The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on December 16 unanimously elected Commissioner Mark Wetjen to serve as Acting Chairman when current Chairman Gary Gensler departs, which could be as soon as January 3, 2014. President Obama has nominated Timothy Massad, Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the Treasury Department, to succeed Chairman Gensler.
Commissioner Wetjen will…
The IRS has resolved some of the uncertainty surrounding in-plan Roth rollovers in Notice 2013-74. Even though it is late in 2013, employers can still allow Roth contributions and in-plan Roth rollovers in 2013 without adopting plan amendments until the end of 2014.
1. What Is an In-Plan Roth Rollover?
Roth contributions have become…
Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing entitled, “What Information Do Data Brokers Have on Consumers, and How Do They Use It?” According to Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), the Committee will “examine the data broker industry and how industry practices may impact consumers.” The…
This year has not been a great one for activists seeking to force corporations to increase disclosure of their political activities. According to the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, average shareholder support for proposals related to political spending or lobbying declined again this year, from 22 percent to 20 percent for lobbying proposals and…
On 11 December 2013, the European Commission (“Commission”) sanctioned pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson and Novartis with fines totaling EUR 16.3 million over a co-promotion agreement which allegedly delayed the sale of generic versions of pain killer Fentanyl in the Netherlands.
Johnson & Johnson initially developed and commercialised Fentanyl in the 1960s. In the Netherlands,…
On December 11, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced a long-awaited cybersecurity bill, entitled the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (“NCCIP Act”), H.R. 3696. The bill has bipartisan co-sponsors including, House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies Chairman…
Earlier this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo empaneled a so-called “Moreland Commission,” under New York’s Moreland Act, to investigate public corruption. The Moreland Commission, also known as the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, is led by several state prosecutors. It recently issued its preliminary report. That report reflects that the Moreland Commission is…
The Confidential Disclosure Agreement (“CDA”) is widely used in the Life Sciences Sector, and provides protection for a key asset – a party’s confidential information and trade secrets. This post does not propose to go through the various possible provisions of a CDA or their negotiation, but instead sets out five practical considerations to take into…
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission raised campaign contribution limits last week. Effective January 5, 2014, corporations, PACs, and individuals will be able to donate $950 per election to legislative candidates and $1,900 per election to gubernatorial and other statewide candidates. A primary and general election are considered separate elections for contribution limit purposes. A…
FERC on December 2 filed two suits in the District of Massachusetts to affirm orders alleging market manipulation in the ISO New England demand response market in 2007 and 2008.
In the first case (docket number 13-13054), the Commission seeks to affirm its August 29, 2013 order finding that Competitive Energy Services (CES), an energy…
