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🚛Implications of New FMCSA Regulations for Motor Carriers and Brokers

In a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 18, 2024, FMCSA amended its regulations by making technical corrections throughout the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The final rule included an amendatory instruction to revise a stayed section without first lifting the stay. The final rule also included an amendatory instruction which referenced an incorrect paragraph letter. The Agency corrects these errors.

📈CFPB Civil Penalty Adjustments

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is adjusting for inflation the maximum amount of each civil penalty within the CFPB's jurisdiction. These adjustments are required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (Inflation Adjustment Act), as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and further amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The inflation adjustments mandated by the Inflation Adjustment Act serve to maintain the deterrent effect of civil penalties and to promote compliance with the law.

⚖️EPA Civil Penalty Inflation Adjustment Effective January 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating this final rule to adjust the level of the maximum and minimum statutory civil monetary penalty amounts under the statutes the EPA administers. This action is mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended through the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 ("the 2015 Act"). The 2015 Act prescribes a formula for annually adjusting the statutory maximum and minimum amount of civil monetary penalties to reflect inflation, maintain the deterrent effect of statutory civil monetary penalties, and promote compliance with the law. The rule does not establish specific civil monetary penalty amounts the EPA may seek in particular cases. The EPA calculates those amounts, as appropriate, based on the facts of particular cases and applicable agency penalty policies. The EPA's civil penalty policies, which guide enforcement personnel on how to exercise the EPA's discretion within statutory penalty authorities, take into account a number of fact-specific considerations, e.g., the seriousness of the violation, the violator's good faith efforts to comply, any economic benefit gained by the violator as a result of its noncompliance, and the violator's ability to pay.

⚖️PBGC Announces Civil Penalty Adjustments for 2025 Compliance

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is required to amend its regulations annually to adjust for inflation the maximum civil penalty for failure to provide certain notices or other material information and for failure to provide certain multiemployer plan notices.

⚖️Proposed Settlement Under Clean Air Act

🔐Proposed HIPAA Security Rule Enhancements for Cybersecurity Compliance

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or "Department") is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit comment on its proposal to modify the Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information ("Security Rule") under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The proposed modifications would revise existing standards to better protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic protected health information (ePHI). The proposals in this NPRM would increase the cybersecurity for ePHI by revising the Security Rule to address: changes in the environment in which health care is provided; significant increases in breaches and cyberattacks; common deficiencies the Office for Civil Rights has observed in investigations into Security Rule compliance by covered entities and their business associates (collectively, "regulated entities"); other cybersecurity guidelines, best practices, methodologies, procedures, and processes; and court decisions that affect enforcement of the Security Rule.

📊USDA FGIS Final Rule on User Fee Regulations for Grain Services

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS or Service) is amending its user fee regulations to establish standardized formulas the agency will use to calculate hourly and unit fees. The changes allow FGIS to charge reasonable fees sufficient to cover the costs of providing official services and re-establish a 3-to 6-month operating reserve, as required by the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA). This final rule also makes specified conforming changes and minor technical changes to correct two typographical errors.

📈Civil Penalty Inflation Adjustments

In this final rule, DHS adjusts for inflation its civil monetary penalties for 2025, in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and Executive Office of the President (EOP) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The new penalty amounts will be effective for penalties assessed after January 2, 2025, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015.

⚛️NRC Issues Updates on Spent Fuel Storage Regulations and Compliance

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the NAC International, Inc. MAGNASTOR[supreg] Storage System listing within the "List of approved spent fuel storage casks" to include Amendment No. 14 and revisions to Amendment Nos. 0 through 13 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1031. Amendment No. 14 and revisions to Amendment Nos. 0 through 13 revise the certificate of compliance to add a revised method of evaluation for the non-mechanistic tipover accident, clarify in the technical specifications that damaged missing grid spacers only apply to pressurized-water reactor fuel assembles, clarify inlet and outlet vent blockage and surveillance requirements in limiting condition for operation 3.1.2 in Appendix A to the certificate of compliance and associated technical specification bases, and remove the reference to Type II Portland cement in the description of the certificate of compliance. The NRC is also correcting typographical errors in Revision 1 to Amendment Nos. 11 to 13 and Amendment No. 14 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1031.

📈Federal Election Commission Updates Civil Monetary Penalties for 2025

As required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, the Federal Election Commission is adjusting for inflation the civil monetary penalties established under the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act, and the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act. The civil monetary penalties being adjusted are those negotiated by the Commission or imposed by a court for certain statutory violations, and those imposed by the Commission for late filing of or failure to file certain reports required by the Federal Election Campaign Act. The adjusted civil monetary penalties are calculated according to a statutory formula and the adjusted amounts will apply to penalties assessed after the effective date of these rules.