Tag:Regulation
The SEC and Its ESG Investment Disclosure Proposal
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established the Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Task Force in 2021. In March and May of 2022, the SEC proposed a disclosure rule “forcing publicly traded companies to disclose how climate change could threaten their businesses and describe their contributions to global warming.” The rule further accentuates the SEC’s mission “to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” However, the proposal has faced substantial opposition, as some believe the proposal exceeds the SEC’s authority.
Is this JUUL’s Final Goodbye?
On June 23rd, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that JUUL Labs, Inc., the notorious e-cigarette manufacturer, is ordered to cease distribution of their products in the United States. Since the company’s rise, one of the biggest pushes towards restricting JUUL products in stores across the nation has been fueled by discouraging youth vaping and the uncertainty regarding future health implications. The National Youth Tobacco Survey found that in 2021, approximately two million middle and high school students have reported using e-cigarettes. Meanwhile, more studies are surfacing regarding the adverse health effects that nicotine and e-cigarette products may have.
Is Stablecoin Really Stable?
On June 22nd, ten-year-old Yuna was reported missing by her teachers. Just one week later, the police discovered a sedan in the southernmost coast of South Korea, two hours away from Yuna’s home. The three bodies recovered belonged to Yuna and her parents, both in their thirties. The police suspected suicide. Among the parent’s last online searches included “LUNA,” “sleeping pills,” and “how to commit suicide.” Evidence further suggested that Yuna’s parents were unemployed, invested their lives savings into the cryptocurrency market, and struggled from financial debt of $100,000.
Madigan-ComEd Bribery Scandal Prompts an Overhaul of Illinois Utility Regulation
Daniel Bourgault Senior Editor Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, JD 2022 In 2020, Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office as to a federal investigation into the utility company for bribing a high-level elected official. In the agreement, ComEd agreed to pay a fine of $200 …
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Cracking Down on Ghost Guns
In an effort to reduce gun violence, President Biden has announced tighter regulations on the sale of “ghost guns.” Ghost guns are guns sold in several pieces and subsequently assembled by the buyer. Historically, gun kits have not been required to have serial numbers and their sales have not required background checks, which has made them far easier to acquire than normal firearms, despite the final product being substantially the same.
Regulatory Reduction Efforts in Ohio: Can It Work?
Economist Michael Mandel analogized regulations to pebbles in a stream. If you drop one pebble into a stream, its individual effect is negligible. If you deposit a thousand pebbles into a stream, the flow of the water slows down. On the other hand, if you pour one hundred thousand pebbles into a stream, the stream’s flow can become blocked altogether. Researchers note that the amount of regulation in the U.S., both at the state and federal level, has grown steadily over the years. It is a process known as regulatory accumulation. Whether it involves regulating the fuel efficiency of cars, labels on food products or the number of beds permitted in a hospital, new rules are added every year. Yet, few, if any, regulations are ever taken off the books despite the fact that many become unnecessary or virtually obsolete. Some economists argue that overregulation has the effect of slowing economic growth and ultimately impacting the well-being of society. But the task is a difficult one: how does a government identify which regulations should be cut and who should lead the effort?
The Discriminatory Policies against Gay and Bisexual Men that are Fueling the National Blood Crisis
This past January, the American Red Cross announced that the United States was facing its worst blood shortage in over a decade, posing a significant risk to patient care and causing doctors to make difficult decisions in determining which patients should be prioritized for blood transfusions given the dwindling supply. The staggering decrease in blood and platelet donations can be attributed to the global COVID-19 pandemic driving up the need for donations and the hesitancy people have had to leave their homes over the past two years. Even in this desperate time of need for blood, gay and bisexual men in America are still prevented from donating because of discrimination.
Advancing Abolition Is a Must — Abolition Means Transformative Wellbeing and Prevention
Policing is a settler colonial creation to control native populations and is exported aboard to teach other empires how to do the same. In 2007, the FBI found that cops averaged roughly four hundred “justifiable homicides” every year, whereas nearly eighty cops were murdered in the line of duty. These disparities have only further developed, where since 2014, cops averaged nearly one thousand homicides each year, and the number of cops killed in the line of duty remained around forty-eight. Policing and prison systems are premised on punishment, rather than transformative healing, health, and prevention. Thus, as stated in Decriminalization Is Not Enough, Abolition Is a Must, resources and funding which are currently given to our present system of policing and prisons should be reallocated to tools that actually serve the community, rather than on incarceration.
Justice is a means through which people can discuss, decide, and create environments that encourage them thrive and it involves the people who are most impacted by those conditions. In that vein, abolition will look different in each community. The goal of abolition should be prioritizing the needs of each community by allowing the community control and ultimate decision-making ability. Abolition allows each community to communicate, prioritize, and enact methods and means that will make that community the best environment for its members. As Dereka Purnell wrote in Becoming Abolitionists, “activists or abolition-curious people will often ask me, ‘What does abolition look like to you?’ My answers change all the time during conversation, especially since I believe that the dreaming and practicing should happen together. This is what I’m thinking about today as I’m writing the conclusion to this book. Every neighborhood would have five quality features: a neighborhood council; free twenty-four-hour childcare; art, conflict, and mediation centers; a free health clinic; and a green team.” Upon community needs, discussion, and approval, funds currently spent on police and prison systems should be reallocated to education, housing, health care, and public spaces.
Biden Administration Works with the EU to Develop New Data-Sharing Agreement
After the EU invalidated the previous data transfer agreement between the EU and the US in July of 2020, many big tech companies have been left unsure how to keep business flowing from Europe without the ability to store data within the US. To the relief of these companies, the Biden Administration has reached a preliminary agreement for a new deal with the EU. Coined the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework, this new agreement works to address concerns raised by the EU.
The Tax Consequences of NFTs
The popularity of NFTs has been rapidly increasing over the past year, but regulations and guidance relating to the tax consequences of buying and selling NFTs has been slow to keep up. Despite also living on the blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies are not created equally in the eyes of the IRS. The IRS has addressed the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies and published guidance for crypto-investors but has not yet published any specific guidance for NFTs. This leaves many investors in a position of uncertainty regarding the tax consequences of their investments.