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March 2014
Senate Commerce Committee To Examine Data Breaches and Cyber Attacks
Continuing a spate of recent legislative activity, the Senate Commerce Committee is bringing the hot topic of data breach back to the Hill. This Wednesday, the Commerce Committee will hold a hearing entitled, “Protecting Personal Consumer Information from Cyber Attacks and Data Breaches.” According to the Committee, recent data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus,…
Welcome to Cov Africa
By Cov Africa
Africa. For some of us it is home and, to others, it may seem as foreign as the most distant frontier. Regardless of your familiarity with the continent, it is an inescapable fact that Africa is in the midst of an awakening to its seemingly endless potential. Home to seven of the world’s ten fastest…
EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board Rejects Attempt to Require Additional Greenhouse Gas Limits in a Natural Gas Power Plant Permit
EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board has rejected the Sierra Club’s attempt to require certain greenhouse gas (GHG) limits in a preconstruction permit for a new natural gas power plant, in one of the first EAB decisions to address this issue. In re: La Paloma Energy Center, LLC, PSD Appeal No. 13-10 (EAB Mar. 14, 2014). …
Appellate Court Affirms Fiduciaries’ Liability for Failure to Monitor Revenue Sharing Paid to Recordkeeper
By Inside Jobs
On March 19, the Eighth Circuit addressed a long-running case involving alleged fiduciary duty breaches in the administration of 401(k) plans. (Tussey v. ABB, Inc.) Although the Eighth Circuit emphasized that courts owe deference to choices entrusted by plan documents to fiduciary discretion – and reversed one finding of liability partly on that…
CMS Issues EHR Hardship Exemption Applications for Medicare Providers
On March 10, 2014, CMS released its applications for Medicare professionals and hospitals seeking a hardship exemption for the Stage 2 meaningful use requirements. In these applications, CMS added “2014 EHR Vendor Issues” to the list of grounds warranting an exemption. The application for eligible professionals can be found here; the application for hospitals…
EMA launches adaptive licensing pilot project
On 19 March 2014, the EMA announced the launch of its adaptive licensing pilot project along with an invitation to interested companies to submit their ongoing medicine development programmes to be considered as pilot cases.
The term “adaptive licensing” (also known as “staggered approval” or “progressive licensing”) describes a process which allows patients to have…
California Announces Timing/Process for Issuing New Regulations on Appliance Efficiency
On March 19, 2014, the California Energy Commission, the state’s primary energy policy and planning agency, announced that it was initiating a regulatory process leading to the regulation of 15 categories of consumer appliances as to usage of electricity, natural gas, and water. This comes in part in response to the three-year drought period in…
Changes Coming to Petition Process for Approval of New Renewable Fuels Pathways
This month, the EPA announced that it is improving the petition process for obtaining approval of new renewable fuel pathways. When the initial pathways were approved, there was recognition that a process must be in place to evaluate improvements in existing processes and entirely new pathways. The Renewable Fuel Standard regulations specify the existing approved…
The FEC: Where a “Tie” Can Be (Almost) a “Win”
That the FEC often deadlocks is noteworthy but no longer newsworthy. How parties who are regulated by the FEC deal with this logjam, however, remains hotly debated and timely.
The prospect of 3-3 votes on advisory opinion requests, in particular, is often the subject of much handwringing. How should a party deal with a deadlock…