Texas Democrats believe government has a responsibility to protect the people from dangerous products and fraudulent, unfair and discriminatory business practices. In the information age, vigorous efforts are necessary to protect the privacy of everything from financial records to DNA. Consumers should have a high degree of certainty and an understanding of their rights and protections under laws that are strongly and uniformly enforced.

Texas Democrats believe we must protect Texans from:

• laws and regulations that restrict redress for buyers of new homes who discover shoddy work after the purchase is completed;
• unscrupulous telemarketing, internet marketing and price fixing;
• services that prey on individuals, especially children, the poor, the elderly and persons with disabilities, including insurance fraud and nursing home abuse targeted at seniors;
• insurance companies, HMOs and drug companies that deny Texans coverage they need;
• unfair business practices by multinational corporations;
• laws and regulations that restrict the ability of communities to provide public utilities at their discretion, including “wi-fi” internet access;
• laws and regulation that would deny Texans free, non-discriminatory access to the internet.
• any interference with licensed public safety communication frequencies;
• identity theft, notary impersonation, “phishing” viruses and other forms of computer fraud;
• manipulation of the market caused by unscrupulous speculators;
• predatory lending practices, such as unscrupulous payday loans and sale/lease back transactions.