DATE:
03/24/2026
19
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
ESTABLISHING A COUNTY CONSUMER FAIRNESS & PUBLIC PROTECTION UNIT TO PROTECT RESIDENTS AND ENFORCE THE RULE OF LAW USING DEDICATED SETTLEMENT FUNDS (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
San Diego County is facing an affordability crisis that goes beyond the cost of housing alone. Environmental contamination, bad-faith health insurance denials, and corporate practices that break the rules are compounding everyday costs for families and small businesses alike. Hidden fees, predatory financial practices, unlawful debt collection, deceptive business conduct, and unfair housing practices are quietly draining household budgets. Seniors lose fixed incomes to overdraft charges, service members are steered into abusive loans, families face mounting medical bills when insurers unlawfully deny care, and honest businesses are undercut by competitors who profit through deception.
Together, these practices function as an invisible "unfairness tax," raising the cost of living without improving services, wages, or quality of life.
The federal government, particularly through the gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given up on protecting the public, leaving a widening vacuum in consumer and civil law enforcement. And as national oversight has weakened, corporate misconduct has grown more sophisticated, with exploitative businesses not playing by the rules, including digital scams, AI-generated fraud, predatory fintech products, environmental contamination and Tijuana River pollution that harms public health, and bad-faith health insurance denials.
This enforcement gap allows harm to persist, despite the diligent and tireless work of local enforcement bodies, including the District Attorney's Office. The volume and complexity of corporate misconduct today simply exceed the capacity of any single office. State agencies must focus on large statewide cases, and city attorneys, legal aid organizat...
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