Over the past twenty years, one of the key gains by the Wall Street Wing of both the Republican and Democratic Parties has been the slow chipping away of consumer rights especially with respect to tort deform.  Even in our so-called liberal bastion on the “left coast” we have some really crappy consumer protection laws.  And Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Bakersfield) and our Progressive Democratic Governator want to further protect corporations from what they have done in AB1505 by greatly limiting class action lawsuits.

More on AB1505 over the flip:

You can’t blame the Wall Streetists for this attempt, I mean it is in their financial best interest to do so. But for too long the progressive movement has refused to fight on this issue, ceding consumer rights for fear of looking like they were too friendly with the evil trial lawyers.  You know those evil people who have been fighting for hundreds of years to promote justice and protect consumers.  Pretty much the opposite of Bush’s pick to head the Consumer Products Safety Comission, Michael Baroody, the head of the National Association of Manufacturers, who withdrew his name from consideration.

See, the thing is that the tort system is something that nobody envisions themselves using. That’s for the poor lackeys who get hurt, but not me.  And so, “consumers” don’t really care when short-sighted legislators like Asm. Parra bring corporatist attacks upon the tort system.  Fortunately, AB 1505 was blocked in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, but this is not dead, as there is a reasonable expectation that they will bring this back as a ballot proposition.

But this isn’t just about attorneys. This issues is about organized labor, and removing a powerful tool available to unions.  This is about the rights of workers at Wal-Mart to sue the behemoth on one front instead of single fights only.  This is at the heart of collective strength and the organization model.  Quite simply if many of these cases can’t go through class-action procedures, they just won’t happen.  The resources just aren’t there.

But now, the left is slowly awakening to the fact that these protections are not trivial.  And they stood up to defeat Parra’s corporatist intentions:

The bill, AB 1505 by Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, was summarily defeated this month in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The death of the bill, which would have made it more difficult to file class actions, came as little surprise in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

But Capitol insiders believe it may serve as a leverage point for proponents who seek to raise money for a ballot initiative next year. Sources say discussions are under way, although none cared to publicly discuss their progress, if any. The list of backers and opponents of the Parra bill reads like a Who’s Who of California’s most powerful political players. Opponents include the California Nurses Association, AARP, the trial lawyers, the SEIU State Council, and consumer and labor groups. Supporters include the California Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, the grocers, hospitals, retailers, Hewlett Packard, Intel and insurers, among many others.

“We haven’t foreclosed any options,” said Vince Sollitto, Chamber of Commerce spokesman. “We always try to work with the Legislature, and we will continue to do so now. Nothing is ever really dead in the Legislature. While this particular bill didn’t clear policy deadlines, the issue isn’t going away.” (Capitol Weekly 5/24/07)

This isn’t going away, and we need to turn the tide.  We need stronger protections for consumers against global corporations that have been able to swat away lawsuits like gnats on a horse’s ass, not weaker protections.  While progressives were asleep at the switch on Prop 64 we can no longer afford to rest.  If hard-ball is how the multi-nationals want to play, time to start bringing some of our propositions to the ballot. As George Bush says, “we’re going to stay on the offense.”