THIS WEEK’S DOSE - - Key House Health Committees Advance Reconciliation, Bill Held Up in Budget Committee. The Energy and Commerce Committee and Ways and Means Committee passed their recommendations for reconciliation out of...more
In federal court, “not guilty” doesn’t always mean no punishment. Under a quirk of federal sentencing law, judges are permitted to consider at sentencing anything that they consider relevant, including conduct for which a...more
In the final week of a legislative session, committee meetings under the Gold Dome are a lot like magic shows. Bills and resolutions, including some thought to be long dead, come before a committee and, presto chango, emerge...more
The General Assembly returned to the Capitol on Monday, but the lack of floor action in the chambers seemed more like Legislative Day 3 than Legislative Day 32. Neither the House nor the Senate had Rules Calendars as the...more
The floors of the House and Senate were unusually active on Monday compared to a typical Fifth Legislative Day. Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) welcomed Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to address his chamber amidst the...more
On July 13, 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel met to discuss biologic and biosimilar competition and its impact on drug prices. A group of senators, led by Senator Amy Klobuchar, are sponsors of a Senate...more
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) do not agree on much, but they agree on one thing. The government filing fees on mergers, which have not been updated since 2001, need to be updated and large transactions...more
Keypoint: It was another busy week with bills introduced in Colorado, New York and West Virginia, a committee hearing in New Jersey on three bills, a public hearing in Washington on the Washington Privacy Act, the Oklahoma...more
Treasurer Will Build Public Pension Plan for Small Business - State Treasurer Beth Pearce on Wednesday asked the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee to create the framework for a...more
The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016 has been pending for several monthsnow, and was recently recommended favorably by the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. The bill would create a uniform...more
Following months of public outcry and Congressional probes into significant drug price increases, the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced legislation targeting “behavior that blocks competition and delays the creation of...more
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week (video available here) on the Holocaust Art Recovery Act (the “HEAR Act”) that drew welcome attention to the ongoing challenges to the restitution of Nazi-looted art. We...more
The Senate Judiciary Committee recently released Senate Report 114-220 regarding the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”). A background on and recent developments of the DTSA are discussed more fully on our blog....more
This month, both the Federal Circuit and the Senate Judiciary Committee took up the issue of “forum shopping” in patent infringement suits. Right now, a patent plaintiff can essentially file suit in the district court of its...more
On December 2, 2015, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing regarding the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 (DTSA). If passed, the DTSA would create a federal private right of action for theft of trade secrets....more
The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing to discuss reforms to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) proposed in Senate bill S. 356, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act of...more
On June 17, 2015, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015 (Act), a bill that proposes whistleblower protection for employees who provide information to the...more