Renewable energy in the form of utility scale wind and solar are best sited in the areas where the load profile is best - the solar belt for solar generation, and areas with high capacity factors for wind generation. The best areas for development of these resources are remote areas that lack access to transmission ...
The Obama National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”)1 has started to make its mark on the labor laws through a series of changes that collectively may have a significant impact on the labor law environment ...
The last minute compromise which averted the expiration of the Bush tax cuts included a two-year modification of the estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes. For 2011 and 2012, every individual will have a $5 million gift tax exemption. For individuals dying in 2011 or 2012, the estate tax exemption is also $5 million, and the generation-skipping transfer (“GST”) tax exemption for transfers during life or at death is $5 million ...
After launching a National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) on recordkeeping in 2009, OSHA has focused increasingly more on recordkeeping compliance when conducting workplace inspections. Recently, the Assistant Secretary of Labor, David Michaels, noted that the recordkeeping NEP has supposedly uncovered recordkeeping violations in almost 60 percent of the 192 inspections OSHA has carried out to date under the program ...
As required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules regarding shareholder approval of executive compensation and “golden parachute” arrangements on January 25, 2011. See Release Nos. 33-9178 and 34-63768 ...
On November 29, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) announced that FINRA Rule 5131 will take effect on May 27, 2011.1 FINRA Rule 5131 is intended to sustain public confidence in the initial public offering (“IPO”) process by regulating the allocation, pricing and trading of IPOs of equity securities (“New Issues”) ...
“Never a dull moment” – 2010 was an eventful year for Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) jurisprudence in the Fifth Circuit and across the country ...
Earlier this month, the Court of Appeals of Texas, Third District, Austin, reinstated a “control person” claim under the Texas Securities Act (“TSA”) against Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. related to a former broker’s allegedly fraudulent outside sales transactions. David Fernea v. Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., No. 03-09-00566-CV (Tex. App. –Austin, Jan. 7, 2011). Allegations ...
Effective as of July 21, 2011, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) repeals a key exemption from investment adviser registration currently relied upon by many private fund managers and replaces it with several much more limited exemptions from registration ...
In prior years, certain tax-exempt organizations whose gross receipts did not normally exceed $25,000 were exempt from filing the standard Form 990. Now, this threshold is $50,000, and for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, such organizations must submit a Form 990-N “e-Postcard” annually (rather than the Form 990-EZ or Form 990 required of larger organizations). Private foundations and supporting organizations may not file the Form 990-N ...
Marriage has become as globalized as business today. If one spouse is a non-citizen, there are some minor challenges in drafting estate planning documents to minimize United States estate taxes, and we recommend consulting with counsel in the non-citizen’s home country. If the non-citizen’s family has substantial wealth, there are opportunities to reduce, or even eliminate, U.S. estate and gift tax on transfers to that individual ...
February 20, 2011, will bring a significant additional burden for many employers using the H-1B, H-1B1 Chile/Singapore, L-1 or O-1A category to sponsor a worker. Petitioners, even those entities not typically involved with technology subject to U.S. Government export rules, will be required to make an export control compliance statement under penalty of perjury on USCIS Form I-129. The statement is to certify that the foreign employee will not be allowed access to controlled U.S ...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more than 12,000 charges in 2009 from employees claiming sexual harassment—a 6 percent increase from three years ago. Although harassment claims are on the rise, Haynes and Boone continues to secure significant sexual harassment victories for its clients, and employers overall ...
On November 9, 2010, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued its much-anticipated final rule implementing Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), which applies to all employers covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), namely, employers with fifteen or more employees, as well as unions, employment agencies and labor management training programs ...
Under the Texas Public Information Act, a “requestor” may file suit for a writ of mandamus compelling the release of public information. In The City of Dallas v. The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Court of Appeals held that an employer has standing to file such a suit when its employee made the initial request. Reporters for the Dallas Morning News requested certain emails from the City of Dallas. The City claimed that the documents fell under PIA exceptions ...
In a move that indicates significant regulatory changes may be coming to deepwater operations, federal authorities are eyeing new rules curtailing venting of natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico ...
On November 19, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) proposed new rules and amendments to existing rules and Form ADV under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”), that would implement various amendments to the Advisers Act contained as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) ...
On Friday December 17, 2010, the President signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (the “Act”). Many taxpayers were keeping an eye on this legislation because of the possible impact it might have on year-end tax planning. Specifically, taxpayers were keen to find out if certain favorable tax laws would be extended. Many of the tax laws that were scheduled to sunset were extended for an additional two years ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on December 20, 2010, that it entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Carter’s, Inc., an Atlanta-based provider of children’s clothing. This is the first non-prosecution agreement entered since the SEC announced its new cooperation initiative in January 2010 to encourage cooperation from corporations and individuals ...
Last week, the European Commission (“EC”) adopted revised rules for evaluating cooperation agreements between horizontal competitors at the same level in the supply/distribution chain. The Guidelines on the Applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to Horizontal Co-Operation Agreements (the “Guidelines”) provide a framework for analyzing common forms of cooperation agreements between competitors ...
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a split decision and failed to resolve whether copyrighted materials legally made abroad can be imported into the U.S. and sold without the express permission of the copyright owner. See Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega S.A., 562 U.S. __ (2010). In other words, it is still up to the nation’s circuit courts to decide whether the first sale doctrine extinguishes the rights of a copyright holder when the goods are made outside of the U.S ...
If the generation-skipping transfer tax (“GST tax”) provisions of the proposed Tax Bill from December 9 remain unchanged, the most significant year-end tax planning opportunity is the ability to make gifts to trusts for grandchildren and great-grandchildren without imposition of the GST tax and without utilizing any of your GST tax exemption ...
Here are the most significant estate, gift, and generation-skipping tax features of the Tax Bill introduced in the Senate yesterday: The estate of an individual who died in 2010 can elect the 2011 rules ($5,000,000 exemption and top estate tax rate of 35%) or the "repeal" provisions (no estate tax but special rules for limited increase in the income tax basis of the assets of the decedent) ...
Effective as of July 21, 2011, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) repeals a key exemption from investment adviser registration currently relied upon by many private fund managers and replaces it with several much more limited exemptions from registration ...
Following is a list of year-end administrative issues for Texas limited partnerships and limited liability companies (“LP/LLC”): Ensure that the LP/LLC’s activities, transactions, capital infusions (capital contributions or loan proceeds), and distributions are accurately reflected in the entity’s records; Avoid causing the LP/LLC to make any distributions not in compliance with the terms of its LP/LLC agreement or applicable law; for example, an LP/LLC should not make disproportion
