Morgan Lewis

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced on November 16, 2023 its intention to issue, on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) that is expected to focus on advancing fueling infrastructure for heavy-duty (HD) vehicles and other HD transportation

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a final rule and associated regulatory guide providing an alternative avenue for small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactors to satisfy emergency preparedness requirements. The long-anticipated rulemaking allows SMRs and advanced reactor license applicants to develop performance-based emergency preparedness programs instead of using the current prescriptive offsite

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) has released its annual report on enforcement for fiscal year 2023. As in fiscal year 2022, FERC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) focused on matters involving fraud and market manipulation, serious violations of the Reliability Standards, anticompetitive conduct, threats to the nation’s energy infrastructure and associated impacts

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently adopted a final rule amending its Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information (commonly referred to as the “Safeguards Rule”) to require financial institutions to report certain data breaches and other security events to the FTC.

In October, California enacted its newest privacy legislation, commonly referred to as the “Delete Act” (California Senate Bill No. 362). The Delete Act will allow consumers to request that any data broker that maintains any personal information related to that consumer delete such personal information.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) released its enforcement results for fiscal year 2023 on November 7, 2023. The CFTC’s Division of Enforcement filed 96 enforcement actions in 2023 charging a range of violations in a variety of markets that resulted in more than $4.3 billion in civil monetary penalties, restitution, and disgorgement.

In January 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) changed the withholding election rules applicable to distributions from pension plans (a term that includes 401(k) plans, money purchase pension plans and defined benefit pension plans). Specifically, the IRS issued a revised Form W-4P, to be used for reporting periodic payments only (such as monthly pension payments)