical companies. The bill was granted a second chance to pass the Senate next week.

The Consumer Federation of California opposed SB 1096 (Calderon) because it raised significant privacy and health care concerns for patients. The bill would have created an exception to California's Medical Information Act, and allow sharing of confidential patient drug prescription information without a patient's consent. The bill's main backer, Adheris Inc., is a subsidiary of inVentiv Health Inc., a drug marketing company.

The California Constitution and the people of our state won a temporary victory Thursday.

If the drug marketing companies had their way, your private medical prescriptions would have become commodities to be traded and sold on the open market for the purpose of increasing corporate profit, not improving public health."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Recipients of awards from the Consumer Federation of California for 2008 from left to right, Senate President pro Tem Elect Darrell Steinberg, California Progress Report publisher Frank D. Russo, former Assemblymember and State Senate candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson, CFC founder and former President of the California Federation of Labor Albin Gruhn with attendant, Assemblymember Mark Leno, and Assembly Judiciary Chair Dave Jones. Not pictured, Senator Alan Lowenthal. Photo by Russell Collins Stiger

By Frank D. Russo

I was deeply honored to receive the Consumer Federation of California’s 2008 Consumer Journalist Award on behalf of the California Progress Report in a ceremony in the basement of the state Capitol cafeteria. Others honored by the CFC, a consumer organization founded in 1960, included a number of my heroes, and the audience of over 100 included many distinguished guests and representatives of organizations I cherish. I joked that over half of the crowd had written articles for the California Progress Report—which in fact was accurate.

What makes this award particularly memorable to me is that the CFC last bestowed this award on former Chronicle consumer reporter David Lazarus, who now writes for the Los Angeles Times. I consider Lazarus a giant in the field of business and consumer reporting.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Despite opposition from the airline industry and the California Chamber of Commerce, the California State Assembly passed AB 1943 (Leno) to protect passengers from lengthy delays on the runways without basic necessities such as clean water, food, access to clean bathrooms, lights and fresh air. Leno’s bill, which was supported by consumer groups including the Coalition for an Airline Passenger's Bill of Rights and the Consumer Federation of California handily flew off of the Assembly floor 57 to 17 with 44 Democrats and 13 Republicans giving it the liftoff. All 17 votes against it were from Republicans. It now lands in the Senate.

Currently, there are no statutory requirements for minimum airline passenger rights. The New York legislature successfully passed passenger rights legislation last year that is currently being fought by the airlines and their lawyers in the courts. The absence of legal protections has allowed for unhealthy conditions for passengers in California and across the nation.