What’s on your wish list this holiday season? For the few dozen members of the House of Representatives Freedom Caucus, the hope to see President-elect Donald Trump undo or revise more than 200 federal rules involving everything from tobacco to food labels to ceiling fans to your constitutional right to bring a lawsuit against your credit card company. [More]
Government Policy
House ‘Freedom Caucus’ Asks Trump To Undo 232 Rules On Net Neutrality, Tobacco, Nursing Homes & Ceiling Fans
By 12.15.16
Labor Dept. Tries To Revive Overtime Rule Derided By Trump’s Pick For Labor Secretary
By 12.15.16
In November, with only days to go before a new federal overtime rule was set to kick in — adding an estimated 4 million American works to the list of those eligible to receive overtime pay — a federal court granted a nationwide injunction blocking the new rule from being enforced. Now Labor Secretary Thomas Perez is appealing that injunction, even though his successor under the incoming Trump administration will almost certainly drop that appeal once in office. [More]
20 States Accuse Teva, Mylan & Other Pharma Companies Of Price-Fixing
By 12.15.16
When the Justice Department announced it was bringing criminal charges against two former executives of a pharmaceuticals company, alleging a conspiracy to fix prices on generic drugs, we said that this was likely just the tip of the legal iceberg. Today, the industry ran smack into that iceberg — in the form of a lawsuit filed by twenty states against six different drug companies, including notables like Teva and Mylan. [More]
California Says Self-Driving Uber Cars In San Francisco “Illegal”
By 12.15.16
Yesterday, Uber announced that it is now offering rides in self-driving vehicles for users in San Francisco — an announcement that apparently came as a surprise to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has advised the ridesharing service that it is breaking the law by operating this autonomous cars without DMV approval. [More]
FCC Chair Tom Wheeler To Step Down When Trump Takes Office
By 12.15.16
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler — the former frontman for both the cable and wireless industries who has recently pushed the Commission into new, controversial areas of regulation that clash with the apparent goals of the incoming Trump administration — has confirmed his plans to step down after the President-elect gets the keys to the Oval Office. [More]
USDA Asks Meat, Dairy Companies To Replace Confusing Expiration & Sell-By Labels With “Best If Used By” Date
By 12.14.16 — Updated: 2.15.17
Though almost every food item you buy at the supermarket has some sort of expiration date — under the headers of “Sell By,” “Use By,” “Use Before,” “Best Before,” among others — printed on the packaging, the truth is date labels are largely voluntary and determined by the food producers. If handled properly, most foods are perfectly safe to eat after whatever date is on the label, but stores and consumers throw away an inordinate amount of food every year simply because that date has passed. In an effort to reduce food waste, the federal government is hoping to encourage meat and dairy producers to all use the same phrase: “Best If Used By.” [More]
Former Pharma Execs Face Felony Charges For Generic Drug Price-Fixing
By 12.14.16
Federal prosecutors have charged both the former CEO and president of a New Jersey pharmaceutical company with illegally conspiring to fix prices on generic drugs, marking the first time the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has prosecuted a case involving generic medications, and could be the first domino in a series of charges still to come against others. [More]
Ashley Madison’s Penalty For Exposing Details On 36 Million Users? About $.04 Per Person
By 12.14.16
In 2015, a major data breach at AshleyMadison.com — the dating site targeted at cheaters — exposed information for some 36 million accounts. The company has now entered into a deal that settles federal and state charges that Ashley Madison: misled users about data security and failed to protect user information; charged users to delete profiles (but didn’t); and used fake profiles to lure in customers. While the settlement has a price tag of $8.75 million, Ashley Madison will actually pay significantly less than that. [More]
Speak Freely America: New Federal Law Outlaws Gag Clauses That Punish You For Negative Reviews
By and 12.14.16
A new federal law will be born today. If it is signed by President Obama, one of his final acts in office will be to enshrine into law one of the core principles on which Consumerist — now in its eleventh year — was founded: That honest consumers have the right to complain. [More]
ConAgra Subsidiary Sentenced For Distributing Contaminated Peanut Butter 10 Years Ago
By 12.13.16
The Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2007 affected peanut butter sold under the Peter Pan and Great Value brands. The company pleaded guilty to criminal charges of the introduction into interstate commerce of adulterated food, and has finally been sentenced. As announced last year, it must pay an $8 million fine and forfeit more than $3 million in assets. [More]
Proposed Safety Rule Would Require Cars Be Able To “Talk” To Each Other
By 12.13.16
The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed a new rule that would mandate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) on all new cars, saying the technology has enormous potential to reduce crashes and possibly save lives. [More]
Pressing Your Phone Camera Against Your Finger Will Not Measure Your Blood Pressure
By 12.12.16
The tiny sensors in our smartphones can do amazing things, but what they cannot do is substitute for a blood pressure cuff. That’s unfortunate, because having your blood pressure measured can be painful and unpleasant. However, one app-maker ran afoul of federal regulators by claiming that your smartphone camera could be used to accurately check your vitals. [More]
FDA Warns 4 Tobacco Makers To Stop Selling Flavored Cigarettes Labeled As Cigars
By 12.12.16
If you want to sell an illegal product, simply slapping on a different label won’t magically make it legal. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration is ordering four tobacco manufacturers to stop selling flavored cigarettes labeled as “little cigars” or “cigars.” [More]
Should You Be Able To Serve Divorce Papers Through Facebook?
By 12.9.16
If you so choose, you can use the internet to avoid virtually all person-to-person contact; sign contracts electronically, transfer funds from account to account, transact business, order dinner and a movie, but can you use Facebook to sidestep the awkward — and sometimes difficult — process of serving divorce papers on your estranged spouse? Not always, says one judge. [More]
Comcast Exec Admits That Net Neutrality Is Not As Scary As Industry Made It Out To Be
By 12.9.16
When the FCC finalized its new “net neutrality” rules in 2015, adding more regulatory control over broadband data services, the cable industry freaked out. Its biggest player, Comcast, claimed at the time that the federal oversight would be counterproductive, ineffective, and unlawful. Fast forward to present day, and one Comcast executive is admitting that these changes haven’t really had any effect on business. [More]
In-Flight Cellphone Calls May Finally Be Ready For Takeoff
By 12.9.16
You know that woman on the mall scream-talking into her cellphone? She could be on your next flight — well, maybe in a few years. After decades of prohibiting airline passengers from yakking away on their cellular devices from 20,000 feet up, federal regulators are mulling the idea of allowing travelers to make cellphone calls while in flight. [More]
Likely Pick For Next FCC Chair Thinks Net Neutrality’s “Days Are Numbered”
By 12.8.16 — Updated: 1.4.17
The FCC has approved a significant number of major pro-consumer rules in the last few years. Most, however, were contentious within the Commission, and passed on a 3-2 margin. One of the two reliable dissenters, commissioner Ajit Pai, is now on deck as the likely inheritor of the Chairman’s seat when President-Elect Donald Trump’s administration comes to power in January — and he’s already hoping to do away with some of the FCC’s recent rules. [More]
Bumble Bee Senior VP Of Sales To Plead Guilty In Tuna Price-Fixing Scheme
By 12.8.16
“Far-reaching price-fixing conspiracy” and “canned tuna” are not concepts that you might normally connect with each other. It turns out, though, that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a multi-year investigation into price-fixing and other wrongdoing in the packaged seafood industry, which is a real thing that is happening. [More]
