Continuing its focus on cooperative federalism under the current Administration, EPA issued its final policy on Enhancing Effective Partnerships Between the EPA and the States in Civil Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Work on July 11, 2019. EPA’s guidance memorandum follows review of comments from the draft policy published in May 2019 and replaces the January 2018 interim guidance on enhancing partnerships. EPA’s final policy expands and clarifies earlier direction on communication planning between EPA and its state counterparts with authorized or delegated programs under various federal statutes such as the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and RCRA.
The Role of States in Environmental Enforcement – EPA Issues Final Policy Outlining State Responsibility /
| 07.15.2019 |
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| 07.02.2019 |
Affected by a local government just compensation action? Your remedies have now changed significantly. The Supreme Court on June 21, 2019 overturned 35 years of precedent. In Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania the Court held that you can now take your federal takings claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 directly to federal court without exhausting state court remedies. |
| 06.25.2019 |
All companies and organizations with Minnesota-based employees must update their employment policies and practices due to recent state law changes going into effect on July 1, 2019. These updates are necessary due to the Minnesota Legislature’s passage of a law imposing new recordkeeping and notice requirements intended to protect all employees working in Minnesota. These new requirements are catching many employers off guard due to the lack of publicity for the new law and the short period to achieve compliance. |
| 06.12.2019 |
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rulemaking package that applies to investment advisers and broker-dealers. This is the fourth in a series of articles describing the SEC’s rulemaking package. This article addresses the SEC’s Interpretation of the “Solely Incidental” Broker-Dealer Exclusion. That exclusion allows broker-dealers to provide certain advisory services without becoming subject to regulation as investment advisers under the Advisers Act, as long as those services are “solely incidental” to the broker-dealers’ core business. The SEC’s new interpretation of this exclusion provides some helpful guidance for broker-dealers and dually-registered firms. |
| 06.11.2019 |
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rulemaking package that applies to investment advisers and broker-dealers. These rules include a new set of disclosure requirements to address retail investor confusion over brokerage and investment advisory services. This is the third in a series of articles describing the SEC’s rulemaking package. This article provides an overview of the Form CRS – Relationship Summary portion of the package. |
| 06.11.2019 |
Facilities that own and operate air emissions sources in the State of Missouri, such as manufacturing plants, chemical plants, and similar industrial air sources, will want to take note of recent proposed changes to the notification obligations involving certain excess emission events. |
| 06.11.2019 |
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rulemaking package that applies to investment advisers and broker-dealers. In a series of four articles, Spencer Fane LLP outlines the SEC’s rulemaking package. Our first article summarized “Regulation Best Interest” a new standard of conduct governing broker-dealers. In this second article, we describe the SEC’s interpretation of the standard of conduct that applies to investment advisers when they engage with their clients. |
| 06.10.2019 |
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rulemaking package that is applicable to investment advisers and broker-dealers. The package includes two final rules and two interpretations – Regulation Best Interest, Investment Adviser Standard of Conduct Interpretation, Form CRS – Relationship Summary, and Solely Incidental Broker-Dealer Exclusion Interpretation. The Regulation Best Interest and Form CRS requirements are effective 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register, with a transition period for compliance that ends on June 30, 2020. The SEC’s interpretations are effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. In a series of four articles, Spencer Fane LLP outlines the SEC’s rulemaking package. This first article describes the Regulation Best Interest portion of the SEC’s package. |
| 06.04.2019 |
On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court held that filing a charge of discrimination is not a “jurisdictional” prerequisite to filing suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. See Fort Bend County v. Davis, Slip Op. No. 18-525 (June 3, 2019). Although this case deals with what sounds like an obscure legal issue, it is of great practical importance to employers. In short, it means that employers defending against claims of discrimination under Title VII must diligently assert all procedural defenses they may have as early as possible. Otherwise, a failure to assert a defense may allow the plaintiff-employee’s claim to go forward, even if the employee has not technically complied with Title VII’s mandatory charge-filing procedures. |
| 05.07.2019 |
The United States Department of Health and Human Services reached an agreement with Touchstone Medical Imaging in which Touchstone agreed to pay $3 million and adopt a corrective action plan in the wake of its data breach that exposed over 300,000 patients’ protected health information. |