December 6, 2022 By: Alexander Davis and Manuel Fishman In March 2020, the voters of San Francisco approved Proposition D, also known as the Commercial Vacancy Tax. The ordinance applies to ground floor, street-facing, commercial properties within any of the 32 districts listed in Section 201 of the Planning Code (which the regulation defines as “Taxable Commercial Space”) ...
December 2, 2022 By: Anna G. Thomas To increase transparency regarding payments to physicians by drug and medical device companies, Governor Newsom signed AB 1278, which imposes certain additional disclosure obligations on physicians. Beginning on January 1, 2023, physicians will be required to comply with new patient notice and posting requirements. Notice to Patients Under this law, physicians must provide to patients an Open Payments database notice ...
November 16, 2022 By: William Miller, Anne Marie Ellis, and David DeBerry On August 1, 2022, the California Court of Appeals issued the decision in Martinez v. Cot’n Wash, Inc. (2022) 81 Cal.App.5th 1026 [297 Cal.Rptr.3d 712]. In Martinez, the plaintiff claimed that Cot’n Wash’s website (dropps.com) was inaccessible because it did not comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 ...
November 15, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara, Lillian Rafii, and Jonathan Kendrick On November 10, 2022, the CPUC issued its long-awaited and reworked net energy metering (NEM) “3.0” proposed decision on a successor tariff. The origin of California’s NEM tariff was to incentivize Californians to install on-site renewable energy resources such as rooftop solar to serve part or all of their own electrical requirements ...
November 1, 2022 By: Jeffrey M. Dennis The amended California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), sometimes referred to as the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) or Proposition 24, takes effect on January 1, 2023 – and introduces new consumer rights, while significantly increasing compliance pressures on companies who do business in California. With less than 60 days before the amended CCPA launches, the time for compliance is NOW ...
October 31, 2022 By: Michael Flynn Recent pronouncements by Vice President Harris and by an SBA public affairs specialist indicate that SBA will soon publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will propose an expansion of the number of non-depository institutions that can participate as lenders in the SBA 7(a) loan program, and that FinTechs will be among the types of institutions included in the expanded eligibility ...
October 20, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara and Samir Hafez On September 21, 2022 the California Energy Commission (CEC) issued its draft report of the Lithium Valley Commission, which includes 44 recommendations concerning the opportunities and challenges associated with the expansion of geothermal energy production and lithium extraction in the Salton Sea region ...
October 12, 2022 By: Michael Flynn On September 27, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a Request for Information Regarding Mortgage Refinances and Forbearances. The Request indicates that the CFPB is considering making the COVID emergency relief foreclosure/loss mitigation requirements a permanent requirement for mortgage lenders and servicers when dealing with temporarily distressed borrowers ...
October 4, 2022 By Braeden Mansouri and Alicia Guerra On September 28, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two of the most anticipated housing bills of this legislative session: AB 2011 and SB 6. Both bills have the potential to increase significantly the amount of land available for residential development by deeming housing a permitted use in certain types of commercial zones ...
By: John Epperson and Peter McGaw A ban on the sale of nondurable food packaging in California containing PFAS chemicals goes into effect on January 1, 2023, which is now less than four months away. The ban was contained in Assembly Bill 1200, which was enacted in October 2021, along with unrelated new requirements for disclosure of chemicals in cookware ...
By: Jack Darrington, Keven Rowe, and Landon Hardcastle Under a new Utah law, most providers of commercial financing or factors which are located in Utah or who lend to a Utah resident are required to register as a commercial financing provider with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. Additionally, certain disclosures are required before engaging in most transactions. To some extent, the law mirrors Truth in Lending type acts passed in New York and California ...
September 6, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* Continuing a recent trend, the CFPB has asserted that its oversight authority regarding unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices (UDAAP) to assert that certain digital marketers, including what it refers to as “Big Tech,” face potential UDAAP liability and oversight from the CFPB ...
September 6, 2022 By: Jeffrey Dennis and Li-An Leonard Last week, the California Legislature failed to reach agreement on an extension to the employee exemption which applies to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which currently exempts employees and employee data from the CCPA requirements. As a result, this exemption will expire on December 31, 2022 – and will result in increasing burdens on California employers as it relates to employee privacy rights ...
September 1, 2022 By: Nora Sheriff, Gwenneth O’Hara, and Lillian Rafii On August 19, 2022, the California investor-owned utilities filed a joint motion for official notice at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), saying that the recently adopted Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (HR 5376) is “directly relevant” to the CPUC’s open net energy metering (NEM) proceeding. The CPUC is currently contemplating a revision to its NEM tariff (referred to as NEM 2 ...
August 19, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara, Jonathan Kendrick, Mercedes Martin, and Aaron Elster Over the next decade, the United States, through enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), is primed to make a $369 billion investment in clean energy and climate change programs ...
August 18, 2022 By: Peter McGaw and John Epperson By now, readers likely are familiar with the series of “retail hazardous waste” enforcement actions being brought across the state of California. For several years, various retailers have been targeted for coordinated, state-wide enforcement by local District Attorneys based on undisclosed, behind-the-scenes “dumpster audits.” These businesses are then accused of disposing of hazardous waste in their trash ...
August 17, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara, Nora Sheriff and Christopher Parker President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (HR 5376) (the Act) into law on August 16, 2022. This update provides a high level overview of the Act’s incentives for the energy sector. We have published a separate update regarding the Act’s energy storage incentives. The Act provides $750 billion for a range of issues, including $400 billion for energy and climate ...
August 16, 2022 By: Gwenneth O’Hara and Samir Hafez President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (HR 5376) (the Act) into law on August 16, 2022, after the Senate-passed bill sailed through the House of Representatives last week on August 12. The Act includes a range of incentives and tax credits aimed towards accelerating the production of emissions-free energy, and is largely seen as a win for the energy storage sector ...
August 15, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* Continuing a trend it has been pursuing, the CFPB on Thursday used a non-rulemaking circular (Consumer Financial Protection Circular 2022-04) to state that its UDAAP authority extends its enforcement authority to situations where financial institutions have insufficient data protection or information security. The circular may be found here ...
August 1, 2022 By: Steven Nakasone On July 8, 2022, the California Privacy Protection Agency commenced the formal rulemaking process to adopt regulations to clarify and implement the amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). The amendments will go into effect on January 1, 2023. The amendments will expand the rights of consumers and will increase the corresponding compliance obligations on businesses ...
July 21, 2022 By: John Epperson and Peter McGaw California has a long history of enacting laws regulating plastic packaging, dating back to the Rigid Plastic Packaging Container law in 1991, a law many manufacturers only learn about when they receive a notice from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (“CalRecycle”) ...
July 20, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* Amidst its increased activity in many different areas, the CFPB recently focused on credit reporting responsibilities under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by issuing an advisory opinion. The CFPB highlighted and set out some specific key points regarding credit reporting responsibilities and prohibitions, and offered a reminder about criminal liability under various provisions in the FCRA ...
June 28, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* In its recent Semiannual Risk Perspective, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has highlighted the difficulties banks face finding adequate numbers and quality of hires for compliance oversight. While there are several reasons for this issue, it comes at an especially inopportune time, when banks face increasing compliance demands and regulator requirements that target compliance activities and Chief Compliance Officers specifically ...
