Requires Rulemaking?

“The STB is gathering comments on ‘first-mile/last-mile service,’ or how to measure railroads’ service between the customer’s facility and the local railroad station. The STB is currently reliant on shippers coming to them with complaints; if the STB instead regularly measured first-mile/last-mile service, such as when a shipper actually gets their delivery or a railroad’s on-time performance, the STB could get a better sense of what the railroads are doing. First-mile/last-mile service metrics could prove useful in informing whether railroads are meeting their statutory ‘common carrier’ obligations. A common carrier is a person or business that provides transportation services to the public and usually has legal obligations to serve the public fairly and without discrimination. The concept comes from English common law and has seen a resurgence in the past decade with the principle applied in policy debates to net neutrality and increasingly dominant online intermediaries.” [American Prospect, 2/4/22]

“A unit of NatWest Group (NWG.L) on Tuesday agreed to pay about $35 million and pleaded guilty to wire and securities fraud in relation to a long-running scheme by some of its traders to manipulate U.S. Treasury debt markets. The lender's investment bank NatWest Markets admitted its traders engaged in schemes to manipulate U.S. Treasury markets over a decade up to 2018. The firm agreed to serve three years of probation in addition to the fine and restitution, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.” [Reuters, 12/21/21]

FMCSA, DOL, CFPB

“Along with FMCSA, the DOL and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will form a Truck Leasing Task Force that will review leasing arrangements to identify actions that could make leases more equitable and transparent. The Task Force will be focused on reviewing and reporting on: Common truck leasing arrangements, with a specific focus on inequitable terms and transparency. Truck leasing arrangements for ports that involve a requirement for trucks to convert to zero emissions. Loans and other arrangements between incoming driver trainees and training schools and/or trucking companies to understand the extent to which these result in outsized and unanticipated debt for incoming drivers. Looking into predatory truck leasing arrangements with DOL and in coordination with the CFPB.” [FMCSA press release, 1/13/22]

"Cancelling a Planet Fitness membership requires jumping through so many hoops, it’s like a workout in itself. But not for long. Under @LinaKhanFTC, the FTC is cracking down on companies that use deceptive tactics to lock customers into subscriptions." [More Perfect Union, 1/5/22]

“In March, the STB will hold a hearing on ‘reciprocal switching’ rules, which would allow shippers captive to a monopolist railroad to require that railroad to carry its goods along its track until the monopolist railroad can transfer those goods to a competitor railroad. President Biden’s summer Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy encouraged the STB to consider such a rulemaking.

“the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that LendUp Loans has agreed to halt making any new loans and collecting on certain outstanding loans, as well as to pay a penalty, to resolve a September 2021 lawsuit alleging that it continued to engage in illegal and deceptive marketing in violation of a 2016 CFPB order. The lawsuit also accuses LendUp of violating fair lending regulations.
“LendUp was backed by some of the biggest names in venture capital,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “We are shuttering the lending operations of this fintech for repeatedly lying and illegally cheating its customers.”LendUp Loans, headquartered in Oakland, California, offered single-payment and installment loans to consumers online and pitched itself as an alternative to payday lenders. LendUp attracted equity and debt investments from prominent investors, including Google Ventures, Andreessen Horwitz, Kleiner Perkins, PayPal Holdings, and QED Investors.” [CFPB, 12/21/21]

“Joe Biden has announced a focus on righting the lopsided industry. In January he pledged $1bn to expand meat and poultry processing with the aim of helping independent processors like Ulmer compete with the big four companies, as well as expanding choice and lowering prices for consumers. It’s part of a wider move by Biden to blame some corporations for high prices as the president faces inflation at its highest level in 40 years.” [The Guardian, 2/17/22]

"Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. (Princess) has pleaded guilty to a second violation of probation imposed as a result of its 2017 criminal conviction for environmental crimes because it failed to establish and maintain an independent internal investigative office. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Princess was ordered to pay an additional $1 million criminal fine and required to undertake remedial measures to ensure that it and its parent Carnival Cruise Lines & plc establish and maintain the independent internal investigative office known as the Incident Analysis Group (IAG)." [Department of Justice press release, 1/11/22]

“The Justice Department is collecting a trove of information on dozens of investment firms and researchers engaged in short selling as part of a sweeping U.S. hunt for potential trading abuses, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation seized computers from the home of prominent short seller Andrew Left, the founder of Citron Research, in early 2021, some of the people said. In more recent months, the Justice Department subpoenaed certain market participants seeking communications, calendars and other records relating to almost 30 investment and research firms, as well as three dozen individuals associated with them, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential inquiries. Many on that roster -- a veritable who’s-who of the activist short-selling realm -- said they haven’t been contacted directly by the government, leaving some exasperated about being left in the dark. Reached for comment, Left also said he’s frustrated.” [Bloomberg, 2/4/22]

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled plans to conduct unannounced inspections of plants suspected of air pollution violations in the heavily industrialized region in Louisiana known as Cancer Alley and other locations around the US south. The move, announced on Wednesday morning alongside other significant new enforcement and monitoring actions, is aimed at reining in pollution in an area with much of America’s most toxic air.” [The Guardian, 1/26/22]

“On January 11 the EPA responded to nine power plants that applied to delay closure of their toxic ash ponds. The EPA did not grant any of the nine applications: it rejected three outright, found four incomplete, and one ineligible, and indicated it would only conditionally approve one application after compliance violations were resolved. This is the first time the EPA is interpreting and enforcing the federal government’s rules on coal ash since those rules were passed in 2015. The Trump administration tried to roll back the rules, even after a federal court sided with Earthjustice and ordered the government to strengthen coal ash regulations.” [Earthjustice, 1/11/22]

"The proposed rules would require an issuer to provide a new Form SR before the end of the first business day following the day the issuer executes a share repurchase. Form SR would require disclosure identifying the class of securities purchased, the total amount purchased, the average price paid, as well as the aggregate total amount purchased on the open market in reliance on the safe harbor in Exchange Act Rule 10b-18 or pursuant to a plan that is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1(c). The proposed amendments also would enhance existing periodic disclosure requirements regarding repurchases of an issuer’s equity securities. Specifically, the proposed amendments would require an issuer to disclose: the objective or rationale for the share repurchases and the process or criteria used to determine the repurchase amounts; any policies and procedures relating to purchases and sales of the issuer’s securities by its officers and directors during a repurchase program, including any restriction on such transactions; and whether the issuer is making its repurchases pursuant to a plan that it intends to satisfy the affirmative defense conditions of Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1(c) and/or the conditions of the Exchange Act Rule 10b-18 non-exclusive safe harbor." [SEC Press Release, 12/15/21]