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May 16, 2013
Obama Appoints OMB Controller Werfel As Acting IRS Chief
President Barack Obama on Thursday appointed Office of Management and Budget Controller Daniel Werfel as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service following Steven Miller's resignation from the role amid controversy over the agency's alleged targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
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May 16, 2013
Pa. Rep. Proposes Natural Gas Tax To Fund Transportation
A Pennsylvania state lawmaker unveiled a package of bills Wednesday that would fund transportation projects and infrastructure across the commonwealth by imposing a severance tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale and closing a loophole allowing companies to shift certain taxable assets out of state.
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May 16, 2013
Christie Unveils $300M Plan To Buy Homes Hit By Sandy
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday unveiled a $300 million buyout program that will use federal funding to purchase 1,300 homes that were devastated by Hurricane Sandy or lie in the flood-prone Passaic River basin from willing homeowners, creating open spaces that can ease future flood damage.
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May 16, 2013
EU Continues Push For More Cybersecurity Protections
A top European Union commissioner on Thursday outlined Europe's plans to fight cybercrime, repeating the bloc's vow to institute new reporting requirements for private companies experiencing threats to their secured networks.
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May 16, 2013
DOD Seeks To Extend Foreign Weapons Sales Program
The U.S. Department of Defense is seeking to add five years to a foreign weapon sales program, a request that joins a series of proposals sent to Congress one month after the agency released its projected $526.6 billion 2014 budget.
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May 16, 2013
NLRB Owes It To Public To Keep Working, Chairman Says
National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Pearce told a Senate committee Thursday that the current NLRB members “owe it to the public” to keep working despite the D.C. Circuit's blockbuster Noel Canning ruling, which said two members' recess appointments were invalid.
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May 16, 2013
Senate Panel Greenlights Ex-O'Melveny Partner's DC Circ. Nod
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously approved U.S. Principal Deputy Solicitor General and former O'Melveny & Myers LLP appellate group head Srikanth Srinivasan's nomination to the D.C. Circuit, paving the way for the full U.S. Senate to confirm him.
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May 16, 2013
Timber Import Law Too Strict, Business Groups Claim
Representatives from several timber-related business groups on Thursday urged lawmakers to rein in a 2008 amendment to a wildlife protection law subjecting plants and related products to stricter import controls, saying businesses were being unfairly burdened by the costs of compliance with the amendment.
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May 16, 2013
NJ Assembly To Vote On Revised Social Media Privacy Bill
New Jersey lawmakers are moving forward with a measure that Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed earlier this month that aims to prohibit employers from requiring current or prospective employees to disclose their login information for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
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May 16, 2013
Australia Greenlights $23.6B In Infrastructure Spending
The Australian government has approved roughly AU$24 billion ($23.6 billion) in transportation infrastructure spending over the next six years, bringing its total investment under an infrastructure program unveiled in 2008 to nearly AU$60 billion.
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May 16, 2013
Mont. Dems Blast EPA's Release Of Ranchers' Personal Data
Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester on Monday chastised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after it mistakenly released the personal information of ranchers in 30 states, and urged the agency to launch an investigation into the mishap.
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May 16, 2013
NYC Found Liable For Crane Collapse Under Labor Law
In the latest in a string of decisions related to New York's controversial “Scaffold Law,” a supreme court judge ruled Tuesday that the city can't escape liability for damage caused by a 2008 crane collapse on the Upper East Side, despite having transferred ownership of the property to another entity.
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May 16, 2013
SEC Chairman White Disses GOP Cost-Benefit Bill
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White told U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers Thursday she opposes a GOP-sponsored bill that would force the agency to more closely scrutinize the costs and benefits of its rules.
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May 16, 2013
EPA Nominee Moves Ahead On Narrow Party-Line Vote
The White House's pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved a step closer to confirmation Thursday after a Senate committee advanced Gina McCarthy's nomination with a 10-8 vote, but Republicans still are holding out the threat of a filibuster to block full Senate consideration.
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May 16, 2013
Grid Operators Should Prepare For Solar Flares, FERC Says
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday finalized a rule to protect the nation’s bulk power system from geomagnetic disturbances like solar flares, as it looks to fill regulatory gaps that leave the grid vulnerable to disruptions.
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May 16, 2013
FDA Details Appeals Process For Rejected Medical Devices
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday described how it would handle appeals of the agency denying approval of new medical devices, generally declining to back off its expectation that manufacturers work through the chain of command when contesting outcomes.
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May 16, 2013
Contractors Ask DC Circ. To Lift Political Donation Ban
Three individual federal contractors pushed a D.C. Circuit panel Thursday to nix a statute preventing them from donating to political candidates and parties, saying the Federal Election Commission's anti-corruption rule is antiquated and poorly executed.
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May 16, 2013
3rd Circ. Finds NLRB Recess Appointment Of Becker Invalid
Agreeing with the D.C. Circuit that recess appointments can be made only during the intersession break between Senate sessions, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday that the president's intrasession recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board was invalid, putting the validity of even more labor board decisions into doubt.
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May 16, 2013
Labor Nominee Moves Toward Senate Vote Despite GOP Gripes
A Senate committee voted along party lines Thursday to send U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division chief Thomas Perez's nomination to serve as secretary of labor to the full Senate for a vote, despite Republican concerns that Perez leaked information about a $335 million settlement to a reporter.
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May 16, 2013
GSA Will Give Contractors Unpaid Minimums, House Says
The U.S. General Services Administration will repay more than a thousand small businesses about $3 million it owes them in guaranteed minimums it never paid, a U.S. House of Representatives committee said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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The Future Of SEC Enforcement Actions
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reported a record number of enforcement actions over the past two years, as well as a new focus on what the agency considers “national priority” cases. These record numbers, however, have masked the underlying decline in new investigation activity by the SEC over the same period, say David Marcus and Sara Gilley of Cornerstone Research.
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Terrorism Risk Insurance Act — To Renew Or Not To Renew
The soon-to-expire Terrorism Risk Insurance Act has evolved over its lifespan, yet the uncertainty of the risks it addresses begs the question of whether it should, as Hamlet considered, continue to protect against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or shuffle off its mortal coil, says Stephen Doody of Allen & Overy LLP.
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What To Know About IRS' 'Begun Construction' Tests
The Internal Revenue Service's recently published Notice 2013-29 provides two new "begun construction" tests used to determine whether certain projects qualify for a production tax credit or investment tax credit. While these tests are very similar to the U.S. Department of Treasury's Section 1603 rules, practitioners should take note of the important differences, says Forrest Milder of Nixon Peabody LLP.
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A Step Toward Copyright Reform
U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante recently urged Congress to begin what likely would be a multiyear process aimed at producing a comprehensive revision of the nation’s copyright law. While it is unlikely that Congress will take up Pallante’s recommendation in the near future, it may spur debate on significant changes to current law, says Seth Davidson of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.
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Export Controls Reform Has Arrived
The federal government recently published the first in a line of forthcoming rules and regulations implementing the Obama administration’s multiyear Export Control Reform Initiative. Critics of export reform have noted that the changes are just as likely to complicate matters rather than simplify them, especially with the addition of the little-understood 600 series, say attorneys with Nixon Peabody LLP.
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Proposed Texas Dental Bill Indicates Greater Regulation
The dental practice management model has become an increasingly popular investment opportunity with management companies and private equity firms. While the DPM model grows in popularity, so does regulation and scrutiny around the industry, which is evidenced by recent investigations and the introduction of SB 151 in Texas, say attorneys with McGuireWoods LLP.
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The Race For Riches In US-EU Trade Begins
The United States and the EU hope to start negotiations on a trade treaty focusing on nontariff barriers in June and have a deal done by the end of 2014. While the strategy is ambitious, the prize at the finish line may be enough to drive the countries through the course in time, says Reid Whitten of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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FTC Shakeup Means No New Initiatives Soon
As a result of recent changes, the five-member Federal Trade Commission is left with two Democrats, two Republicans and one open seat, and seems likely in the near term to focus on actions where there is the bipartisan consensus necessary to obtain the three votes required to take action, say Steven Cernak and Suzanne Wahl of Schiff Hardin LLP.
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What Flavor Are Your PE Fund Marketing Activities?
David Blass, the chief counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, recently described two “flavors” of activities that funds and their advisers should consider in evaluating potential broker-dealer status — “plain vanilla” and “dark chocolate with a subtle infusion of habañero,” say Amy Kroll and Michael Weissmann of Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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Energy Market End-Users Let Out A Sigh Of Relief
Just one day before the end-user compliance date for swap reporting and record keeping under the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a no-action letter. While the scope of the relief provided in the letter varies depending on the status of the reporting counterparty, the letter should be welcomed by most of the energy market's end-user community, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.