Welcome back to another Top 10 in Law Blogs! This week was marked by an eerie sense of deja vu. LexBloggers weighed in on President Donald Trump’s refusal to sign a stopgap funding bill that would extend funding to nine different government departments, dramatically increasing the likelihood of another government shutdown–potentially the third shutdown in 2018. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, was yet again found unconstitutional, this time by a federal district court judge in Texas. Other top stories included discussion on how blockchain technology can advance the $217 trillion US real estate market and proposed changes to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). Happy Holidays!
Navigating the Potential Government Shutdown: LexBlog Perspectives – By Melissa Lin: House Speaker Paul Ryan announced earlier today that President Donald Trump will not sign a Senate-approved stopgap funding bill unless it includes border-wall funding, dramatically increasing the risk of a partial government shutdown. This would mark the third government shutdown of 2018. Funding for nine federal departments, including the State, Justice, Transportation, and Agriculture departments…View Full Post
Federal District Court Rules ACA Unconstitutional – By Alan H. Bowie, Jr., Mark Williams and Nick Zaino: On December 14, 2018, a federal district court in Texas held in Texas v. United States that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional. The court also concluded that because the individual mandate cannot be severed from ACA, the entire law is invalid. Background As you may recall, the ACA has both an…View Full Post
New York Proposes Innovative Carbon Pricing for Electricity – By Mark Perlis, Bill Massey and Bud Earley: Carbon pricing is seen by many as an effective means of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity generation. California and several Eastern states have enacted “cap and trade” emission allowance programs, which have forced generators in those states to pay a price for their CO2 emissions. With the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan not…View Full Post
Massive Membership Campaign Launched – By Chris Grim: Last week, LexBlog began a membership campaign to connect as many quality law blogs as possible. Kevin O’Keefe, the CEO of LexBlog, and Bob Ambrogi, the Editor-in-Chief, sat down to talk about recent events surrounding the campaign and the world of legal marketing. Kevin O’Keefe: I’m here with the Bob Ambrogi, the editor-in-chief and publisher…View Full Post
Federal Court Upholds First Amendment Right to Secretly Record Public Officials in Public – By William Dalsen: Last week, in Martin v. Gross, Chief Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment in favor of our clients, finding the Massachusetts Wiretap Statute (Mass. Gen. L. ch. 272, § 99) unconstitutional when applied to secret recordings of government officials performing their duties in public…View Full Post
U.S. Department of Labor’s Investigation of Arizona Hospital Highlights Need for Awareness of Workplace Lactation Accommodation Laws and Policies – By Deirdre Salsich: As the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), a hospital in Arizona was recently ordered to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirement that employers must provide nursing mothers adequate time and space to express breast milk. The WHD announced on December 11 that…View Full Post
FATCA: Significant Relief in New Proposed Regulations – By Jeremy Naylor, Amanda H. Nussbaum and Martin T. Hamilton: On December 13, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) addressing various aspects of the withholding and information reporting regime commonly referred to as “FATCA”.[1] The Proposed Regulations provide significant relief from potential withholding and compliance burdens that U.S. and non-U.S….View Full Post
How Changes Proposed to Title IX Regulations Governing Sexual Harassment Apply to Independent Schools – By Leander A. Dolphin, Peter J. Maher and Natalia Sieira-Millan: The U.S. Department of Education recently released its anticipated proposed regulations regarding sexual harassment under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. If adopted, these regulations could have a significant impact on the manner in which educational agencies and institutions investigate and address claims of sexual harassment or discrimination. Although these regulations may not…View Full Post
More Employers Were “ICED” in Fiscal Year 2018 – By Mark J. Neuberger: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) recently released statistics on its worksite enforcement activities for the federal fiscal year ending on September 30, 2018. It should surprise no one that worksite enforcement designed to crack down on the employment of undocumented aliens has skyrocketed. In FY 2018, 6,848 worksite investigations were initiated, representing…View Full Post
Blockchain has come to U.S. Real Estate – By Stuart Kaplow: Earlier this year a precedent setting property sale in Vermont was the first real estate transaction in the United States using blockchain, portending a new era in the sale of land and improvements. Blockchain technology is an industry disrupter on the cusp of improving transactions across all sectors and borders. It is suggested blockchain may…View Full Post