NCL applauds President Biden’s landmark AI executive order 

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October 31, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, DC – Yesterday, President Biden signed an executive order to establish the most comprehensive standards to date regarding artificial intelligence (AI). The following statement is attributable to National Consumers League (NCL) Chief Executive Officer Sally Greenberg:

“NCL applauds the Biden Administration for centering consumers and workers in its landmark executive order addressing AI. It is critical that the development of artificial intelligence aligns with our democratic values, preserves civil rights, and protects consumers’ health and safety as well as our privacy. Importantly, the Biden Administration has made clear that there is no exception for AI from the law as it continues to model how policymakers should tackle this issue. While the president’s order is a critical step forward, Congress must pass a robust bill to ensure lasting and comprehensive federal law governing AI.”

As part of the sweeping executive order, federal agencies are to provide clear guidance to landlords, federal benefits administrators, and federal contractors to ensure that AI does not discriminate against consumers and beneficiaries. The president also addressed the potential harms to workers from the use of AI in workplace surveillance, job displacement, union-busting, and discriminatory hiring practices.

NCL has been advocating for consumers and workers in our push for AI regulation, including requiring the labelling of AI-generated content to minimize deception to users.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization.  Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad.  For more information, visit nclnet.org.

 

NCL applauds CPSC’s vote on a historic table saw safety rule that could save up to $2.32 billion and prevent 50,000 grave table saw injuries each year

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October 20, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League applauds the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) 3-1 vote on October 18, 2023, to move forward towards a mandatory safety standard for electric table saws, which cause 50,000 partial or full amputations each year and cost the health care system upwards of $2.3 billion a year.

“We thank Chairman Alex Hoehn Saric for his leadership and Commissioners Richard Trumka Jr. and Mary Boyle for their support,” said NCL’s CEO Sally Greenberg. “NCL has been working to get requirements for safer table saw designs since 2008. This is a very welcome development for a product that is so ubiquitous in American homes, while at the same time posing such a grave danger of injury. Over 20 years, table saws have injured one million people.”

NCL Board member and former Executive Director of the CPSC, Pamela Gilbert, noted that this vote is long overdue. “The technology to almost entirely do away with serious injuries from table saws has been available for over two decades. Members of the power tool industry, sadly, have resisted safer designs despite many opportunities to do so,” said Gilbert. “The delay has led to hundreds of thousands of permanent, debilitating injuries that could have been prevented. It’s time for the industry to step up and do the right thing for their customers.”

NCL noted that Commissioner Trumka is seeking information from leadership at seven power tool companies, including SawStop, which already incorporates Active Injury Mitigation to prevent serious table saw injuries, as called for in the proposed rule. He seeks their views on a faster implementation period than the 3 years called for in the proposed rule. Responses to his letter are due on November 15, 2023, and will prove interesting and instructive.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization.  Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad.  For more information, visit nclnet.org.

National Consumers League supports legislation to end the tipped wage in Montgomery County, MD

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October 17, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League’s (NCL) CEO Sally Greenberg will testify today, October 17, before the Montgomery County Council in support of phasing out the tipped wage and providing all tipped workers the minimum wage.

Tipped workers in Montgomery County are scheduled to appear before the county council today to share their thoughts about Bill 35-23. The legislation would adjust the calculation of the minimum wage for tipped workers and phase something known as the tip credit amount.

NCL believes that the tipped wage is bad policy and keeps servers and other tipped workers at the mercy of customers’ whims on tipping. NCL also supported Initiative 82 in the District of Columbia which passed overwhelmingly and is being implemented.

As one Council member in DC noted, when considering phasing out the tipped wage, the current law “is an invitation [for employers] to cheat.” According to surveys here in the county, more than a third of Montgomery County workers say their tips did not bring their wages up to the minimum wage. In fact, in Montgomery County, restaurant workers are twice as likely to live in poverty.  The bill, introduced by Councilmember Will Jawando, will end the tipped minimum wage gradually over the next several years.

Greenberg’s full testimony can be found here.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization.  Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad.  For more information, visit nclnet.org.

 

 

 

Nation’s oldest consumer advocacy organization to present annual awards to Former HHS Secretary and Former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, California AG Rob Bonta, and child marriage survivor and activist Fraidy Reiss on Wednesday, October 11

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October 11, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, DC –The National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, has announced it will honor former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius and California Attorney General Rob Bonta with its highest honor, the Trumpeter Award, on Wednesday, October 11 in Washington, DC.

In addition to the Trumpeter Award, NCL will honor activist Fraidy Reiss with the 2023 Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award, named for NCL’s first general secretary and one of the most influential figures in 20th century American history. Reiss is a forced marriage survivor and activist who founded Unchained At Last.

The National Consumers League is also proud to announce that it has bestowed an honorary Trumpeter Award to President Joseph Biden for his exceptional work to protect consumers and workers. President Biden’s focus on safeguarding hard-working Americans from the burdens of hidden or junk fees is unprecedented and deserves special recognition, says NCL’s Chief Executive Officer Sally Greenberg. No living president has ever been given this award.

MEDIA ADVISORY

What:              National Consumers League’s 2023 Trumpeter Awards
When:             Wednesday, October 11, 2023

                         7 pm Presentation of Awards

Where:            Mayflower Hotel DC 1127 Connecticut Ave, NW

                         Washington, DC 20036

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, has been honoring visionaries in consumer and worker protection with its annual Trumpeter Award since 1973. Past honorees include: Senator Ted Kennedy, the award’s inaugural recipient; as well as Labor Secretaries Hilda Solis, Robert Reich, and Alexis Herman; Senators Carl Levin and Paul Wellstone; Delores Huerta of the United Farm Workers; U.S. Representative John Lewis; and other honored consumer and labor leaders.

Last year’s Trumpeter recipients were U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Dr. Francis Collins, former Director of the National Institutes of Health and former Science Advisor to the President. Mary Cheh, Ward 3 DC Councilmember, was recipient of the Florence Kelley Consumer Leadership Award.

This year’s Trumpeter Awards will feature a reception, dinner, and speaking appearances by NCL leadership, honorees, as well as:

  • Susan Hogan, NBC News4 Consumer Investigative Reporter
  • Lael Brainard, Director, National Economic Council
  • Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
  • Brian L. Schwalb, Attorney General, Washington, DC
  • Carol Ode, Representative, Vermont State Legislature
  • NCL Board President Joan Bray, Former Senator, Missouri General Assembly
  • NCL Board Member Jenny Backus, Backus Consulting
  • NCL Chief Executive Officer Sally Greenberg

To learn more, visit NCL Trumpeter Awards.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization.  Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad.  For more information, visit nclnet.org.

National Consumers League urges swift confirmation of FTC nominees

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July 7, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Consumers League (NCL) today urged leaders in the Senate to restore the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to its full complement of Commissioners by swiftly confirming Utah Solicitor General Melissa Holyoak and Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson, who were nominated by President Biden on July 3 and FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who was renominated to a second term on February 13.

The following statement is attributable to NCL Chief Executive Officer Sally Greenberg:

“The FTC operates best when it is at full strength. NCL therefore welcomes the nomination of these three outstanding public servants whose key skills, experience, commitment, and expertise will serve them well in fulfilling the agency’s critical consumer protection and competition promotion mission. We look forward to working with Commissioner-designate Holyoak, Commissioner-designate Ferguson, Commissioner Slaughter, and all the leaders of the FTC to fulfill the important mandate of this independent consumer protection agency.”

NCL CEO urges Congress to end companies’ addiction to junk fees

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June 8, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

WASHINGTON, DC – National Consumers League (NCL) CEO Sally Greenberg today urged Congress to do more to rein in predatory junk fees that plague millions of consumers and honest businesses. In testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection Subcommittee on the need for federal action to rein in predatory junk fees, Greenberg urged Senators to support multiple pieces of consumer protection legislation, including President Biden’s Junk Fee Prevention Act.  

“American companies are addicted to junk fees,” said NCL CEO Greenberg. “These fees cause significant economic harm, especially to historically marginalized and economically vulnerable communities. Junk fees harm honest businesses, too, as consumers’ patronage is unfairly directed away from companies with the best price, quality, convenience, and honest practices to those with pricing that is higher, less transparent, and more deceptive.” 

Greenberg urged Congress to support bills like the Junk Fee Prevention Act, which would rein in some of the worst offenders when it comes to junk fees; the Consumer Protection Remedies Act, which would fully restore the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to obtain monetary and other relief for consumers; and Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act), which would prohibit a pre-dispute arbitration agreement from being valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of an employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights dispute.

“The Biden Administration and agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Transportation, and Federal Trade Commission have taken steps to address the scourge of junk fees,” said Greenberg. “Congress can and should do more to support these initiatives.”

NCL and 36 leading patient organizations urge Congress to protect access to essential laboratory tests

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June 7, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, D.C.— June 7, 2023 —The National Consumers League (NCL) today sent a letter signed by 37 leading advocacy organizations, including groups that represent patients with common and chronic conditions who depend on laboratory testing to manage their health, urging Senate and House leaders to protect access to clinical laboratory services by enacting the Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act (SALSA / H.R. 2377 / S. 1000) this year.

“Without congressional action this year, Medicare reimbursement cuts scheduled for January 2024 could limit access to essential tests that 65 million American seniors rely on to diagnose and manage disease,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Chief Executive Officer. “The Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act would help ensure robust access to laboratory services that improve patient health.”

Highlights from the letter include:

  • “Without congressional action, Medicare reimbursement cuts – a fourth round scheduled to begin January 1, 2024 – could jeopardize access to many clinical laboratory tests that are used to diagnose, monitor, prevent, and manage common diseases for Medicare beneficiaries.”
  • “Clinical diagnostic tests play a critical role in health care by informing 70 percent of medical decisions doctors and other health care providers make to care for patients. For example, in 2020 care for Medicare beneficiaries was supported by more than 17 million hemoglobin A1C tests that assessed diabetes risk, 28 million tests that diagnosed and monitored heart disease, and 90,000 tests that diagnosed leukemia and hereditary breast and colon cancer.”
  • “A strong, national laboratory infrastructure is critical to ensuring that testing can be rapidly developed and made widely available when pathogens of concern are identified. Simply put, clinical laboratories strive to be prepared for whatever the next infectious disease outbreak may be and in times of emergency are part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.”
  • “Between 2017 and 2022, payment for some common tests for diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease were cut by 27 percent. The next round of Medicare cuts would lower reimbursement up to another 15 percent for about 800 laboratory tests widely used to screen and manage many serious diseases. It is essential that Congress protect patients by acting this year to fix the Medicare payment model for clinical diagnostic tests.”
  • “Because of the serious implications for patients who rely on routine as well as advanced diagnostic laboratory services, Congress has acted three times to delay these cuts in recent years, but permanent reform is needed now. Fortunately, the Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act would update Medicare’s payment system, which would help protect access to clinical laboratory testing, support investment in innovation, and strengthen America’s clinical laboratory infrastructure.”

Below is the list of signatories:

  • A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation
  • AliveAndKickn
  • Alliance for Aging Research
  • Alliance for Women’s Health and Prevention
  • American Association of Kidney Patients
  • American Sexual Health Association
  • AnCan
  • Black Women’s Health Imperative
  • CancerCare
  • Cancer Support Community
  • Caregiver Action Network
  • Caring Across Generations
  • Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation
  • Chronic Disease Coalition
  • Community Liver Alliance
  • Down Syndrome Association of Orange County
  • FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered
  • Global Liver Institute
  • GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer
  • HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ)
  • Healthcare Leadership Council
  • Healthy Men Inc.
  • HealthyWomen
  • ICAN, International Cancer Advocacy Network
  • International Foundation for Autoimmune & Autoinflammatory Arthritis
  • The Latino Coalition
  • LUNGevity Foundation
  • Lupus and Allied Diseases Association, Inc.
  • Men’s Health Network
  • Minority Health Institute
  • The National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration
  • National Alliance of State Prostate Cancer Coalitions
  • National Consumers League
  • The National Grange
  • RetireSafe
  • Triage Cancer
  • Vasculitis Foundation

Click here to view the full letter.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

Cincinnati to host 2023 National LifeSmarts Championship event April 27-30

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Apr 25, 2023

Media contact: National Consumers League – Melody Merin, melodym@nclnet.org, 202-207-2831

Washington, DC — The 29th National LifeSmarts Championship, the youth consumer education program of the National Consumers League, kicks off this Thursday, April 27, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, a National Historic Landmark in downtown Cincinnati. The four-day annual event hosts students from across the United States competing for prizes while showcasing their knowledge of real-life consumer issues that focus on the five content areas: personal finance, consumer rights, technology and career readiness, health and safety, and the environment.

Each year, LifeSmarts competitors answer more than 3.5 million consumer questions about credit reports, recycling, nutrition, social media, state lemon laws, and everything in between. Students are quizzed on their knowledge of these subject areas during online competition. Top-performing teams then advance to statewide competitions, and state champion teams—as well as several wildcard teams—advance to the national championship held each year in a different American city.

This year’s competition in Cincinnati will feature 42 teams representing 30 states and the District of Columbia, 14 wild card teams, and 28 state champions. NCL is also pleased to announce the special initiative to bring 10 teams from Title 1 schools to this year’s championship.

Click here for more information on this year’s National LifeSmarts Championship.

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About LifeSmarts
LifeSmarts is a comprehensive consumer education program that is free to middle school and high school students and educators. The goal of the LifeSmarts program is to create consumer-savvy young people who will be better equipped for adult life in today’s complex, global marketplace. Visit LifeSmarts.org for more information. LifeSmarts: Learn it. Live it.

About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit nclnet.org.

Child Labor Coalition welcomes the reintroduction of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety 2022 (CARE Act)

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March 31, 2022

Media contact: National Consumers League –  Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

Washington, D.C.—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC), representing 38 groups engaged in the fight against domestic and global child labor, applauds Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) for introducing the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety (CARE). The legislation, introduced on Cesar Chavez Day, would close long-standing loopholes that permit children in agriculture to work for wages when they are only age 12. The bill would also ban jobs on farms labeled “hazardous” by the U.S. Department of Labor if workers are under the age of 18. The children of farm owners, working on their parents’ farms, would not be impacted by the CARE Act.

“Today, I am re-introducing the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety (CARE Act) with my friend and co-lead Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva to protect the rights, safety, and future of [children who work on farms],” said Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, Thursday.

“I’m proud to co-lead this important legislation with Rep. Roybal-Allard to protect the children of farmworkers. Farmworkers remain some of the most exploited, underpaid, and unprotected laborers in our nation. They and their children deserve legal protections, better working conditions, and higher workplace standards to protect their health and safety. It’s past time we updated our antiquated labor laws to give children working in agriculture the same protections and rights provided to all kids in the workforce,” said Rep. Grijalva.

“Children working for wages on farms are exposed to many hazards—farm machinery, heat stroke, and pesticides among them—and they perform back-breaking labor that no child should have to experience,” said CLC co-chair Sally Greenberg, the executive director of the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy organization that has worked to eliminate abusive child labor since its founding in 1899. “Current child labor law discriminates against children who toil in agriculture. It’s time these dangerous exemptions end. We applaud Rep. Roybal-Allard and Rep. Grijalva’s leadership in re-introducing CARE.”

“Ending exploitive child labor on American farms is long overdue and this legislation will result in healthier, better educated farmworker children and help end the generational poverty that afflicts many farmworker families,” said Reid Maki,Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition and Director of Child Labor Advocacy, National Consumers League. The CARE Act has been endorsed by 200 national, regional, and state-based organizations, noted Maki.

“Children as young as 12 are being hired to do backbreaking work on US farms, at risk of serious injuries, heat stroke, pesticide poisoning, and even death,” said Margaret Wurth, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, a CLC member. “Existing US child labor laws are woefully out of date and put child farmworkers at unacceptable risk,” Wurth said. “Congress should act swiftly to adopt the CARE Act and ensure that all children are protected equally.”

The CLC’s strategy for child labor on U.S. farms is guided by its Domestic Issues Committee Chair Norma Flores López who worked in the fields as a young girl. “Decades ago, my family and I were crowding into the back of a pickup truck with our few belongings, and starting our two-day journey towards the fields of Indiana, Michigan, or Iowa. What awaited me, starting at the age of 12, were long hours of back-breaking work earning low wages. I was one of the faces you see in photographs from the fields, hidden behind a bandana.  Fast forward more than 25 years, and we are still fighting for young girls –and boys — who are enduring exploitation, harvesting the fruits and vegetables we eat. The same reality that I once lived awaits the approximately 300,000 children who work on American farms today,” said Flores López, who also serves as Chief Programs Officer of Justice for Migrant Women and was the 2021 recipient of the U.S. Department of Labor Iqbal Masih Award.

“For too long, children laboring in U.S. agriculture have been denied the protections they deserve to ensure their health and well-being. Too often, kids working on commercial farms are subjected to dangerous, unhealthy, work that’s detrimental to their education and far too often results in harm or even death. The CARE Act would address this problem and give children working on farms the same protections as children working in other industries,” said Bruce Lesley, president of the First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization.

In addition to raising the minimum age at which children could work in agriculture, CARE would increase minimum fines for employers who violate agricultural child labor laws when those violations lead to serious injury, illness, or death of minors. The legislation would also strengthen regulations that protect minors from pesticide exposure and improve analysis of child labor health impacts.

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About the National Consumers League (NCL) 

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.

LifeSmarts announces partnership with Discover® Student Loans  

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Media contact: National Consumers League – Katie Brown, katie@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832

During Financial Literacy Month, LifeSmarts teen consumer literacy program has introduced a new lesson focused on financing a college education and understanding student loans.

March 31, 2022

Washington, DC– The 28th National LifeSmarts Championship is on the horizon for the National Consumers League’s (NCL) youth consumer education program. Through LifeSmarts students learn about real-life consumer issues and compete to win prizes and scholarships at the National LifeSmarts Championship in April each year. Tomorrow, April 1, is the start of Financial Literacy Month. To commemorate this month, NCL is proud to announce a new lesson about financing a college education, made possible through financial support from Discover Student Loans.

On April 21, 39 teams from across the country will meet in Washington, DC, to compete in the 2022 National LifeSmarts Championship.  The Championship competition takes place over four days in which students will showcase their knowledge of personal finance topics as well as consumer rights, technology and workforce preparation, health and safety, and the environment.

Thanks to Discover Student Loans, LifeSmarts has created a new lesson on financial aid, with questions that will be featured in the National Championship. In the fall, the lessons and new competition focus will be fully integrated into the program for the new school year. Students and educators will see a concentration on personal finance topics at both the 2022 and 2023 National LifeSmarts Championships.

“We are so pleased to work with Discover Student Loans to help our students learn more about the important subject of paying for post-secondary education,” said National Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “We know LifeSmarts gives students the skills they need to succeed as adults, and we see students applying what they learn immediately at home and in their communities. We are thrilled to be able to give special focus to the most crucial lessons in personal finance, and we look forward to rolling out new resources for educators and opportunities for student participants.”

Last year, students answered more than 3.5 million consumer questions about credit reports, nutrition, social media, and everything in between. More than 100,000 students will participate this year.

LifeSmarts is active in all states and the District of Columbia, where NCL is headquartered. “We are excited to have the opportunity to focus on personal finance for consumers at this age, when they are beginning to make decisions for themselves and influencing decisions made by their parents,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL. “Too often, traditional high school curriculum fails to teach students vital information to become successful adults, and LifeSmarts helps to close that gap.”

“It’s important that students and their families plan and save for college expenses, pursue free financial aid such as grants and scholarships, and understand the options for federal and private student loans,” said PK Parekh, senior vice president of Discover Student Loans. “We are very happy to work with LifeSmarts to help students learn through real-world lessons about personal finance, financial aid, and responsible borrowing.”

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About LifeSmarts

LifeSmarts is a comprehensive consumer education program that is free to middle school and high school students and educators. The goal of the LifeSmarts program is to create consumer savvy young people who will be better equipped for adult life in today’s complex, global marketplace. Visit LifeSmarts.org for more information. LifeSmarts: Learn it. Live it.

About the National Consumers League (NCL)

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.