August 18, 2022 By: Peter McGaw and John Epperson By now, readers likely are familiar with the series of “retail hazardous waste” enforcement actions being brought across the state of California. For several years, various retailers have been targeted for coordinated, state-wide enforcement by local District Attorneys based on undisclosed, behind-the-scenes “dumpster audits.” These businesses are then accused of disposing of hazardous waste in their trash ...
August 17, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara, Nora Sheriff and Christopher Parker President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (HR 5376) (the Act) into law on August 16, 2022. This update provides a high level overview of the Act’s incentives for the energy sector. We have published a separate update regarding the Act’s energy storage incentives. The Act provides $750 billion for a range of issues, including $400 billion for energy and climate ...
August 16, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara and Samir Hafez President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (HR 5376) (the Act) into law on August 16, 2022, after the Senate-passed bill sailed through the House of Representatives last week on August 12. The Act includes a range of incentives and tax credits aimed towards accelerating the production of emissions-free energy, and is largely seen as a win for the energy storage sector ...
August 15, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* Continuing a trend it has been pursuing, the CFPB on Thursday used a non-rulemaking circular (Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-04) to state that its UDAAP authority extends its enforcement authority to situations where financial institutions have insufficient data protection or information security. The circular may be found here ...
August 1, 2022 By: Steven Nakasone On July 8, 2022, the California Privacy Protection Agency commenced the formal rulemaking process to adopt regulations to clarify and implement the amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The amendments will go into effect on January 1, 2023. The amendments will expand the rights of consumers and will increase the corresponding compliance obligations on businesses ...
July 21, 2022 By: John Epperson and Peter McGaw California has a long history of enacting laws regulating plastic packaging, dating back to the Rigid Plastic Packaging Container law in 1991, a law many manufacturers only learn about when they receive a notice from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (“CalRecycle”) ...
July 20, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* Amidst its increased activity in many different areas, the CFPB recently focused on credit reporting responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by issuing an advisory opinion. The CFPB highlighted and set out some specific key points regarding credit reporting responsibilities and prohibitions, and offered a reminder about criminal liability under various provisions in the FCRA ...
June 28, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* In its recent Semiannual Risk Perspective, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has highlighted the difficulties banks face finding adequate numbers and quality of hires for compliance oversight. While there are several reasons for this issue, it comes at an especially inopportune time, when banks face increasing compliance demands and regulator requirements that target compliance activities and Chief Compliance Officers specifically ...
June 23, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* According to statements by a Department of Justice official, corporate Chief Compliance Officers will in the future have to take a more exposed position by providing certifications in settlements with DOJ. Further, corporations should consider specific steps to take that DOJ would consider in evaluating whether the company has built an effective compliance program consistent with the required certifications ...
June 15, 2022 By: Tracy Warren and Yvonne Ricardo Finally, some good news for California employers involving California’s Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Angie Moriana is a huge victory for employers with valid arbitration programs or who wish to implement valid arbitration programs to substantially limit exposure to statutory and civil penalties under PAGA. On June 15, 2022, the U.S ...
June 13, 2022 By: Melissa Richards On June 9, 2022, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (CA DFPI) issued its long awaited final regulations implementing SB 1235’s (2018) new early disclosure requirements on commercial financing offers equal to or less than $500,000. The CA DFPI regulations take effect December 9, 2022. The final regulations can be found at Title 10, Chapter 3 of the California Code of Regulations. The link to Chapter 3 is HERE ...
June 6, 2022 By: Joshua Robbins and Alexander Carroll On May 4, 2022, New Jersey federal district judge Kevin McNulty unsealed a decision ordering Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. to produce two of its former executives unredacted versions of memoranda and notes from its outside counsel’s internal investigation into foreign bribery at the company ...
May 24, 2022 By: Charles Whitman On May 23 2022, the California Supreme Court reversed the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal and made clear that meal and rest period premiums (or “extra pay” or “premium pay”)[1] constitute “wages” and must be accurately reflected on an employee’s wage statement and accurately paid to the employee during the employee’s final pay out. (See Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., (2022) 2022 Cal ...
May 17, 2022 By: Arielle Seidman and Anthony Martin The Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) is set to take effect on July 1, 2023. The law, which applies to, among others, many businesses or non-profits that process data of no fewer than 100,000 persons over the course of a year, allows the attorney general to “promulgate rules for the purpose of carrying out” the CPA ...
May 13, 2022 By: Alexandra Shulman Effective June 9, 2022, Washington State’s Silenced No More Act (the “Act”) will prohibit nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions regarding illegal acts of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, and sexual assault in employment agreements ...
By: Gwenneth O’Hara, Nora Sheriff, Jonathan Kendrick, and Lillian Rafii After extensive collaboration with other state agencies and nearly a year’s worth of public workshops on scoping plan topics and modeling, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released its Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update (Draft Scoping Plan) on May 10, 2022 ...
May 12, 2022 By: Mikhail Parnes and Devan McCarty Health plans routinely assert that contracted providers must appeal underpayments or claim denials according to the health plans’ internal dispute process. The payer/provider agreement itself, or provider manuals that health plans contend are incorporated by reference, are the basis for the appeal requirement. Health plans oftentimes analogize this process to the legal principle of exhaustion of administrative remedies ...
April 27, 2022 By: Michael Flynn On April 25, the CFPB announced that it is invoking an aspect of its oversight authority to enable it to supervise and examine certain nonbank lenders when it determines the company’s activities and products pose a risk to consumers. The announcement highlights the CFPB’s intent to more closely supervise at least some FinTech companies and other nonbank consumer financial services providers, comparable to its supervision of banks ...
By Weiss Hamid Continuing the growing trend, Utah has become the fourth state to enact a comprehensive state privacy law, entitled the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (“UCPA”). Utah’s Senate passed the UCPA unanimously on February 25, 2022, and was followed by a unanimous vote by Utah’s House on March 2. On March 22, Governor Spencer Cox signed the UCPA, officially making it the law of the land ...
April 20, 2022 By: Arielle Seidman and Anthony Martin Automated and algorithmic decision-making tools have become run-of-the-mill in everything from loan and apartment applications to employment searches and university acceptances. Such tools provide increased efficiency, accuracy, and customer satisfaction for, among many others, banks and financial institutions ...
April 19, 2022 By: T. Mark Tubis The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) has renewed the January 31, 2020 determination that a public health emergency (“PHE”) exists nationwide. Each determination renews the PHE for 90 days, so all HHS/CMS waivers and flexibilities applicable during the PHE will continue until at least July 15, 2022, unless the PHE is terminated sooner ...
April 12, 2022 By: Mary H. Rose Health care providers who received Provider Relief Funds under the CARES Act during Period 1 (April 10, 2020 to June 30, 2020) were required to use the funds by June 30, 2021 and submit a report to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) regarding use of the funds by September 30, 2021. On March 10, 2022, HRSA sent notices to approximately 10,000 providers who failed to meet the report deadline ...
By: Manuel Fishman March 2022 Documentary Credit World Most issuers of, and beneficiaries under, letters of credit are familiar with the impact a tenant bankruptcy has on the continued effectiveness of draws under the LC. Assuming a “direct draw” letter of credit that does not require prior notice to the applicant, the beneficiary is entitled to draw on the LC because of the independent obligation of the issuer to honor credit-complying draws ...
March 31, 2022 By: Michael Flynn In a March 28 speech, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra announced that the CFPB intends to enforce aggressively against large financial institutions that are repeat offenders, and will ask other federal regulators to take a similar approach. This will include utilizing stronger sanctions, even up to banning business practices, forcing divestiture of business lines, and working with state regulatory agencies to obtain license revocations where appropriate ...
