Craig Neilson: Consumers

Deficient Bridges

Thu, 10 Jul 2003 17:32:18 GMT

Each year, the Federal Highway Administration produces a report on deficient bridges across the country - bridges that do not meet a rather complicated series of criteria.FHWA Bridge Programs Deficient Bridges by State and Highway System
In 2002, Utah had a total of 2781 bridges. Of these, 546 were labeled deficient.

Feds to Lift Natural Gas Drilling Restrictions?

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 20:31:35 GMT

Industry lobbyists have urged Congress to lift natural gas drilling restrictions on federal lands in Utah and elsewhere due to shrinking supplies and rising prices. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified today before a Congressional Committee that the natural gas shortage is creating problems for the economy. Environmentalists say there are other ways to deal with the shortage, including better management of consumption.
[Washington Post]

Utah Medicine and Medicare

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 19:35:50 GMT

The organization Public Citizen will hold a news conference tomorrow to discuss a new study showiing that most Medicare doctors in Utah do not participate with the private managed care plans that are envisioned in the Bush Administration's Medicare reform proposal.
Meanwhile a look at the Public Citizen website has some interesting information about Utah doctors. The Public Citizen site compiles information on disciplined doctors and reveals these facts:
Utah ranks 10th in the nation in number of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 MDs in 2001.
Utah's access to disciplinary information was rated B for content and C for user-friendliness.
The largest single offense for which doctors were disciplined from 1992 to 2001 was disciplinary action by another state or agency (24%) and overprescribing or misprescribing drugs (11%).
[Public Citizen / Questionable Doctors]
[Utah Disciplinary Actions]

Halliburton, Asbestos

Wed, 21 May 2003 15:42:31 GMT

Texas corporate giant Halliburton, recently awarded a no-bid contract to do reconstruction work on postwar Iraq is also being watched carefully by investors because of the impending settlement and limits to asbestos litigation, a problem dogging its subsidiary, Dresser Industries. Sen. Orrin Hatch is prepared to introduce legislation in Congress calling for the creation of a universal asbestos trust fund of $108 billion dollars, to be financed by insurers and companies facing asbestos claims, that would be the sole source for future liability claims. The bill would move thousands of pending asbestos-related claims out of state courts and into a five-judge federal court. The AFL-CIO has denounced the proposal as a corporate bailout.
[Business Week]

Utah Spam Law spawning host of class action lawsuits,

Tue, 06 May 2003 16:30:14 GMT

According to E-mail Marketing Association General Counsel Steven Richter, Utah's anti-spam law has resulted in nearly 1600 class action lawsuits. Richter says Half the plaintiffs are employees or family of the law firms. utah might have to call a special legislative session to repeal the law.
[Class Action against Sprint]
[Utah Code 13-36-103]

Utah leads Goldman Sachs investigation

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:40:11 GMT

Utah securities regulators have proven pivotal in the investigation into conflict of interest by a number of companies, including Goldman, Sachs. The company is accused of compromising investment advice by skewing it in favor of investment banks.
[Division of Securities]

Pentagon pushes exemption from environmental laws

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:37:23 GMT

The Pentagon has urged congressional exemption to Clean Air Act and Endangered Species Act restrictions in a blanket fashion, rather than case by case. The Department of Defense is asking Congress to use the current DOD reauthorizaion bill to restrict the reach of these laws. Former House Resources Committee chair James Hansen last year waived his committee's jurisdictional claims. A group of State Attorneys General, including Utah, have expressed concern that these exemption would likely affect cleanups of unexploded ornance at thousands of sites nationwide.
[The Hill]

Freddie Mac, Bob Bennett announce low-cost housing opportunity

Wed, 23 Apr 2003 17:19:08 GMT

Freddie Mac issued a press release yesterday announcing a new effort to make it easier for the Hispanic population of Utah to own homes. Sen. Robert Bennett, Far West Bank, and the Community Development Corporation of Utah joined in the announcement. The program includes aggressive outreach and borrower education along with homeownership initiatives from Salt Lake City and flexible lending from Far West Bank. Freddie Mac has agreed to purchase the mortages.
[Community Development Corporation of Utah]

Public Service Commission to be elected?

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 16:28:57 GMT

This year the State Legislature passed a resolution calling for a study of whether the Public Service Commission should be an elected body. Last Wednesday, the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee met to discuss the issue. Opponents said that the plan would politicize the process. Supporters that election would ensure there was public discussion of utility regulation policy every two years. Thirty Seven states have appointed commissioners, 13 have elected members. Opponents feared election would inject utility money into PSC campaigns. Supporters cited a recent poll showing 3/4 of voters favored changing to an elected body. Full hearings will follow this fall with a final report due by year's end.
[Utah Legislature Website]
[Salt Lake Tribune]

States, including Utah, turning to taxes on Satellite Dishes

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 16:05:37 GMT

Utah has instituted taxes on cable and DBS (Digital Broadcast Satellites). A number of other states are looking at such options, and, according to a DBS group, cable companies are lobbying strongly for taxes on satellite dishes. Cable companies says that exempting cable from sales taxation is fair because cable customers already pay franchise taxes. DBS providers do not, but do pay spectrum allocation fees to the FCC. Twenty-three states currently tax one or both.
Utah faced lobbyng from cable companies for an exemption, but in the end, both were taxed. In Ohio, however, the cable lobby was successful in exempting cable from sales tax.
[Ohio Cable Telecommunication Association]

Washington Watch: Utah's Congressional Delegation - 4/ 21

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:52:17 GMT

Sen. Hatch lauds Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a potential candidate for Senate Majority should Tennessee's Bill Frist retire in 2006: He tramped on a few toes in those early years - by the way, they were toes, I think, he should have tramped on.
Santorum, dubbed a compassionate conservative, has strong views on the importance of families and disputes a constitutional right to privacy for consensual sex outside of marriage. Santorum opposes homosexuality, feminism, and liberalism.
[Grand Forks Herald]
[Sen. Santorum Web Site]
Today, the chief of staff for Sen. Hatch, holds a meeting for major parties involved in the legislation to limit asbestos settlements, in an attempt to resolve differrences. Hatch wants a draft bill to be ready by April 28.
[Reuters]
The Kiplinger Letter reports that President Bush's political advisor, former Utahn Karl Rover, will target several congressional districts perceived a vulnerable for Democrates, including Jim Matheson in Utah.
And, speaking of Matheson, the Congressman is one of the sponsors of a House amendment to allow industrial loan companies to offer interest bearing checking accounts to commercial users. It is about offering two entities...parity in terms of offering the same service.
[America's Community Bankers]

Utah Mortgage Company facing Federal / State Investigation

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:41:59 GMT

Fairbanks Capital Corp. is being investigated by Federal agencies Housing & Urban Development and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as the states of Maryland and Utah. The mortgage company, based in Salt Lake City, is the subject of 12 consumer complaints. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski asked HUD to get involved after a series of high-profile homeowners' complaints in that state which became the focus of a series of television news stories. The company denies any criminal wrongdoing.
[National Mortgage News]
[WBAL-TV]
[Fairbanks Capital Corporation]

Utah's New Life Insurance Law Lauded by Insurance Group

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 16:23:11 GMT

The Life Insurance Consumers Alliance (a group largely representing financial advisors and insurance agents) has lauded recent legislation enacted in Utah that offers terminally ill seniors to sell their insurance policies to Viatical Settlement companies who take over the policies and typically collect the benefits. Also, these Viaticals are often offered as investment opportunities. Traditionally disposal of a life insurance policy meant accepting cash value or simply letting the policy lapse. Viatical settlements offer The Viatical Settlements act creates licensing requirements for advisors dealing in viatical settlements.
[HB4 - Final Version]
[FTC: Viatical Settlements]
Non-Governmental websites on Viatical Settlements
[http://www.viatical-expert.net/]
[Salt Lake Tribune]

Utah Law Permits Walmart Bank Ownership

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:23:24 GMT

Community banks across the country join small Main Street merchants in seeing doom and gloom in the arrival of a Wal Mart in the area. Wal Mart has been attempting to purchase financial institutions, particularly industrial loan companies, with an eye to offering financial and checking services. So far they have been rebuffed, because only four states do not have laws against such purchases: Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, and Utah. Utah is the home of 23 of the nation's 50 industrial loan companies.
[American Banker] Reg / $$

Utah Consumers Enjoy Low Monthly Utility Bills

Wed, 09 Apr 2003 16:17:36 GMT

Utah ranks 49th in the annual cost per person for energy ($2042 in 2000, the last year for which figures are available). Louisiana is the highest ($4638). Utah has the lowest average monthly electric bill in the country ($44.94), Hawaii the highest ($102.63).

US Supreme Court Overturns State Farm Payout

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:51:46 GMT

The US Supreme Court reversed a Utah Supreme Court Decision awarding $146 million to a State Farm Mutual customer in Utah. The decision affirms a lower court decision reducing the punitive damage portion ($145 million) of the judgement.
[US Supreme Court Ruling]
[Utah Supreme Court Ruling]

Senior Medicare Patrol Projects

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:44:09 GMT

The Federal Administration on Aging is making up to $175,000 available in Utah for a project to train elderly people to become more alert to health care error, fraud, and abuse. Application Kits and more information are available from the Office of Consumer Choice and Protection in the Administration on Aging.
[Senior Medicare Patrols]

Beer Tax Redux

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 16:09:01 GMT

It appears that Utah's current status as one of the 5 states with the highest beer taxes may be short-lived. Other states are looking at the beer tax as a source of increased revenue in cash-strapped times.
[Boston Globe]

Utah among states moving conform to Internet Sales Tax Laws

Thu, 03 Apr 2003 16:57:46 GMT

Kentucky, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Utah haved moved to conform their tax laws to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA). SSUTA, which basically means state internet sales tax, must be adopted in 10 states with 20% of the population of all sales-tax-collecting states before it takes effect.
[Ecommercetax.com]
[SSUTA]

Internet Access Tax Moratorium Likely To Be Made Permanent

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 16:05:10 GMT

House Judiciary Commercial & Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairman Chris Cannon is pushing a bill that would make the current internet access sales tax moratorium permanent. There is a similar bill in the Senate. The Moratorium extension has in the past been caught up in the parallel but different controversy over internet taxation.
[Eweek]
[HR49]

UPC Scanning and Gas Pumps

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:15:12 GMT

The Utah Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures Project has produced UPC Scanning Reports and Gasoline Pump Accuracy reports for much of Utah, but the information is not on their website. Today the Deseret News published its own database containing this information. Thanks again to Dave Fletcher's seemingly all-encompassing blog for tracking this down.
[Weights and Measures]

Utah Government Diary: Ephedra, Anti-Atrocity Act,, Special Session, Bioterrorism, Asbestos

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 15:53:18 GMT

The FDA has announced that warning labels will be placed on every bottle of ephedra sold in the US cautioning users that the herb can cause heart attacks or strokes. The FDA stopped short of banning the herb outright, which was supported by some consumer advocates. The move comes after a Baltimore Oriole pitcher who used ephedra died. Senator Orrin Hatch said the announcement appears to be a reasonable, if long overdue, step in designing science-based rules pertaining to the use of a product about which public concern has been expressed for many, many years. Hatch was one of the authors of the 1994 legislation which limited FDA oversight over products such as ephedra.
[FDA Ephedra Report]
Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joins Senator Patrick Leahy and Representatives Mark Foley and Gary Ackerman at a news conference today at 10 AM MST to announce a new version of the Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act, which would oust torturers and war criminals from the US.
[Text of Act]
Governor Leavitt announced Monday that he would call a special session of the Legislature in June to correct a technical error in SB66, which authorized beer tax money to go to law enforcement agencies for drunken driving prevention and prosecution. The privatization of the Worker's Compensation Fund could also be on the agenda.
The Environmental Protection agency has been spraying harmless substances over fields in Oklahoma to test the capability of radar to detect a bioterrorist attack. Similar tests have also been conducted in Utah and Florida.
Asbestos litigation legislation has apparently entered murky waters in the US House. Originally Representatives Chris Cannon and Calvin Dooley united to support legislation supported the the Asbestos Alliance, a group led by the National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce to limit the cost of litigation for claims of asbestos-related illness. Now it appears that the two are split on the extent of tort reform required in the bill.
[HR1114]

Retail Scanning Woes Continue

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 16:27:27 GMT

Retail scanners continue to create problems for consumers. North Carolina reports levying twice as many fines this year against retailers, mostly against K-mart. Utah scored relatively high in scanning errors in a 1998 FTC report, although the situation has improved since then. The Utah Division of Regulatory Services monitors scanning compliance.
[Raleigh News-Observer]
[Salt Lake Tribune]