State AG Pulse | State AGs and Feds: The Dynamics of Influence & Collaboration
Episode 24: EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum Part I: Employers' "Superstar Harassment" Problem
The Securities & Exchange Commission has disbanded its Climate & ESG Task Force, which had been launched with great fanfare in March 2021 at the beginning of the Biden administration. However, the Climate & ESG Task Force had...more
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has intensified its scrutiny of healthcare platforms that integrate doctors with insurers, data, and other assets. Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter described this...more
As part of its whole-of-government effort to enforce the antitrust laws, the Biden administration recently launched a new interagency Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing (Strike Force), which will be co-chaired by the...more
Washington AG Bob Ferguson’s sponsored legislation to create an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force passed both houses of the state legislature, receiving bipartisan support. Senate Bill 5838 creates a task force of...more
REGULATORY ISSUES & UPDATES - Mandatory Climate Change Reporting Requirements Under the New European ESRS E1 - The implementation of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards poses risks for reporting companies,...more
On September 18, 2023, the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures ("TNFD") released its final recommendations for disclosures on nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities. The TNFD aims to...more
The framework claims to set the “gold standard” for companies to contribute to the net zero transition while emphasising ambition, action, and accountability. The UK Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) launched its...more
Funding Update: Shutdown Looms. How—and when—the federal government will be funded after September 30, 2023, continued to be the main focus of our elected members of Congress this week. Of course, attention is now primarily...more
On the heels of the United Kingdom (UK) announcing its first global summit on artificial intelligence (AI) safety, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak predicted that London could be the future epicenter of AI regulation. The...more
In February, the New York Times published an investigative report regarding alleged employment of underage migrants, many from Central America, at U.S. companies. While employment of certain minors is permitted under federal...more
The United States Supreme Court recently granted Certiorari in a closely watched case that could have significant consequences for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and certain other federal administrative...more
Cybersecurity continues to be top of mind for federal and state policymakers. This advisory identifies and analyzes some major recent developments that present opportunities and challenges in the coming months for a broad...more
On July 28, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)...more
On May 1, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (SFWTF) issued an update that the Biden administration plans to end COVID-19 vaccination mandates established under Executive Orders (EO) 14042 on Ensuring Adequate COVID...more
Capping off Earth Week 2023, President Biden on Friday signed an executive order expanding the Administration’s Justice40 Initiative and creating a new White House Office of Environmental Justice....more
“Global peace” may be elusive, but there are times when companies under investigation may gain a strategic advantage by proposing that states and feds work together. In this podcast episode, Cozen O’Connor State AG Group...more
In 2022, federal prosecutors employed the False Claims Act (FCA) to recover nearly $7 million from fraud related to pandemic-relief programs. We expect that number to increase in 2023. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has...more
The Biden-Harris Administration continues to build on early efforts to integrate environmental justice with federal agency actions through a new executive order, Executive Order 14091, Further Advancing Racial Equity and...more
TPT’s proposed best practice includes four elements for effective disclosure of transition plans, aligned with GFANZ’s and the ISSB’s disclosure recommendations. On 8 November 2022, the UK’s Transition Plan Taskforce...more
In May 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the creation of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The Task Force is comprised of more than a dozen federal agencies that are investigating and prosecuting...more
The bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) went into effect on June 21, 2022. Moving forward, any goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the...more
HM Treasury’s Transition Plan Taskforce aims to influence international standard setting and make the UK the world’s first net zero-aligned financial centre. On 25 April 2022, HM Treasury (HMT) announced the launch of...more
The fast and furious Jenga game over when and with which federal vaccine mandate a company must comply might finally have reached a turning point. On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court issued dual per curiam opinions in...more
The implementation of President Biden’s September 9, 2021 Executive Order regarding COVID-19 vaccine and safe workplace requirements for federal contractors has caused confusion and prompted numerous questions from federal...more
Ransomware attacks have become increasingly common and, according to the NSA Director, are projected to continue growing in prevalence. Amidst the rise in ransomware attacks, last week the United States Department of Justice...more