Week in Review

IN THE NEWS

• The U.S. Senate held a hearing to explore how the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) could improve its efficiency and transparency in the regulatory process, while a consumer rights advocacy group launched White House Safeguard Tracker—a website aimed at highlighting “the problem of regulatory delay at the White House” by tracking the number of days that proposed rules have been under review by OIRA.

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance aimed at preventing discrimination against LGBT individuals seeking HUD-insured or HUD-assisted housing.

• In light of what five business groups contend is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s excessively broad definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Rule, the groups collectively filed a lawsuit alleging that this definition is invalid, and seeking a declaratory judgment to that effect.

• Due to a series of delays in the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) implementation of reforms required under the Pipeline Safety Act, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing to examine PHMSA’s progress in executing the requisite changes.

• U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Elizabeth Warren, along with 81 other members of Congress, sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requesting that the agency implement and clarify its draft guidance document which would, if finalized, replace the current lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood with a one-year deferral from the donor’s most recent sexual encounter with another man.

• In an effort to prevent the misclassification of employees as independent contractors in the workplace, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an Administrator’s Interpretation of the standards for determining whether an individual is an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

• As part of its ongoing examination of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the U.S. House Subcommittee on Nutrition heard testimony on the development of “evidenced-based solutions,” which some subcommittee members believe has the potential to enhance the quality of nutrition programs.

• Seeking to increase transparency of the telecommunications industry for consumers, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey requested that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) compile and investigate broadband and cable prices.