Transportation industry insiders have known for quite some time that the industry has been in crisis and under immense pressure. The increased demands from commerce have butted up against burdensome regulations and oversight, a nationwide driver shortage, and rising operating costs. The industry has been desperate for help, and it finally came in the form of Texas House Bill 19 (HB 19).

As noted in our May 13 Client Alert, New York recently enacted the Health and Essential Rights Act (HERO Act), which mandates extensive new workplace health and safety protections to prevent workplace exposure to airborne infectious diseases. Shortly thereafter, amendments were signed into law on June 11, 2021.

On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed an “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” According to a Fact Sheet released in advance of the signing, the Executive Order takes “decisive action to reduce the trend of corporate consolidation, increase competition, and deliver concrete benefits to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses.” 

Last week, in North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals suggested that Congress did not intend for the states, or tribes, to take final action on Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 applications within a year of filing.

During the August 5-6, 2019 Executive, Licensing, and Legislative Committee Meetings, the Contractors State License Board discussed proposed amendments to Section 7141.5 to reduce both the burden on it to review applications for retroactive renewal of a license that had not been timely submitted and to provide contractors with some relief from the high burden to establish “the failure to renew was due to circumstances beyond the control of the licensee.”

On June 24, 2021, City of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti issued a new order titled Vaccine Paid Sick Leave Due to COVID-19 (the Order). The Order is intended to reduce barriers workers face when seeking the COVID-19 vaccine.