FAA furlough, electronics recycling program, consumer mortgage advertising regulations, and more.
- Funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expired July 22, forcing furloughs that will continue indefinitely as the Senate and House struggle to reconcile an FAA spending bill.
- The Obama administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a strategy to promote sustainability in the electronics market through a public-private partnership. The program includes commitments by Dell, Sprint, and Sony to develop energy-efficient electronics and grow the domestic electronics recycling market.
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a rule banning deceptive claims about consumer mortgages in advertising and other commercial communications.
- The EPA published a final rule requiring warning labels at the pump to prevent misfueling of vehicles that are unable to run on gasoline with a 15% ethanol content.
- In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to improve regulations developed decades ago that regulate the conduct of research involving human subjects.
- A bill pending on the House floor would cut the EPA budget by $1.5 billion and the Interior Department’s budget by $300 million.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a rule that imposes new identification requirements on traders in large amounts of securities in order to track their trading activity more efficiently.
- The SEC staff released a report recommending that broker-dealers improve training for employees and implement new oversight for the sale of structured securities products. The study focused on eleven broker-dealers and found the firms may have engaged in questionable sales practices.
- The Institute of Medicine released a report recommending a tougher Food and Drug Administration (FDA) medical device approval process. The report reportedly is being challenged by a group of business interests but may still influence the FDA.
