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Politics, Law and Policy Blog

Bipartisan policy insights and political intelligence

EU Releases New Data Protection Regulations: Who Will it Affect?

Posted in Cybersecurity, Data Privacy

By Dan Caprio

The European Commission recently published a proposal for the Data Protection Reform Package, including proposals for the new Data Protection Regulation and Police and Criminal Justice Data Protection Directive.

In addition to leading to a uniform and coherent data protection law applicable in all EU Member States, the new regulation will also introduce stricter rules and procedures and will entail many significant changes and costs for both EU and non-EU companies.

Click here for our report outlining the main points of interest for industry regarding the proposal.

Weekly Health Policy Update

Posted in Health Policy

By Cindy Gillespie

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps the most recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up. Click here for our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. In this week’s edition, we focus on the President’s FY13 budget and House and Senate passage of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, the payroll tax cut deal.

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update. Click here for our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. In this week’s edition, we check in on where states stand in procuring the IT systems they will need to operate Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant exchanges.

Will LNG Exports be the Next Divisive Energy Issue?

Posted in Energy Policy, Legislation (Federal)

By Andrew Shaw

In 2005, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a piece of legislation intended to streamline the process from approving applications for LNG import terminals. The legislation provided the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) with exclusive authority to approve the construction, expansion, or operation of an LNG terminal. At the time, the United States was facing declining domestic natural gas production and policymakers believed we would need to depend on LNG imports to meet our domestic needs for the fuel. Continue Reading

FY 2012 Requests for TIFIA Loans Outpace Amount Available 12-to-1

Posted in Budget, Transportation

By Mike Wojnar

The TIFIA Joint Program Office at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has announced that 26 potential applicants have submitted letters of interest requesting more than $13 billion in TIFIA loans for Fiscal Year 2012. With around $120 million available for TIFIA subsidies, USDOT can theoretically support about $1 billion in TIFIA loans. While this continues the three-year long trend of very strong interest in the TIFIA credit program, it also means that for the third year in a row, the vast majority of projects will be turned down and the few projects that move forward will be invited to apply for far less support than they requested.

The future for the TIFIA program is brighter, however. President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget seeks to increase the amount available for TIFIA subsidies to $560 million and one of the few areas where the vastly different House and Senate surface transportation authorization bills find agreement is in language to increase TIFIA subsidies tenfold, to $1 billion annually.

Staff from the various agencies at USDOT are now working in multimodal groups to evaluate the letters of interest. It has been reported that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has issued a March/April deadline for an announcement on projects to be invited to apply for TIFIA financing.

Click here to see the list of applicants who have submitted letters of interest.

The Stock Act: Congress Acts Against ‘Insider Political Trading’…on Capitol Hill

Posted in Government Ethics, Political Law

By Stefan Passantino

Proponents of ethics reform and increased political transparency in Washington don’t often see reform proposals pass through Congress by overwhelming margins, and rarely does anyone bemoan an excess of “political intelligence” in Washington.

But with Congressional passage of the so-called ‘STOCK Act’ last week, that is exactly what happened.

The impetus to act was largely driven by public outcry following a November CBS 60 Minutes report focusing on the practice by Members of Congress, and their staffs, of trading stock “based on non-public information from Capitol Hill.”

While the reform community can’t quite be sure what version of reform will survive the ongoing tug of war between the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, it is clear that those trading on “insider political knowledge” are now in the transparency crosshairs.

In this interview with LexBlog Network Television, I explain the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, including the different House and Senate proposals, the bills’ actual potential to prevent insider trading, and its likelihood of being signed into law.

 

 

New Revenues Make Up Half of Obama Budget Savings

Posted in Budget, Tax Policy

By Joe Dowley

Although key details have yet to emerge on corporate tax proposals, the President’s just-released budget calls for half of its $3 trillion in cuts over ten years to come from revenues.

Nearly two-thirds of this $1.5 trillion would come as a result of permitting the Bush-era (2001 and 2003) tax cuts for families earning over $250,000 annually to expire as scheduled at the end of this year. The remaining $500 billion is to be derived from other sources, a large portion of which would hinge on changes to corporate taxation – changes due to be released later this month. Continue Reading

Congress Sends FAA Authorization to President

Posted in Legislation (Federal), Transportation

By Michael Wojnar

1,590 Days and 23 Extensions…

No, it’s not a song title from a hit Broadway show; rather, it’s the length of time and effort it took lawmakers on Capitol Hill to complete their work on a long-term extension of the nation’s aviation programs. The House passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conference report last Friday and the Senate did the same on Monday. Continue Reading

Gifts to Government Officials: If in Doubt, Seek an Advisory Opinion

Posted in Government Ethics

By David Fine

The Colorado Constitution contains a strict ban on gifts to government officials.

A matter recently decided by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission (IEC) illustrates why government officials in Colorado should seek an advisory opinion from the Commission before engaging in conduct that might violate the state’s constitutional provisions regulating interactions between government officials and the private sector. See Intermountain Rural Electric Association v. Binz, Complaint No. 10-12 and 11-02 (Consolidated). Continue Reading

President Obama Unveils New Small Business “Start-up” Proposals

Posted in Budget, Legislation (Federal), Tax Policy

By Joe Dowley

The Administration unveiled new proposals yesterday aimed at encouraging small business “start-ups” that build upon earlier-passed temporary tax breaks. The proposals are an effort to reach out to the part of the business sector which is responsible for “most new jobs” in the economy, according to a White House press release.

The President mentioned some of the new initiatives in his recent State of the Union address. Continue Reading

The New NAFTA

Posted in Canada-U.S. Relations, Cross-border Investment, National Security & Defense, Trade

By Scotty Greenwood

Those who follow trade policy are well aware of the example set by Canada, the United States, and Mexico over 20 years ago to facilitate commerce on our continent. More recently, Canada and the U.S. have been looking for ways to dust off and improve the commerce between the northern part of North America.

To that end, a few months ago, the Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada and President Obama announced two new initiatives to enhance trade and improve security here at home. Continue Reading