Regs News

Virginia governor no longer fully supports ultrasounds before abortions (2/22/12)

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is backing off his unconditional support for a bill requiring women to have an ultrasound before an abortion, focusing new attention on one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in Virginia’s General Assembly this year. Read more...

Indiana lawmakers delay passing stage inspection regulations (2/22/12)

Legislators will wait to pass final regulations on outdoor stage equipment inspections until after a summer study committee takes up the issue. A Senate bill was introduced earlier this session to mandate inspection of outdoor stage equipment. It came after last year’s State Fair stage collapse revealed no such requirements... Read more...

Romney seeks to cap protections on public health (2/22/12)

Governor Romney has endorsed an idea called regulatory budgeting, but it really means capping protection for public health. Read more...

Consumer bureau targets overdraft fees (2/22/12)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is taking a hard look at the overdraft fees charged by banks. The agency announced Wednesday that it will seek information about the fees, commonly tied to checking accounts, and investigate whether consumers are being harmed by them. Read more...

How “uncertainty” didn’t kill the economy (2/22/12)

Judging by multiple Google searches, references to the intersection between regulatory uncertainty, healthcare reform and the labor market have plummeted. There’s a very obvious reason for that: The private sector has added over a million jobs over the last six months while the unemployment rate has fallen steadily. Read more...

Op ed: Regulations don’t constitute a war on religion (2/21/12)

By Charles Austin, interim pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in Wyckoff, NJ: I do not fear a government war on religion, at least not until a public official attempts to censor my sermons. It’s actually the other way round: I worry that some people want their particular religion and its... Read more...

Hertz requests government regulations of recalled cars (2/21/12)

In the face of an industrywide safety investigation, the nation's second-biggest rental car company has taken the rare step of asking for government regulation to ensure that autos under recall are fixed before they're rented. Read more...

Is There a Future for Environmental Protection in the Garden State? (2/21/12)

Gov. Chris Christie and New Jersey's legislative leaders have forgotten the compelling reasons behind four decades of enlightened environmental leadership, as they often seek to outdo each other in rolling back the state's vanguard environmental laws. Read more...

EPA Regulates Emissions from PVC Production Facilities (2/21/12)

After battling in court for nearly a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted new regulations last week affecting the manufacturing of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Read more...

New poll shows most oppose changes to Wis. mining regulations (2/20/12)

A new poll of Wisconsin voters shows most of those queried in the survey say they are opposed to streamlining environmental regulations for mining. Public Policy Polling conducted the poll for the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. Read more...

USA Today: Apple produces amazing gadgets, but at what cost? (2/20/12)

Americans love hot dogs and electronic gadgets, and they don't like to think much about how either is made. But recent news reports about working conditions at Chinese factories that assemble cellphones, tablets and other devices invite indigestion. The factories have been depicted as dreary places that underpay and overwork... Read more...

FDA officials plan to review safety of inhalable caffeine (2/20/12)

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials plan to investigate whether inhalable caffeine sold in lipstick-sized canisters is safe for consumers and if its manufacturer was right to brand it as a dietary supplement. Read more...

Nine years after Corbin explosion, still no dust regulations (2/19/12)

It's time for OSHA to move on a comprehensive regulation to adequately address combustible dust hazards. Read more...

Conservatives intensifying legal assault on the Voting Rights Act (2/19/12)

In a political system where even the most trivial issues trigger partisan rancor, the Voting Rights Act has stood for several decades as a rare point of bipartisan consensus. Until now. An intensifying conservative legal assault on the Voting Rights Act could precipitate what many civil rights advocates regard as... Read more...

Regulations Are in Place for Semi-Truck Drivers for a Reason (2/18/12)

The majority of the over-the-road truck drivers out there follow the rules and are safe drivers. But more often than not, tractor trailer crashes are caused by driver fatigue. Since truck crashes can cause severe injuries, often death, it is crucial to fully evaluate the days leading up to the... Read more...

Congress Will Auction Public Airwaves to Pay for Benefits (2/17/12)

The need for revenue to partly cover the extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits has pushed Congress to embrace a generational shift in the country’s media landscape: the auction of public airwaves now used for television broadcasts to create more wireless Internet systems. Read more...

Spectrum allocation is not a short-term budget matter (2/17/12)

Viewing spectrum allocation as a short-term budget matter, rather than a long-term communications policy issue, increases the danger of making another hundred-year mistake. The sum of money involved does not even amount to rounding error in the current budget debate, but the long-term cost to the economy could be hundreds... Read more...

New regulations for debt collection agencies (2/17/12)

The guys who hound you over unpaid bills are about to get a tough federal regulator scouring their own books. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new plan to regulate the largest debt collection agencies and consumer reporting agencies. That includes the credit bureaus that sell consumer credit... Read more...

More Good News: Mercury Emission Regulations Go Into Effect (2/16/12)

The US EPA published long-overdue mercury standards today, which will, for the first time, set historic national limits on mercury, arsenic, lead, acid gases and other toxic air pollution from power plants. Read more...

Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials (2/16/12)

An influential group of scientists has urged US officials to step up their policing of shale gas operations and to consider stronger regulations to reduce environmental and health risks at the facilities. The scientists called on regulators to revisit, and in many cases beef up, their guidelines to avoid surface... Read more...

Apple's Electronics Manufacturer Foxconn Also Exploits Interns, Report Finds (2/16/12)

Lost amidst the grim coverage of the inhumane working conditions at the Chinese factories of the electronics supplier company Foxconn is another story: Foxconn has a massive pool of young, allegedly underpaid interns, one of whom committed suicide, as Vice’s Motherboard blog reported Wednesday. Read more...

Nevada approves regulations for self-driving cars (2/16/12)

Nevada is becoming the first state to regulate self-driving vehicles on its roadways. The state's legislative commission on Wednesday approved regulations that were vetted by car manufacturers, insurance companies, law enforcement officials and others. Read more...

EPA Defends Regulations with Obama’s Support (2/16/12)

Environmentalists praise Jackson, the agency director, for aggressively pressing for tougher clean air and water standards, safety reviews of dangerous chemicals and for standing up to congressional Republicans and industry critics. Read more...

Nuclear watchdog groups ask for expansion of evacuation zone around power plants (2/15/12)

The watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert joined 36 similar groups around the country on Wednesday petitioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to increase the evacuation zone around nuclear reactors from 10 miles to 25. They also asked for an increase in the zone required to plan evacuation routes to be... Read more...

Listeria outbreak highlights oversight limitations (2/15/12)

The Listeria contamination traced to a Colorado cantaloupe farm was the worst foodborne illness outbreak in nearly a century, and yet the Food and Drug Administration is still struggling to get a handle on how to prevent another outbreak while Congress keeps cutting the agency’s funding. Read more...

Japan’s nuclear safety chief apologizes, says country’s regulations are flawed, outdated (2/15/12)

Japan’s nuclear safety chief said the country’s regulations are flawed, outdated and below global standards, and he apologized for their failure when a tsunami crippled one plant last year. Read more...

The GOP's War on Women: Invading the Vagina in Virginia (2/15/12)

The Republican Party has declared war on the dignity of women. This war on women is emerging as a centerpiece of the Republicans' 2012 election strategy. Around the country, women are being told that they should feel shame about their bodies, their sexuality, and the choices that they make as... Read more...

FDA: Quality regulations lag behind modern understanding (2/15/12)

Regulations have failed to keep pace with modern understanding about manufacturing and quality, an FDA director said. Read more...

Feds: Upper Big Branch Sentencing Can Send Message (2/15/12)

Prosecutors want to make an example of a former security chief at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine who was convicted of lying to investigators after the worst mine disaster in four decades. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin says Hughie Elbert Stover deserves the maximum possible sentence of 25 years in... Read more...

FCC to get tougher on robocalls (2/15/12)

The Federal Communications Commission is set to approve tougher rules giving consumers additional protection against unwanted autodialed or prerecorded calls to home phone lines. "We have gotten thousands of complaints," says FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "Consumers were still getting robocalls they don't want and shouldn't get." Read more...

Reports of suicides at Apple's China factory prompt inspections (2/14/12)

Apple's iPhone and iPad assembly lines in China's Shenzhen region on Monday were opened to outside inspections in a bid by Apple to counter labor abuse allegations. The Washington, D.C.-based Fair Labor Association began its first inspections at Foxconn City. Chinese factories run by Taiwan-based Foxconn have come under scrutiny... Read more...

Occupy’s amazing Volcker Rule letter (2/14/12)

One of the saddest aspects of the financialization of the US economy is the way in which America’s best and brightest found themselves working on Wall Street, rather than in jobs which improved the state of the world. Proof of this comes from the absolutely astonishing 325-page comment letter on... Read more...

Paul Volcker Defends Eponymous Rule (2/14/12)

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker came to the rule’s defense, submitting an eight-page letter to federal regulators. He writes, “The basic public policy set out by the Dodd-Frank legislation is clear: the continuing explicit and implicit support by the Federal government of commercial banking organizations can be justified only to... Read more...

New FDA regulations have significant impact on health apps for mobile devices (2/13/12)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering a proposal that would apply stricter regulations to mobile apps that are designed to provide medical information or advice. Read more...

Boosted by regulations, a small business opens its own lobby shop (2/13/12)

Electronic Recyclers International celebrates regulations — or at least one in particular. ERI recycles e-waste, and in the company’s six-year history, the number of states with e-waste recycling laws has gone from three to 25. Most of these state-based laws mandate that companies like HP and Dell contract with e-waste recyclers... Read more...

Southern Californians at risk of death from air pollution, EPA says (2/13/12)

Southern Californians are among those at highest risk of death due to air pollution, according to recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency research published in the journal Risk Analysis. Read more...

New Rules to Make Health Plans More Understandable (2/13/12)

Moving to implement a much-anticipated consumer protection in the new health care law, the Obama administration has issued regulations requiring private health plans to describe what they cover in clear, standardized language that is understandable to consumers. Just six pages long. No fine print. Read more...

CFPB Eyes Overdraft Regs (2/13/12)

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray said his agency is discussing how best to proceed on additional regulations concerning overdraft protection and other checking account disclosures. The CFPB could issue proposed rules later this year. Read more...

Op ed: Dodd-Frank is not to blame for economic instability (2/12/12)

By Rep. Maxine Waters For some of my Republican colleagues, the truth has never gotten in the way of bold pronouncements that ignore the fact that the collapse of our economy actually preceded the Dodd-Frank financial reforms by two years. Read more...

Private Equity Industry Attracts S.E.C. Scrutiny (2/12/12)

In recent years, the private equity industry has escaped much of the regulatory scrutiny that has been directed toward hedge funds and Wall Street banks. But that appears to be changing. Read more...

California sets trends in health regulation (2/10/12)

The state has been first to pass major public health initiatives that have spread throughout the country. California was first to require smog checks for clean air, pass anti-tobacco initiatives and bike helmets laws. While these laws were met with skepticism and ridicule, they've often become standard practice in other... Read more...

Barney Frank: MF Global bankruptcy wasn’t Dodd-Frank’s fault (2/9/12)

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), argues that MF Global’s demise wasn’t a sign that Dodd-Frank had failed to regulate derivatives in a comprehensive way. Read more...

Main Street Merchants Aren't Deterred by Red Tape (2/9/12)

Many small businesses actually value regulations. More than three quarters of the 500 small-business owners participating in a recent survey said regulations are necessary to protect them from unfair competition and nearly as many believe regulations on the books should be enforced. Read more...

Businessweek: Regulations Create Jobs, Too (2/9/12)

Government employment figures show that those same regulations usually wind up creating about as many jobs as they kill. “We find there is no net impact,” says Richard Morgenstern, the EPA’s director of policy analysis in the Reagan and Clinton Administrations and now a researcher with Resources for the Future,... Read more...

Editorial: A Terrible Transportation Bill (2/9/12)

The list of outrages coming out of the House is long, but the way the Republicans are trying to hijack the $260 billion transportation bill defies belief. This bill is so uniquely terrible that it might not command a majority when it comes to a floor vote, possibly next week,... Read more...

New EPA rule could create more jobs than Keystone XL (2/9/12)

Democrats argued Wednesday that more jobs could be created as a result of a new Environmental Protection Agency rule than those created by the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans have pushed for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline because of thousands of temporary jobs it could create, but Rep. Ed... Read more...

Chamber Dropping $10 Million On 20 Races (2/9/12)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is targeting eight Senate races and 12 House races. The Chamber is playing a lot of offense in the Senate, where the group is primarily running ads in states that represent strong GOP pickup opportunities. North Dakota, Montana and Missouri, three top pickup chances, are... Read more...

U.S. Banks, Regulators Settle on Foreclosure Fines (2/9/12)

After months of painstaking talks, government authorities and five of the nation’s biggest banks have agreed to a $26 billion settlement that could provide relief to nearly two million current and former American homeowners harmed by the bursting of the housing bubble, state and federal officials said. Read more...

New Regulations Enhance Savers’ Retirement Security (2/8/12)

Americans who use defined contribution retirement savings plans (for example, 401(k) or 403(b) plans) or Individual Retirement Accounts will see their retirement security enhanced by two recently announced regulatory initiatives. Read more...

Bloomberg: Fracking’s Toll on Pets, Livestock Chills Farmers (2/8/12)

Something awful is happening over the Marcellus Shale, the vast geological formation in eastern North America where energy companies are looking for natural gas. Increasingly there is evidence, mostly anecdotal, that animals are suffering. Read more...