On August 23, 2006, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a final rule (Order No. 682) requiring natural gas companies to report serious damage to their facilities caused by hurricanes, other natural disasters, or terrorist activities, or any other damage that could result in serious delivery problems.

When Congress recently amended the Federal Bankruptcy Laws, one important change made it more difficult for debtors in single asset real estate cases to maintain the automatic stay without filing a plan of reorganization or making interest payments to secured creditors.

The Internal Revenue Service has floated a discussion draft of good governance practices for Section 501(c)(3) organizations.

A federal district court has ruled that an unauthorized fan encyclopedia compiling and describing characters, concepts and events in the “Harry Potter and . . .” book series violates author J.K. Rowling’s copyrights in the works.

A recently released report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that approximately one-third of the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsors’ Internet web sites did not contain all of the content required by the Medicare regulations and that eighty-five percent of the web sites did not comply with Federal requirements for accessibility.

Effective for distributions expected to be paid or to begin on or after October 1, 2004, plan sponsors of defined benefit plans (including cash balance plans) must provide a participant or beneficiary with a comparison of the amount of benefit payment under the available optional forms of benefit and the payment under the qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA)

On December 4, CMS published an interim final rule clarifying the definition of case management and targeted case management (TCM) services for which states may receive Medicaid payment.

On August 7, 2007, a jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found Gregory L. Reyes, the former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. ("Brocade"), guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy for backdating stock options granted to Brocade employees.

On September 7, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule titled “Elimination of Reimbursement Under Medicaid for School Administration Expenditures and Costs Related to Transportation of School-Age Children Between Home and School.

On July 30, 2008, President Bush signed into law the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008,” which liberalizes some of the tax rules governing real estate investment trusts proposed by NAREIT in 2007.

On April 28, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission announced a complaint challenging a string of transactions completed between 2002 and 2005, and proposed a consent order that imposed conduct restrictions on the acquirer in order to reduce the anti-competitive effects of the cumulative transactions.

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, held a hearing October 31, 2007 about the potential impact of the Medicare competitive bidding program on small providers.

On December 29, 2007, the President signed into law the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 (the Act).

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it has received enough regular H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009.

The US Patent & Trademark Office has announced significant new rules regarding the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. The rules go into effect on NOVEMBER 1, 2007, but have RETROACTIVE EFFECT.

In a decision sure to cause both manufacturers and retailers to examine their resale pricing policies, on June 28, 2007, the United States Supreme Court overruled the nearly 100 year old rule that agreements to establish minimum resale prices constitute per se violations of section 1 of the Sherman Act.

The Internal Revenue Service released the final regulations regarding taxation of excess benefit transactions on January 22, 2002. The regulations set forth rules governing transactions between public charities and social welfare organizations, and directors, officers, employees, related organizations and other "insiders.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of Congress, testified before the U.S. Senate on June 16 that a study of government contractors shows that as many as 33,000 civilian contractors owe the Government more than $3 billion in unpaid taxes. GAO matched government contractor records with files of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify the contractors

On June 28, 2007, in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 550 U.S. ___, (2007), overruling Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons, 220 U.S. 373 (1911), the Supreme Court overruled a nearly 100 year old antitrust decision by holding that vertical agreements to institute minimum resale price maintenance ("RPM") are not per se illegal.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been flexing its regulatory muscles in recent weeks by levying severe fines against companies who have failed to report product hazards on a timely basis. CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton has stated publicly that the recent actions are intended to demonstrate the CPSC’s "commitment to protecting American families by holding companies accountable for keeping safety information from us.