Firm: Buchalter
Practice Industry: All
Region: All
Country/ State: All
Tag: All
Buchalter | October 2022

  A Campaign Contribution of More Than $250 Could Trigger Disqualification from Voting on the Donor’s Project for 12 Months Current Law In 1982, the California Legislature added Section 84308 to the Political Reform Act ...

Buchalter | October 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | October 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | October 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | September 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | September 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | September 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | September 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | September 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | August 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | July 2022

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”) ...

Buchalter | July 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | June 2022

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 ...

Buchalter | June 2022

June 23, 2022 By: Michael Flynn* According to statements by a Department of Justice official, corporate Chief Compliance Officers will in the future have to take a more exposed position by providing certifications in settlements with DOJ. Further, corporations should consider specific steps to take that DOJ would consider in evaluating whether the company has built an effective compliance program consistent with the required certifications ...

Buchalter | June 2022

June 15, 2022 By: Tracy Warren and Yvonne Ricardo Finally, some good news for California employers involving California’s Private Attorney General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”). The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Angie Moriana is a huge victory for employers with valid arbitration programs or who wish to implement valid arbitration programs to substantially limit exposure to statutory and civil penalties under PAGA. On June 15, 2022, the U.S ...

Buchalter | June 2022

June 13, 2022 By: Melissa Richards On June 9, 2022, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (CA DFPI) issued its long awaited final regulations implementing SB 1235’s (2018) new early disclosure requirements on  commercial financing offers equal to or less than $500,000. The CA DFPI regulations take effect December 9, 2022. The final regulations can be found at Title 10, Chapter 3 of the California Code of Regulations. The link to Chapter 3 is HERE ...

Buchalter | June 2022

June 6, 2022 By: Joshua Robbins and Alexander Carroll   On May 4, 2022, New Jersey federal district judge Kevin McNulty unsealed a decision ordering Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. to produce two of its former executives unredacted versions of memoranda and notes from its outside counsel’s internal investigation into foreign bribery at the company ...

Buchalter | May 2022

May 24, 2022 By: Charles Whitman On May 23 2022, the California Supreme Court reversed the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal and made clear that meal and rest period premiums (or “extra pay” or “premium pay”)[1] constitute “wages” and must be accurately reflected on an employee’s wage statement and accurately paid to the employee during the employee’s final pay out. (See Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc., (2022) 2022 Cal ...

Buchalter | May 2022

By Weiss Hamid On April 1, 2022, Japan is set to begin enforcement on the amendment to its Act on the Protection of Personal Information (“APPI”). The APPI was originally adopted in 2003 – making it one of the first data protection regulations ...

Buchalter | May 2022

May 17, 2022 By: Arielle Seidman and Anthony Martin The Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) is set to take effect on July 1, 2023. The law, which applies to, among others, many businesses or non-profits that process data of no fewer than 100,000 persons over the course of a year, allows the attorney general to “promulgate rules for the purpose of carrying out” the CPA ...

dots