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Consumer groups say damages cap will not lower rates
The Associated Press State & Local Wire 02/19/03

A cap on damages awarded for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits likely won't reduce insurance rates for doctors, consumer groups warned state lawmakers Wednesday.

In lengthy testimony before the House Civil Practices Committee, consumer groups said stronger regulations over the insurance industry's ability to raise rates would have a greater effect on stemming rising costs for doctors and hospitals.

Reggie James, director of the Southwest Regional office of Consumers Union, said damage caps would effectively prevent some medical malpractice victims from taking their case to court.

The limited jury awards, plus the bill's sliding scale for attorneys fees, would keep many lawyers from taking cases, he said, drawing a loud laugh from supporters of the bill in the audience.

"What we have here is a one-sided bill that places hurdles in front of the patients," James said.

State legislators try to reform public information laws
Corpus Christi Caller-Times 02/16/03

AUSTIN - The Legislature is playing a game of seesaw with public information laws. At least two dozen bills filed so far either limit the public's right to information or reaffirm the public's right to know what government is doing.

Consumers Union, a consumer advocacy group, supports government efforts to keep highly sensitive personal information secret, such as Social Security numbers. But instead of keeping the entire document private, the personal information should be redacted, said Kathy Mitchell, research director.

Hablar tres horas con Medellín por sólo 10 dólares?
Hola Hoy (New York) 02/14/03

En opinión de Janee Briesemeister, analista de política pública de Consumer Reports, "hay que ser muy diligente y salir a buscar la mejor oferta. Es cierto que las tarjetas telefónicas tiene muchas cláusulas escondidas, pero a veces no existe mejor opción para las familias con bajos ingresos". Briesemeister afirma que "los consumidores tienen que tener cuidado con lo que no se puede leer. En Texas se consiguió aprobar una ley para que se vea la letra pequeña, aunque sólo para las llamadas locales".

"Este tipo de productos tienen un gran mercado en los hispanos porque muchos no quieren dar información como su dirección o su número de la seguridad social", explica Briesemeister.

Energy Company Petitions to Raise Electricity Rates in South Texas
The Monitor 02/13/03

CPL Retail Energy has filed a request with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to raise electricity prices for South Texas homes and businesses, prompting area lawmakers and consumers groups to voice concerns about the state's new deregulated electric utility industry.

Tim Morstad, a policy analyst for Consumers Union in Austin, said utilities are using the price of natural gas to cover other expenses.

Bill will ban state regulation of broadband service
The Associated Press State & Local Wire 02/07/03

Legislation filed this week prohibiting state regulation of high-speed Internet access and broadband services has set off a firestorm of responses from the telecommunications industry and others.

The legislation filed by Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, was sought by San Antonio-based SBC Communications.

SBC has asked legislatures in Texas, Missouri and Kansas to ease rules that require it to provide competitors with unhindered access to its high speed DSL Internet lines. Opponents of the legislation say the bill would hurt competition and consumer protections.

Tim Morstad with Consumers Union said the bill disconnects competition for high speed Internet service over the phone lines. "Less competition means higher prices to consumers," Morstad said.

What the bill says is "no matter how high their prices are, no matter how bad their service is, we the state, won't be able to touch them," Morstad said.

Measure aims to help settle home construction disputes
Austin American Statesman 02/07/03

Texas home builders and consumers would have a new way to resolve construction disputes under a bill filed Thursday that would put the home construction industry under state regulation for the first time.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, would also create new state construction standards and the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

Reggie James, director of Consumers Union's regional office, said statewide building codes are "a significant step in the right direction; most of the problems can be eliminated by increasing the quality." But he criticized what he saw as too much industry influence on the proposed commission.

Cable services measure unveiled
Fort Worth Star Telegram 02/07/03

A bill introduced in the state Senate on Thursday would limit state regulations on broadband services, but opponents say it could hurt competition in the high-speed Internet market.

"This bill disconnects competition for high-speed Internet service over phone lines," said Tim Morstad, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, a nonprofit consumer group. Morstad said the bill would limit consumers to two options for high-speed Internet service -- the cable company and the phone company.

Delta blow: Quip angers Mississippi
The Dallas Morning News 02/01/03

AUSTIN - Mississippi has a message for Gov. Rick Perry: Don't throw stones at the Magnolia State when your own house is hardly in order.
Mr. Perry offended the sensibilities of folks in Mississippi when he assured that budget problems bedeviling Texas won't turn the Lone Star State into an economic backwater. "I don't want to become Mississippi," he said.

Mississippi-bashing is not new among some media pundits and politicians eager to assert the superiority of Texas over its fellow Southern state.
But advocates for the poor say the current dust-up comes against the backdrop of a severe budget crunch in Texas, a state that already ranks near the bottom nationally in several spending categories. They fear cuts to social services and environmental programs that would drop Texas even lower.

"It was a flippant response to suggest it's OK if we're doing a bad job, so long as somebody else is doing worse," said Reggie James of Consumers Union in Texas. "As it turns out, Mississippi might not be doing a worse job."

"Mississippi has tried to make strides to improve where they are," said Mr. James of Consumers Union. "But Mississippi doesn't have the resources that Texas has. So I think it's a huge embarrassment that Texas is as far at the bottom of the list as it is with the abundant resources we have."

Is electricity plan saving you money?
The Dallas Morning News 01/31/03

This summer, most consumers in North Texas could see some of the highest electricity bills they have ever seen.

The reason: higher natural gas prices and the new way that state regulators determine rates for former monopolies such as TXU. The change has become one of the most controversial aspects of Texas' foray into electric competition.

During the last 13 months, proponents and critics of Texas' electric restructuring plan have jousted over whether most consumers are saving money under deregulation.

"We thought it was supposed to work that consumers switch of their own free will, not because the rates TXU charged were jacked up so high that it forced consumers away from the company," said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union. "That kind of a mind-set was not in the consumers' interest."

Bills would increase secrecy
Fort Worth Star Telegram 01/27/03

AUSTIN--Government officials in Texas could refuse to publicly disclose their plans for responding to terrorist attacks under bills introduced during the first legislative session since 9-11.

The proposals are part of a national movement among state lawmakers to restrict public access to security-related information after the terrorist attacks, experts said.

But critics say the bills would provide sweeping exceptions to open-records and open-meetings laws, giving officials wide latitude to cover up poor emergency planning and to exclude the public from important policy decisions.

...Kathy Mitchell, who monitors public-information issues for the Austin office of Consumers Union, said most exemptions to public access are more limited than Allen's measure.

"This is an ambitious bill because it doesn't attempt to identify the narrow purposes for which we usually create exemptions," she said.

The bill is also troubling because it would give government officials exclusive access to emergency plans, said Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

TXU asks for 12% rate hike
Fort Worth Star Telegram 01/25/03

AUSTIN--The average Metroplex resident would pay about $10 more per month for electricity under an increase proposed Friday by TXU.

If the increase is approved by regulators, residential bills should go up in about 45 days, Schein said. A provision of the Texas deregulation law allows TXU and the state's other traditional utilities to request rate hikes twice a year to reflect changes in the natural gas market.

But consumer groups say that provision is flawed and that the hikes do not necessarily reflect the true cost of fueling generating plants.

"Consumers are writing bigger checks for TXU now than they were when the Legislature debated [deregulation] in 1999," said Janee Briesemeister, a policy analyst for the Austin office of Consumers Union. "Consumers should seek out their legislators while they're in session. This provision works only to the benefit of the utility and is fundamentally flawed."

Texas Lawmakers to Tackle Hot Broadband Issue
Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 01/23/03

The hottest issue in Texas' telecommunications policy this legislative session has lawmakers, company officials and consumer advocates contemplating a pattern set in rival territory: Oklahoma.

Industry forces in Austin say their biggest skirmish will be over a measure that would free local-phone companies' broadband networks from regulation and mirrors a law the Sooner state adopted last year.

While the law sailed through the Oklahoma City last year, it will be harder fought in Austin where opponents range from the AARP to AT&T Corp. But the state's dominant local-phone company SBC Communications Inc., says it needs the changes so it can effectively compete with cable companies.

SBC says it shouldn't be forced to share new or upgraded lines with rivals at regulated rates, as it must with older lines under a 1996 federal deregulation law. Cable companies, it says, don't have to share their network with rivals and have an unfair advantage.

By limiting rivals to older portions of its network, SBC would squelch consumers' choice of broadband service, said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union.

Telecom policy on deck
The Dallas Morning News 01/23/03

The hottest issue in Texas telecommunications policy this legislative session has lawmakers, company officials and consumer advocates contemplating a pattern set in Oklahoma.

Industry forces in Austin say their biggest skirmish will be over a measure that would free local-phone companies' broadband networks from regulation and mirrors a law the Sooner state adopted last year.
But the state's dominant local-phone company, SBC Communications Inc., says it needs the changes to compete with cable companies. In addition to broadband, the Legislature will hear about at least two other major telecommunications issues:

• Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's proposal to merge the Public Utility Commission with the Railroad Commission.

• Extending the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund tax on phone companies that gives grants to schools, libraries and hospitals.
  SBC says it shouldn't be forced to share new or upgraded lines with rivals at regulated rates, as it must with older lines under a 1996 federal deregulation law. Cable companies, it says, have an unfair advantage because they don't have to share their network with rivals.

By limiting rivals to older portions of its network, SBC would squelch consumers' choice of broadband service, said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union.

Pedernales Electric to buy some distribution facilities
Austin American Statesman 01/22/03

Pedernales Electric Cooperative is moving toward becoming the first co-op in Texas to compete for customers in a deregulated market.

Pedernales, which is the largest co-op in the state, said Tuesday it is buying some Central Texas distribution facilities from American Electric Power Co. for $9.5 million.

One consumer group will be watching the deal closely.

"We have concerns about the customer protection provisions. The cooperatives have much more latitude in creating their own sets of rules and this is a new blurring of the lines," said Tim Morstad, policy analyst for Consumers Union's Southwest regional office.

Special Interest Groups Contribute $1.5 Million to Texas Governor's Inaugural
Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 01/21/03

...the daylong event will cost $1.5 million, which would require selling a lot of barbecue if not for the fact that the shindig is being financed -- as it often has been -- by special interest groups.

"It's the people who have their dog in the fight, and they're going to be (in the Legislature) trying to get their special piece of the pie," said Reggie James, director of Consumers Union's southwest regional office in Austin.

"These people are doing this to buy influence, and I think if some of us on the public side had been a little clever we could've gotten all of the hundreds of kids who won't get health care to kick up a few dollars," he said.

78th Texas Legislative Session in Focus
AScribe Newswire 01/17/03

AUSTIN, Texas -- "Did the Legislature work to fix the family budget crisis?" -- will be the measuring stick by which the success or failure of the 78th legislative session will be judged amidst the state's fiscal crisis and temptation by lawmakers to seek quick fixes that threaten family finances.

Reggie James, director of the Southwest Regional Office of Consumers Union, told reporters at a briefing Friday that there is plenty the Legislature can do in 2003 to improve the lot for consumers, starting with low to moderate income families. "The family budget crisis is just as real and urgent to Texans as the state's financial crisis," he said. "Let's make sure not to fix the state budget crisis by busting the family budget even further." A key area will be ensuring the excesses of deregulated or inadequately regulated industries -- such as insurance, telecommunications, and electric -- are kept in check and even reversed, according to James.

Report: Tax exemptions cost state $22.4 billion
The Associated Press State & Local Wire 01/17/03

At a time when Texas is at least $10 billion in the hole, a new report shows that the state is losing out on more than twice that much in tax collections because of various exemptions.

Friday, Consumers Union leaders said they hope the Legislature will solve the budget problems without hurting low to middle-income families with higher fees and program cuts.

"The family budget crisis is just as real and urgent to Texans as the state's financial crisis," said Reggie James, director of the group's Southwest Regional Office. "Let's make sure not to fix the state budget crisis by busting the family budget even further."

SBC, Verizon gain clients
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 01/16/03

More Texans are switching their long-distance service to SBC and Verizon, benefiting from the deregulated telecommunications market in Texas, according to a Public Utility Commission report.

Although the report discussed several competitive issues, the only recommendation the report makes to the Legislature asks that the PUC be allowed to restrict public access to data it receives from the telephone companies to analyze the industry. The report says the PUC could provide better industry analysis if the data were kept private.

The lack of recommendations was surprising, said Tim Morstad, policy analyst at Consumers Union, a consumer advocacy group in Austin.

"We were expecting to see more proactive, customer-friendly proposals to the Legislature," Morstad said. "The customer complaint level is still unacceptably high."

BiEnnial lawmaking blitz
San Antonio Express-News 01/12/03

Two of Texas' top lobbying groups will grapple over medical malpractice jury award limits when the Legislature goes into session this week.

The latest round of tort reform pits the wealthy Texas Medical Association and Gov. Rick Perry against the politically influential Texas Trial Lawyers Association and some consumer groups over caps on medical malpractice awards.

Other issues that burned in past biennial sessions of state lawmakers have been reignited. Those include an effort by doctors to force quicker claims payments and hospitals pushing for more state money to increase the number of nurses, nursing professors and other health professions.

"Further restrictions on the rights of patients should not even be considered until there is thorough review and reform of the insurance industry practices that drive doctors' insurance premiums just as they do homeowners," TTLA spokesman Willie Chapman said.

"Reforming the insurance industry to the benefit of both patients and competent doctors is a far better legislative path than making it harder for Texans injured or killed by medical malpractice to file and pursue claims."

Consumers Union of Texas comes down on the same side, arguing that secrecy be lifted on disciplinary actions of physicians and that medical malpractice information be readily available to consumers to use when choosing a doctor.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, has filed a bill that addresses some of the governor's reform plan. But Reggie James, who heads Consumers Union's Southwest Regional Office, said Nelson's bill punishes everyone.

"Senate Bill 12 is an old approach that does not distinguish between legitimate and frivolous cases," James said.

Two of Texas' top lobbying groups will grapple over medical malpractice jury award limits when the Legislature goes into session this week.

The Texas Medical Association and Texas Trial Lawyers Association will square off over caps on medical malpractice awards.

The group likely to be hit hardest by the caps, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, opposes the plan. Like the TMA, the plaintiffs' lawyers and their association are major political campaign contributors.

The trial lawyers argue that the move would limit access to the courts and appropriate compensation for those most injured by medical negligence.

Consumers Union of Texas comes down on the same side, arguing that secrecy be lifted on disciplinary actions of physicians and that medical malpractice information be readily available to consumers to use when choosing a doctor.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, has filed a bill that addresses some of the governor's reform plan. But Reggie James, who heads Consumers Union's Southwest Regional Office, said Nelson's bill punishes everyone.

"Senate Bill 12 is an old approach that does not distinguish between legitimate and frivolous cases," James said.

Then & Now: Electricity deregulation issues drag on
Houston Business Journal 01/03/03

Electricity deregulation has begun in Texas - not with a bang, but a whimper.

Despite aggressive promotional campaigns, the average Texas consumer still isn't convinced there is much value in switching providers. Interest does appear to be higher among commercial and industrial companies, but they aren't necessarily stampeding to change providers, either. Prior to the launch of deregulation on Jan. 1, a six-month pilot test was enacted that allowed a limited number of consumers and businesses to switch providers so that transfer processes and behind-the-scenes databases could be tested.

The PUC claims users who have switched providers ha. saved substantial money, but the comparison is based on electricity prices from December 2001, when fuel costs were unusually high, says Tim Morstad, policy analyst in the Austin office of Consumers Union.