Regulatory Transactions

From: Penn Energy

By Barry Cassell, Chief Analyst

Members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 29 told a congressional committee that they are working closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make sure the coal-averse Clean Power Plan doesn’t destabilize the grid.

FERC Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur was one of those testifying before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power about the plan, designed to reduce CO2 emissions from existing power plants. The plan is expected to force the closure of a number of coal-fired power plants on top of those already being forced to shut due to EPA programs like the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).

From: The Hill

By Benjamin Goad

A new report from the conservative American Action Forum (AAF) has identified tens of billions of dollars worth of proposed regulations that are scheduled to be issued after November’s midterm elections.

The report, based on information culled from the Obama administration’s formal rule-making agenda, follows a federal finding that politics were at play in the delays of major regulations ahead of the 2012 election.

The AAF study counted 15 major regulations with associated projected costs of roughly $34 billion that are due in November, December and January.

From: TVNewsCheck

By David Oxenford and David O’Connor

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TV Closed Captioning —

In February, the FCC adopted significant new closed captioning obligations for broadcasters, which will be phased in over time.  To begin with, the FCC clarified that the closed captioning rules apply to mixed English-Spanish programming, to on-demand programming, and to low power TV stations.  The FCC also clarified that snippets of English or Spanish on programs that are otherwise in a different language do not need to be captioned.

From: Association of Corporate Counsel

BuckleySandler LLP

On July 14, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review of a long-awaited FinCEN proposal to establish customer due diligence requirements for financial institutions, sending the rule back to FinCEN. In its spring 2014 rulemaking agenda, Treasury updated the timeline for the rule to indicate it could be proposed in July with a 60 day comment period. OIRA’s public records do not provide information about what, if any, changes OIRA sought or required prior to FinCEN finalizing the proposal. The public portion of the FinCEN rulemaking has been ongoing since February 2012 when FinCEN released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to solicit comment on potential requirements for financial institutions to (i) conduct initial due diligence and verify customer identities at the time of account opening; (ii) understand the purpose and intended nature of the account; (iii) identify and verify all customers’ beneficial owners; and (iv) monitor the customer relationship and conduct additional due diligence as needed. FinCEN subsequently held a series of roundtable meetings, summaries of which it later published.

From: ARUP Laboratories

Letter Signed by Laboratory Directors of Nation’s Top Academic Medical Centers Warns That FDA Regulations Would Stifle Innovation and Compromise Patient Care

SALT LAKE CITY, July 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading diagnostic innovators and laboratory directors from the nation’s most respected nonprofit, academic medical centers have issued a letter urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) not to release Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance for laboratory-developed tests (LDTs). Spearheaded by Edward R. Ashwood, MD, president and CEO of ARUP Laboratories and professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, the letter states that FDA regulation would add yet another cumbersome layer to the already heavily regulated approval process for LDTs.

From: CSPnet.com

Briant offers an insider’s view of taxes, regulations and restrictions 

By Mitch Morrison, Vice President & Group Editor

It could be 2016 before the FDA takes official control over cigars, pipe tobacco and e-cigarettes. In the meantime, myriad proposals, from President Obama’s near-doubling of the Federal Excise Tax to local and state initiatives to increase tobacco taxes and restrict the sale of e-cigs, should keep the country’s 175,000 sellers of tobacco products on alert.

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From: The Poultry Site

US – National Chicken Council (NCC) has welcomed the newly proposed voluntary code to modernise the US poultry inspection system aimed at reducing foodborne illness, as well as setting up a new web site to aid understanding of the differences between the new and old systems of broiler carcass inspection.

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has sent its proposed rule to modernise the US poultry inspection system to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review, according to the NCC Washington Report. The notice is available on the OMB’s web site.

From: CFPB Monitor/Ballard Spahr

By Alan S. Kaplinsky

Three prominent industry trade groups are urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) not to approve the CFPB’s proposal to conduct a national telephone survey of 1,000 credit card holders as part of its study of the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in connection with the offering of consumer financial products and services. 

From: Financial-Planning.com

by: Kenneth Corbin

WASHINGTON — Has the debate around the Department of Labor’s fiduciary proposal become so heated that the administration will shelve the controversial proposal?

At least one opponent says it’s possible.

Stephen Saxon, the chairman of the Groom Law Group, has been meeting with senior administration officials to express opposition to the pending regulations. And speaking this week at the Insured Retirement Institute’s regulatory conference, Saxon noted that the concerns from the financial industry about the proposal — which would extend fiduciary responsibilities to advisors providing retirement advice to plans and individuals — have resonated at the highest levels of the government.

From: WSJ/Pharmalot

By Ed Silverman

A pair of Republican lawmakers has written the White House to question the authority the FDA has to issue a rule allowing generic drug makers to independently provide updated safety warnings about their medicines.

The proposed rule, which the agency released last fall, has become controversial as generic drug makers argue the FDA is on a misguided mission to close what consumer advocates call a safety loophole in the national medicine chest. The generic industry, however, funded a white paper that maintains the rule would add $4 billion to the nation’s health care bill, mostly due to higher litigation costs that may ensue.