On Nov. 30, 2020 the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced that its membership voted to adopt a model rule to set parameters by which NASAA members could implement continuing education programs for investment adviser representatives (IARs) in their jurisdictions. Following is a summary of the provisions of the model rule ...
The Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022(DCEA), introduced by Republican representatives Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania and Tom Emmer of Minnesota, along with Democratic representatives Darren Soto of Florida and Ro Khanna of California, would create a definition for “digital commodity” and allow the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee companies issuing or letting people trade certain tokens, while having the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on May 3, 2022 the near doubling of the unit responsible for protecting investors in crypto markets and from cyber-related threats by allocating 20 additional positions to that team. The rebranded Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (formerly known as the Cyber Unit) (CACU), which is part of the Division of Enforcement, will now number 50 full-time professionals. “The U.S ...
On March 31, 2022, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Staff) issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121). SAB 121 applies to businesses that provide an operating platform that allows users to transact in crypto-assets coupled with a service to safeguard the platform users’ crypto-assets, including maintaining the cryptographic key information necessary to access the crypto-assets, crypto-asset trading platforms ...
Under a new Ohio law, school boards, governmental bodies, and other third parties will be prohibited from filing complaints to increase the value of others’ Ohio real property for tax purposes, except under certain limited conditions. Am. Sub. H.B. 126 is expected to largely eliminate the practice of retroactive tax increases as a result of complaints filed based on a sale in the year currently subject to appeal ...
Under a new bill adopted by the Ohio General Assembly, school boards, governmental bodies, and other third parties will be prohibited from filing complaints to increase the value of others’ Ohio real property for tax purposes, except under certain limited conditions. Am. Sub. H.B. 126 is expected to largely eliminate the practice of retroactive tax increases as a result of complaints filed based on a sale in the year currently subject to appeal. On its effective date, Am. Sub ...
Overview The general counsel is requesting the NLRB find captive audience meetings to constitute an unfair labor practice if the employer fails to provide its employees with assurances against threat of discipline, discharge or other reprisal. The general counsel did not direct the regions to begin issuing administrative complaints against employers who require employees to attend captive audience meetings at this time ...
On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of three investigations and one matter before an Administrative Law Judge related to compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule ...
On March 28, 2022, buried within a 200-page proposed rule ostensibly meant to redefine “dealer” and “government securities dealer” under Sections 3(a)(5) and 3(a)(44) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published a seemingly innocuous footnote: "Proposed Rule 3a5-4 would apply to securities as defined by Section 3(a)(10) of the Exchange Act, and proposed Rule 3a44-2 would apply to government &
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows an individual asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment claims to bring such claims to court, even if they had previously agreed to mandatory arbitration. Dinsmore employment attorney Aly St. Pierre wrote about what employers need to know about this new law for The Indiana Lawyer. An excerpt is below ...
Recently, in Beal v. Outfield Brew House, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 7748 (8th Cir. Mar. 24, 2022) the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two district court decisions, each of which found that the marketing software called “Txt Live” used by the defendants to send promotional text messages to phone numbers randomly selected from a customer database is not an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) ...
European-based and operating digital asset investors and entrepreneurs are on notice: The European Union (EU) is considering hobbling the blockchain and crypto ecosystem ...
In a recent real estate case, a court dismissed a lawsuit by a buyer to require the seller to sell him the property because the court found that the agreements between the parties contained in text messages and emails were unenforceable. This raises a significant concern over the enforceability of changes or amendments to construction contracts made by text or email, especially ones that will take a long time to perform ...
A recent decision by the First District Court of Appeal reversing workers’ compensation coverage for injuries sustained by an employee while driving a company vehicle for an HVAC company illustrates the challenges in determining when work begins and ends for employees who are allowed to take company vehicles home ...
When it comes to continuing disclosure, two of the more common “material events” to occur are rating changes and the incurrence of a “financial obligation.” As a general matter, these are reportable events that should be posted to Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA). However, as a practical matter, these material events are frequently overlooked ...
On March 15, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, which was passed by Congress on March 8, 2022 (CAA). The CAA temporarily extends meaningful changes for reimbursement of Medicare services delivered via telehealth. All CAA provisions regarding telehealth amendments will last for 151 days following the expiration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), which is currently set for April 16, 2022 ...
Intending to provide clear reporting obligations for issuers, and to provide consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information for investors, on March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a landmark climate disclosure rule that would mandate SEC registrants to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and certain materials risks relating to climate change ...
In March of 2021, Dinsmore published a client alert titled “Chapter 19 of HUD’s New MAP Guide – Initial Takeaways for Lenders and Borrowers.” In that article, we offered our observations about new requirements in the MAP Guide and predicted how those requirements might impact the loan closing process ...
The No Surprises Act (Act), which became effective Jan. 1, 2022, is the latest health care law passed with the best of intent: to create consumer protection from unexpected out-of-network medical bills and to create a federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process to resolve payment disputes between payers and out-of-network providers. Unfortunately, the Act, especially the U.S ...
The Ohio House of Representatives passed HB 447 in February, 2022 and the bill is now pending approval by the Ohio Senate. If passed, this bill could expand the definition of a work injury to include some injuries sustained in the employee’s own home, provided certain criteria are met. Certainly, the precipitating reason for this proposed bill is the recent increase in remote and telework arrangements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions ...
Entrepreneurs and investors in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets may finally receive guidance and clarity from the federal government ...
In a defendant-friendly opinion, a split panel held that conduct based on an “objectively reasonable” reading of an ambiguous statute, absent contrary circuit court precedent or agency guidance, cannot constitute “knowing” misconduct under the False Claims Act. In United States ex rel. Sheldon v ...
Dinsmore employment law attorney Alyson St. Pierre authored an article for The Indiana Lawyer regarding a recent Indiana law that does not automatically grant religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccinations and instead allows employers to investigate the validity of religious exemption requests. An excerpt is below ...
Dinsmore Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Tammy Bennett, a labor and employment partner, was a featured panelist in a Columbus Business First roundtable discussion on the future of the American workforce, including the Great Resignation. The full article is below. Record numbers of people are changing jobs, quitting to start entrepreneurial ventures or exiting the labor force entirely ...
Following the passage of House Bill (HB) 122[i] and its corresponding expansion of telehealth services by Ohio health care providers, the State Medical Board of Ohio (Ohio Board) has released proposed administrative rules in furtherance of the recent legislation ...
