PROTECTING CONSUMERS—In November, WISPIRG staff held Toy Safety press conferences in Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, La Crosse and Wausau.

Report Exposes Dangerous Toys
On Nov. 22, WISPIRG held press conferences in five cities around the state to release our annual “Trouble in Toyland” report, available at www.toysafety.net, which provides safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of potentially hazardous toys currently on store shelves.

The report focused on toys that pose choking hazards, are dangerously loud, contain toxic chemicals, and pose strangulation hazards.

WISPIRG partnered with SAFE Kids and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection
to release the report.

WISPIRG reports have led to more than 120 Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalls and other enforcement actions.

Bill Would Reduce Out-Of-State Waste
On Oct. 31, Rep. Spencer Black introduced legislation that would eliminate 50 percent of the out-of-state waste coming into Wisconsin, while also increasing revenue to fund state recycling programs.

Currently, the cost per ton of sending waste to Wisconsin is artificially low. These low costs save money for Minnesota and Illinois, where much of our out-of-state waste originates, but fails to cover the costs to Wisconsin of dealing with all that trash.

Non-recycled waste in Wisconsin increased by almost 2.2 million tons last year—a 46 percent increase from the previous year. The bill would make it more expensive to bring trash into Wisconsin and provide more funding to recycle in-state waste.

ID Theft Bill Introduced
On Oct. 13, WISPIRG testified in favor of AB 621 as one tool to help protect consumers against identity theft. When your personal information is lost, is stolen or has strayed from a database, the folks who own or manage that database—and hold your identity information in trust—are obliged to tell you about it so you can take steps to protect yourself by putting freezes on your credit report or watching your credit reports for unauthorized activity. Victims of identity theft spend an average of $808 and 175 hours actively working to clean up their credit reports and other complications.

This year there were numerous large-profile cases where large corporations like ChoicePoint, Bank of America and others have lost important account information.

Bill Would Stop Gift Card Deceptions
On Oct.18, WISPIRG testified in favor of Assembly Bill 583, which would require merchants to honor the value of gift cards, prohibit the sale of gift cards with expiration dates, and stop sellers from charging fees to consumers simply for not using the card.

The use of gift cards has grown 20 percent every year since their introduction in 1996, creating a $50 billion industry. Unfortunately, many consumers are unaware of hidden fees, expiration dates and dormancy charges that are often attached to their purchase. For example, a gift card may lose $2 a month in value if it is not used within a year of activation.