Articles Posted in Construction Generally

Posted
by

New directions in environmental and regulatory policy are outlined in these Executive Orders and Presidential seal-300x207Memorandums that have been issued in the past few days:

  1. An Executive Order, dated January 30, 2017, requiring federal executive departments and agencies, whenever they propose to add a new regulation, to delete two existing regulations (Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs);
  2. A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, directing the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan by which, to the extent possible, all new pipelines or the retrofitting of older pipelines, shall, to the maximum extent, be constructed with pipeline components that are “produced in the United States”, and the Secretary shall provide this plan to the President in 180 days (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of American Pipelines)
  3. A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, ordering the relevant government agencies, in particular the Army Corps of Engineers, to expedite the provision of all the authority needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline);
  4. A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, inviting the owners and operators of the Keystone XL Pipeline to reapply for all necessary permits needed to construct the pipeline and the Secretary of State shall issue a final permitting decision in 60 days (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline);
  5. A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017 directed to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies to support the expansion of domestic manufacturing by streamlining the permitting process and reducing regulatory burdens (Presidential Memorandum Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing); and
  6. A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017 instructs departments and agencies, with respect to regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but that have not taken effect, as permitted by applicable law, to A) temporarily postpone their effective date for 60 days for the purpose of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise, B) where appropriate, to consider proposing for notice and comment a rule to delay the effective date for regulations beyond that 60 day period, and C) in cases where the effective date has been delayed in order to review questions of fact, law, or policy, departments and agencies are to consider potentially proposing further notice-and-comment rulemaking (Memorandum: Implementation of Regulatory Freeze). Exclude from these actions are any regulations “subject to statutory or judicial deadlines.”

The Secretary of Commerce will take the lead in conducting “outreach” to stakeholders concerning the impact of federal regulations and how to streamline the process.

Quote in Title:  Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Photo:  Dave Newman, Presidential Seal, Taken January 11, 2011 – Creative Commons

Posted
by

Today, our colleagues Stacie Yee and Kimberly Higgins posted their client alert discussing a City of Los Angeles ordinance, effective January 22, barring certain private employers doing business in the city from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has first been extended. Under the ordinance, covered employers must follow a very demanding procedure before taking an adverse action based on an applicant’s criminal history. The alert is titled “Ban the Box” Has Arrived in the City of Los Angeles—Are You in Compliance?

Posted
by

Recently, our colleagues Michael Reese and Andrew Home posted their client alert discussing the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. This legislation creates new obligations as well as new opportunities for infrastructure constructors, owners/operators of public water systems and their lenders. This new legislation and related appropriations may pave the way for President-elect Trump’s proposed significant investment in American water infrastructure. The alert is titled 2016 Water Legislation Reaches New Areas & Sets the Stage for President-Elect Trump

Posted
by

Last summer, in the waning stages of the Supreme Court’s 2015-2016 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s use of Chevron deference to overrule a district court which had decided that neither the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) nor the varying interpretations of the special automotive dealership regulatory interpretations excluded service advisors from the exemptions for overtime compensation. The case is Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro. Now, on remand, the Ninth Circuit, again, has concluded that service advisors are entitled to overtime pay and compensation.

Continue Reading ›

Posted
by

On November 29, the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) issued an Industry Bulletin via email announcing that Cindi A. Christenson, the CSLB’s current Registrar of Contractors, will be retiring effective May 1, 2017.  Christenson, the CSLB’s first female Registrar, was appointed to this position on January 1, 2015.  Prior to her appointment as the Registrar, Christenson served for six years as CLSB’s Chief Deputy Registrar. A nationwide executive search for Christenson’s replacement is in process.

Continue Reading ›

Posted
by

Today, our colleagues Julia Judish, Rebecca Carr Rizzo and John Scalia published their alert discussing a U.S. District Court’s very recent issuance of a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Labor from implementing and enforcing its new overtime regulations. Those regulations, which would have more than doubled the minimum salary level required to exempt executive, administrative, professional, and salaried computer professional employees from eligibility for overtime, would otherwise have been effective December 1. They note that although a preliminary injunction is a temporary court order, in light of the timing of the preliminary injunction and the upcoming change of Presidential administration, the ruling may foreclose the overtime regulations from ever taking effect. The alert is titled Preliminary Injunction Creates Uncertain Fate For Overtime Regulations.

Additional Source: U.S. Department of Labor More Than Doubles Minimum Salary Levels for FLSA Overtime Exemptions; Court Issues Nationwide Preliminary Injunction of DOL’s Overtime Rules Effective Dec 1

Posted
by

In Federal Court Rules New Overtime Requirements Won’t Go Into Effect on December 1, our colleague Scott Flick discusses the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas’ ruling in a civil action challenging the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime regulations. The civil action that was brought by the State of Nevada and 20 other states and recently consolidated with a related civil action brought by the Plano Chamber of Congress and over 50 other business organizations. Today, in response to a motion filed by states, the District Court granted a nationwide preliminary injunction, preventing the new salary threshold (and scheduled increases to it in future years) from going into effect until the District Court has had an opportunity to rule on the legality of the rule change. Effective December 1, the Final Rule would have, among other things, increased the minimum salary level for exempt employees from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $921 per week ($47,892 annually). In its ruling, the District Court made it clear that the DOL will have a hard time defending the rule change.

Posted
by

Yesterday, our colleagues David Livdahl, Jenny (Jia) Sheng, and Wenjun Cai published an informative client alert discussing the State Administration of Industry and Commerce’s (SAIC) October 18, 2016  Guiding Opinion on Opening-up Enterprise Name Database and Promoting the Reform of Enterprise Name Registration (Guiding Opinion). Now applicants for a company registration in the People’s Republic of China will be able to check the names of existing companies in the database to avoid using a duplicate name that will result in the application being rejected by the SAIC’s local counterparts (AICs). This is expected to simplify the company establishment process and, furthermore, SAIC indicated that it will abolish the name pre-approval requirement in the near future. The client alert is titled Another Step to Speed Up the Company Registration Process in China.

Posted
by

We recently posted an interesting blog on Pillsbury’s Policyholder Pulse titledmanledge Subrogation Waivers and the Perils of Litigation: Wavering on a Precipice. In it, we discuss the perils of using standard subrogation waivers in your insurance policies, and cautions against the use of standard waivers (which can have unintended consequences).

Posted
by

In a decision released on October 11, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a very long opinion (110 pages) which vacates an order of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that requires PHH Corporation, a large home mortgage lender, to disgorge $109 million in a captive reinsurance arrangement the CFPB held to be illegal. The case is PHH Corporation, et al., v. CFPB. In so ruling, the panel majority, in a decision written by Judge Kavanaugh, holds that the basic structure of the CFPB—an independent agency wielding enormous power over the nation’s economy that is headed by a Director who is largely immune from any Presidential control or direction—essentially operates without any institutional checks on the exercise of his or her authority. Only a few “independent agencies” have ever operated under these conditions, and their powers were quite limited. The Court of Appeals holds that this arrangement has no historical basis and in effect violates the constitutional separation of powers.

Continue Reading ›