Regulatory Transactions

Editor’s Note: See also NGOs’ Increasing Use of the Data Quality Act.

From: Safety + Health

The National Employment Law Project and two other labor advocacy groups have filed a complaint against the Department of Labor, claiming DOL violated the Information Quality Act in its move to roll back child labor laws to allow unsupervised teens to operate powered patient lifts in health care settings.

NELP, the Child Labor Coalition and the Service Employees International Union on Feb. 11 submitted the complaint to Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget and President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff, as well as Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta and Wendy Johnson of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division.

From: Trimble Transportation Mobility

By Dave Osiecki

Although Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) staff were not furloughed during the recent and prolonged partial government shutdown (due to a fairly unique agency funding stream), other parts of the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), along with other federal agencies that help review and process federal rulemaking proposals, were affected.  Many policy-related staff in the Office of the Secretary of the USDOT were furloughed, and part of their responsibility is to review draft regulatory proposals from FMCSA and other USDOT agencies. 

From: The National Law Review

Emerging Technologies Update

Article By R. Scott Nuzum, Eric C. Wagner | Van Ness Feldman LLP

***

BIS Contemplating Export Controls for Certain Emerging Technologies

On November 19, 2018, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)—an agency within the Department of Commerce—published an ANPR seeking public comment on criteria for identifying emerging technologies that are essential to U.S. national security. The BIS ANPR comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over global technology transfers. The past year alone has been dominated by headlines of (i) potential national security concerns related to the import of Chinese telecommunications technologies; (ii) potential supply chain attacks on U.S. technology manufacturers; and (iii) escalating trade tensions between the United States and China precipitated at least in part by U.S. objections over Chinese theft of intellectual property.

From: Modern Healthcare

By Susannah Luthi

***

This potentially major extra cost of $5 billion to $8 billion comes with the not-yet-finalized and not-yet-public draft regulations that will likely shape the VA’s community health program into a model similar to TriCare Prime, according to sources familiar to talks. TriCare Prime is the managed-care HMO plan for active service military that pays drastically low rates for treatment in private clinics and hospitals but also offers care in military health facilities.

The size of this new cost projection is delaying the VA’s proposed model at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where officials are evaluating the draft regulations, said a source close to discussions.

From: JDSupra

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sent a proposed H-1B registration rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review, signaling that it plans to move quickly to implement its plan to reform the so-called “H-1B Lottery” and suggesting the new rule may be in place in time for the 2019 filing season that begins on April 1.

Read Complete Article

From: HR DIVE

Kate Tornone

Dive Brief:

• A new overtime rule proposal is heading to the the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, according to multiple sources.
• OMB’s regulatory office has no deadline by which it must review the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) rule but the move indicates that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will be published for public comment in the near future, according to Fortney & Scott, one of the law firms reporting the submission.

From: Politico | Morning Tax

By BERNIE BECKER

With help from Toby Eckert

***

The TCJA angle: Treasury and the IRS are still circulating tax law regulations, in no small part because a budget deal last year ensured there was a designated funding stream for TCJA implementation. And as Tax Notes’ Jonathan Curry notes, tax rules won’t get stuck in the hopper at the White House Office of Management and Budget, despite the fact that OMB is running on a shoestring staff.

Read Complete Column

From: Current Federal Tax Developments

by Ed Zollars, CPA

The IRS has now sent final regulations under IRC §199A (RIN 1545-BO71) and a new set of proposed regulations (RIN 1545-BP12) under that section related to REIT dividends and registered investment companies (mutual funds) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget for review.  The proposed regulations were sent to OIRA on December 13, 2018, while the final regulations followed on December 14, 2018.

Neither set of regulations are marked as economically significant, so OIRA has 45 days to complete the review of the regulations.  That review must be completed before the regulations can be released.

From: Bloomberg

Proposed rules on a tax break for exporters are under review at a White House office.

The Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began reviewing the guidance on Dec. 14, according to its website. It has up to 45 days to review the rules before it will send them back to the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service for release.

Read Complete Article [paywall]

From: Federal News Network

By Jason Miller

***

The Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) recently released its semi-annual regulatory agenda and it got me thinking about the proposed and final Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules.

***

Well given the fact that over the last two years, the number of FAR rules that were either proposed or finalized was scarce, and there doesn’t seem to be any change on the horizon, I thought we might have some fun with the federal acquisition by putting some odds on how likely the most significant of the 36 proposed and nine final FAR rules would come to fruition.