On May 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a 2023 Clean Water Act decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. As in last year’s high-profile CWA decision, the Court will once again consider — and potentially curtail — the scope of EPA’s authority to regulate pollutant discharges.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management and Slawson Exploration Company related to the issuance of drilling permits.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned an injunction on the City of Minneapolis’ 2040 Comprehensive Plan on May 13, 2024.
On March 21, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the EPA exceeded its statutory authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act when it used a Significant New Use Rule to prohibit a fluorination process that had been used by Inhance Technologies L.L.C. for decades.
The 2024 Minnesota legislative session brought notable changes to environmental laws in Minnesota.
On December 29, 2023, China enacted amendments to the PRC Company Law which came into effect earlier this month on July 1, 2024.
In 2024, the Minnesota Legislature made several changes to the Gopher One Call Statute, creating reporting requirements for large operators and modifying excavation processes to require meetings at the sites of proposed excavations. It also created new safety requirements for underground telecommunications installers, which for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area take effect on July 1, 2025, and for the rest of the state on January 1, 2026.
Many changes to Minnesota’s health care laws were signed into law by Governor Walz in the 2024 legislative session that ended in May. Here is an overview of several of the key changes and new laws. Please contact your Fredrikson attorney for more information.
When the Federal Trade Commission issued its final rule banning employment non-competes over two months ago, it was widely expected to be struck down in some fashion. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has levied the first of those strikes, but it is far from a strikeout for the FTC.
Subject to certain exceptions, as of June 5, 2024, President Biden has “suspended and limited” entry into the United States of certain noncitizens across the southern border.
The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for July includes the following information about retrogression in the EB-3 immigrant visa preference category and an alert about a new law’s impact on special immigrant visas.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reminded E-Verify users to delete the dash in their E-Verify login bookmarks.
On June 18, 2024, President Biden announced measures “to ensure that U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on June 20, 2024, that it is extending the work authorization of Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries under the designations of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through March 9, 2025.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that login security will be enhanced for E-Verify and Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements later this year, when users will begin logging into E-Verify or SAVE using Login.gov.
A 5-4 majority of the U. S. Supreme Court, on June 27, 2024, granted a request for a stay of the Environmental Protection Agency’s imposition of its Federal Implementation Plan against more than 20 states that failed to meet their “good neighbor” obligations to decrease ozone-causing nitrogen oxide emissions within their borders under the Clean Air Act.
An emerging trend in e-discovery concerns how courts should treat emails containing hyperlinks that reference other documents.
The Department of Labor published a notice stating that the Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training ratified a final rule on Adverse Effect Wage Rate methodology for H-2A agricultural workers “out of an abundance of caution.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released its final rule implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act on April 15, 2024. The regulations, including an appendix of interpretive guidance that will guide the EEOC’s enforcement of the PWFA, become effective on June 18, 2024, 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the addition of 26 textile companies based in the People’s Republic of China to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
Under Minnesota’s Paid Leave Law that was passed in 2023, eligible employees may take up to 20 weeks per year of paid leave during certain family and medical leave events starting in January 2026. However, the new law left many questions unanswered—some of which have now been answered, or at least clarified, by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and the Minnesota Legislature.
On May 24, 2024, Governor Walz signed the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA) into law, making Minnesota the latest state to enact comprehensive privacy legislation. The MCDPA provides Minnesota residents with significant new privacy rights and imposes substantial obligations on businesses to which it applies. Businesses subject to the MCDPA have until July 1, 2025, to come into compliance.
Anyone who has been paying attention knows about fintech partnerships in banking. The mold-breaking ideas of bright-eyed technology entrepreneurs have provided community banks with innovative ways to reach customers, make loans, gather deposits, provide payments solutions and expand their markets. Recently regulators have issued new guidance related to both the safety and soundness and compliance implications of such relationships.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new final rule related to credit card late fees has certainly generated a good amount of controversy since being released by the CFPB on March 5, 2024. A lawsuit to set aside the final rule was filed a mere two days after the final rule was released, and many articles, blog posts, and other commentary have been written.
As a lender, you have invested significant time and resources in building relationships with potential borrowers, presenting your financial solutions, and negotiating the basic terms of a loan through a nonbinding term sheet. However, without a well-drafted loan agreement, a seemingly promising deal can quickly turn into a financial nightmare. This article explains the critical sections of a typical loan agreement.
Rule 702 was recently amended on December 1, 2023, to clarify the standard for how judges must deal with challenges to expert testimony. The amended rule will very likely have a significant impact on the admissibility of expert testimony in patent cases.
A number of changes to Minnesota employment laws were proposed and considered in the most recent legislative session. This article is a summary of the laws that have been changed to date. Additional changes are forthcoming, and we will continue to update you as the laws are passed.
In the final hours of the 2024 Legislative Session, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Agriculture and Energy Omnibus Bill, which contained some of the most significant energy permitting policy reform of the last 50 years. Governor Tim Walz is expected to sign the Legislation in the coming days.
Governor Kim Reynolds recently signed three new laws affecting the real estate and leasing industries: HF 2326, SF 2291 and SF 2268. A summary of each law is contained herein, but readers should review each bill in its entirety.
Higher immigration fees took effect on April 1,2024, following a U.S. district court judge’s refusal to block a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee rule.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a temporary final rule to increase the automatic extension period for certain employment authorization document holders from 180 days to 540 days.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued new guidance on the validity of Form I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced new audit measures under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, affecting all designated regional centers. Under the 2022 law, USCIS must conduct audits at least once every five years for each regional center.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a significant update for Palestinians in the United States, as detailed in a recent Federal Register notice.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on April 18, 2024, that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 19,000 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the early second half of fiscal year 2024 with start dates from April 1 to May 14, 2024, under the H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has updated its fee schedule for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker—H-1B and H-1B1 Petitions, to reflect the additional required fees for online filings.
The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency issued notices providing work authorization for certain Ethiopian and Palestinian students in lawful F-1 nonimmigrant status.
Effective June 28, 2024, the Department of Labor is amending its regulations governing certification of temporary employment of nonimmigrant workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural work and enforcement of contractual obligations applicable to their employers.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on April 24, 2024, that it is refunding all of the I-765 employment authorization document fees collected from eligible Ukrainian parolees who entered as parolees after February 24, 2022.
The Department of Justice announced on April 17, 2024, that it secured a settlement agreement with Washington University, a private university headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
In a significant development for employers and individuals involved in the STEM fields, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced an update to the definition of “Schedule A, Group II” occupations, which is part of the agency’s efforts to align more closely with the Department of Labor definitions and streamline the permanent residency application process for high-achieving employees.
The original proposal to designate PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances raised a great deal of concern among public entities about the possible CERCLA liability they may face from providing public services that use, remove, treat, or dispose of these substances.
The duty to preserve evidence and the significant events that determine when the duty to preserve arises is often intertwined with privileged discussions and documents related to the planning and implementation of a litigation hold. And when there is a dispute about when the duty to preserve was triggered and there are allegations of spoliation, concerns regarding protecting privilege and not waiving privilege become critically important.
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule increasing the compensation employers must pay to certain categories of employees to be exempt from the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
If you do not have time to read all 570 pages of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule and explanation banning non-competes (and who does other than an employment attorney?), here are the essentials.
We are now two years into complying with Item 402(v) of Regulation S-K, which was adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2022 and required new “pay versus performance” disclosure beginning in 2023 proxy statements.
On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a first-of-its-kind rule designating two PFAS chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), along with their salts and structural isomers, as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
On March 22, 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of China enacted the official Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Flow, the second editions of the Guidelines for Application for the Security Assessment of Data Cross-Border Transfer, and the Guidelines for Filing of the Standard Contract for Personal Information Cross-Border Transfer to ease cross-border data transfers.
The U.S. Department of Education has released its long-awaited Title IX regulations addressing sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, which also include coverage of sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy.
In March 2024, the SEC adopted new climate disclosure rules requiring publicly traded companies to provide comprehensive information about their climate-related risks and impacts. These rules mandate narrative disclosures covering governance, risks, strategy, targets, goals, and—for larger filers—emissions and attestations.
