Regulatory Transactions

From: CSPnet.com

Briant offers an insider’s view of taxes, regulations and restrictions 

By Mitch Morrison, Vice President & Group Editor

It could be 2016 before the FDA takes official control over cigars, pipe tobacco and e-cigarettes. In the meantime, myriad proposals, from President Obama’s near-doubling of the Federal Excise Tax to local and state initiatives to increase tobacco taxes and restrict the sale of e-cigs, should keep the country’s 175,000 sellers of tobacco products on alert.

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From: The Poultry Site

US – National Chicken Council (NCC) has welcomed the newly proposed voluntary code to modernise the US poultry inspection system aimed at reducing foodborne illness, as well as setting up a new web site to aid understanding of the differences between the new and old systems of broiler carcass inspection.

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has sent its proposed rule to modernise the US poultry inspection system to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review, according to the NCC Washington Report. The notice is available on the OMB’s web site.

From: CFPB Monitor/Ballard Spahr

By Alan S. Kaplinsky

Three prominent industry trade groups are urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) not to approve the CFPB’s proposal to conduct a national telephone survey of 1,000 credit card holders as part of its study of the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in connection with the offering of consumer financial products and services. 

From: Financial-Planning.com

by: Kenneth Corbin

WASHINGTON — Has the debate around the Department of Labor’s fiduciary proposal become so heated that the administration will shelve the controversial proposal?

At least one opponent says it’s possible.

Stephen Saxon, the chairman of the Groom Law Group, has been meeting with senior administration officials to express opposition to the pending regulations. And speaking this week at the Insured Retirement Institute’s regulatory conference, Saxon noted that the concerns from the financial industry about the proposal — which would extend fiduciary responsibilities to advisors providing retirement advice to plans and individuals — have resonated at the highest levels of the government.

From: WSJ/Pharmalot

By Ed Silverman

A pair of Republican lawmakers has written the White House to question the authority the FDA has to issue a rule allowing generic drug makers to independently provide updated safety warnings about their medicines.

The proposed rule, which the agency released last fall, has become controversial as generic drug makers argue the FDA is on a misguided mission to close what consumer advocates call a safety loophole in the national medicine chest. The generic industry, however, funded a white paper that maintains the rule would add $4 billion to the nation’s health care bill, mostly due to higher litigation costs that may ensue.

Publisher’s Note: The publisher of this website was instrumental in the initiation of centralized regulatory review in the White Office of Management and Budget– its origins having begun in the Johnson Administration and utilized by eight subsequent Presidential Administrations.

A plethora of press articles are coming on line in the last eight hours which cast the OMB review in a non-favorable light. I remind all our readers that the office in OMB, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, consisting of less than four dozen employees out of a million plus federal employees is the only group between an unchecked regulatory bureaucracy and the taxpayers check book.

From: Ag/FDA Blog – The OFW Law Blog

By Richard L. Frank and Bruce Silverglade

The White House’s role with USDA’s regulations for school foods and the WIC feeding program has been widely reported.  Lesser known is the White House involvement in FDA food labeling policy.

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About a year ago, FDA requested permission from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct a study to find out if an “Added Sugars” disclosure would be helpful or confusing to consumers.  However, to coincide with the anniversary of the Let’s Move! campaign, FDA, on March 3, published its proposed rule including “Added Sugars” labeling despite the absence of any consumer survey research. OMB approval of FDA’s research study was granted in an untimely fashion three weeks after the proposed regulation was published (and then only after trade press reports had drawn attention to the matter).

From: National Association for Home Care & Hospice

A recent Bloomberg BNA article announced that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has received a proposed rule from CMS that would set 2015 payment rates for home health agencies.

According to the article:

“The rule (CMS-1611-P; RIN: 0938-AS14), would update the 60-day national episode rate based on the applicable home health market basket update and case-mix adjustment, the OMB said.

The proposal also would update the national per-visit rates used to calculate low utilization payment adjustments and outlier payments under the Medicare prospective payment system for home health agencies, it added.

From: National Low Income Housing Coalition

On June 11, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posted a notice that the final NHTF regulations are at OMB and that a final rule is expected to released sometime in July 2014. While a posting does not guarantee that a final rule will be published by the date specified, the OIRA listing is a good sign and a positive step toward implementation of the NHTF. The NHTF was authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and HUD issued a proposed rule on October 29, 2010.

From: Rock River Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fulfilling President Barack Obama’s commitment to make 2014 a year of action to strengthen the economy and grow the middle class, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez has announced a proposed rule raising the minimum wage for workers on federal service and construction contracts to $10.10 per hour. The proposed rule implements Executive Order 13658, which was announced by the president Feb. 12.

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