Regulatory Playbook

Trending Issues

NERC Proposes Federal Reliability Registration for Large Data Centers
10.30.2026

Why Computational Load Raises Grid Concerns
On October 21, 2026, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) submitted a petition to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval of new registration requirements for owners and operators of certain large computational load sites (“Petition”). NERC, the FERC-certified Electric Reliability Organization, develops and enforces mandatory Reliability Standards nationally for the BPS, subject to FERC approval and oversight.

Pentagon Establishes FORTRESS America: Implications for Energy, Nuclear and Defense Companies
10.30.2026

On September 30, 2026, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum establishing FORTRESS America, a new department-wide program intended to secure the energy, industrial capacity, resources and infrastructure supporting U.S. military operations. Effective immediately, the initiative places domestic resilience at the center of a coordinated effort encompassing military installations, supply chains and critical capabilities.

DOJ and HHS Pilot Offers New Incentives to Self-Disclose Healthcare FCA Violations
10.29.2026

On October 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Division and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a six-month Healthcare False Claims Act Self-Disclosure Pilot Program (FCA SDPP). The FCA SDPP establishes a voluntary self-disclosure process through which healthcare companies that satisfy specified eligibility requirements may obtain a coordinated civil release from liability under the FCA and certain HHS administrative authorities. The six-month FCA SDPP seeks to reward those who are proactive in engaging with the Government by describing specific benefits for self-disclosing alleged corporate misconduct.

China Proposes Expanded Technology Export Restrictions and Announces New Export Control Measures on Dual-Use Items
10.28.2026

On October 16, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48 (Announcement), proposing to add 40 technologies in artificial intelligence, biomedicine and photovoltaics to the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export. Public comments are due by November 15, 2026. Although the proposed amendments remain subject to consultation, interim pre-export registration requirements took effect upon issuance of the Announcement and apply to exports already underway but not yet completed. In an accompanying press Q&A, a MOFCOM spokesperson explained the rationale for the proposed additions and clarified their scope, including the treatment of overseas AI deployment, facilitation measures and the interim registration requirements.

The National Fraud Enforcement Division’s New Whistleblower Incentive Program
10.27.2026

On October 20, 2026, the National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP) pilot, backed by a $25 million commitment from the Department of the Treasury. The announcement came just 19 days after NFED Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald issued a memorandum directing NFED leadership to develop such a program.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Temporarily Stays UK Winding-Up Petitions in Grupo Antolín
10.22.2026

On August 3, 2026, Judge Shireen A. Barday of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York entered a supplemental provisional relief order in the chapter 15 cases of Grupo Antolín-Irausa, S.A.U. and its affiliates. The order temporarily restrains certain noteholders from continuing to pursue winding-up petitions in the United Kingdom against three English subsidiaries. The Court preliminarily treated the Debtors’ rights under euro-denominated notes governed by New York law and related guarantees as property within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and stayed the petitions as actions against that property. The ruling is provisional. The Court has not finally decided where those rights are located, whether the noteholders violated its earlier order, or whether the petitions must be withdrawn. In re Grupo Antolín-Irausa, S.A.U., No. 26-11679 (SAB), Dkt. No. 38 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2026).

What If the BIS Affiliates Rule Comes Into Force?
10.22.2026

The one-year suspension of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) “Affiliates Rule” announced in November 2025 is set to end on November 9, 2026. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in an interview on September 23, 2026, that the Affiliates Rule suspension will be extended two months through January 10, 2027, though BIS has not yet published a notice implementing the extension. The ultimate outcome of the suspension remains uncertain as the U.S.-China trade relationship evolves and the U.S. midterm elections approach. This alert recaps the rule, its suspension and its current status and outlines compliance steps companies should consider in case the Affiliates Rule comes into force in January 2027 or sooner.

Time Is Running Short to Update DFARS Covered Materials Clauses
10.21.2026

January 1, 2027, is less than three months away. On that date, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 252.225-7052 (MAY 2024) expands by its own terms, potentially making material in an organization’s stock compliant on December 31, 2026, and noncompliant one day later. A post-2026 delivery under an agreement containing that clause may be barred because of covered-country mining, refining or separation, even if the material was previously placed in inventory. Congress has changed the statutory upstream restriction to focus on the contract-award date, but contractors must still address any conflicting obligations in their existing agreements. There is a solution, however, that may delay impacts and give the supply chain more time to develop alternate sources for samarium-cobalt or neodymium-iron-boron magnets, tantalum, or tungsten, whose upstream supply chains involve a covered country.

Rite Claims, Wrong Court: Judge Tosses Trustee’s Breach of Duty Claims Against Former Rite Aid D&Os
10.21.2026

In a recent decision, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold N. Poslusny, Jr. of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed breach of fiduciary duty claims brought by Rite Aid Corporation’s post-confirmation litigation trustee against 23 former directors and officers for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Judge Poslusny found that the confirmed plan’s retention of jurisdiction provisions were too general to establish the “close nexus” required for post-confirmation “related to” jurisdiction. (“[A]lthough the language in the Plan is explicit in listing breach of fiduciary claims, it lists such a broad range of potential claims as to essentially function as a blanket retention of jurisdiction over all potential claims”).

Indian Gaming and Prediction Markets: Tribal Amici Ask SCOTUS to Step In
10.19.2026

As we recently reported, New Jersey has petitioned the Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit decision holding that federal commodities law likely prevents the state from applying its gaming laws to Kalshi’s sports-event contracts.

White House Requires AI/Super Intelligence Incident Management
10.15.2026

In an exclusive statement provided to Axios, President Trump’s super intelligence (also known as artificial intelligence) task force has demanded that AI providers provide immediate disclosure and remediation of AI incidents. The requirement follows recent news regarding breaches or incidents caused by AI. In particular, Anthropic recently described models exploiting software flaws to run commands on a server, submitting sensitive forms to real websites, accessing gated data and circumventing tool restrictions during evaluations and internal use.

New Fraud Division Directive Prioritizes Corporate Enforcement in Key Policy Areas and Emphasizes Incentives for Early Self-Disclosure
10.12.2026

On October 1, the National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued Directive 26-12, describing how it will handle corporate fraud cases. NFED was created in January 2026 as part of President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President Vance to “eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.” The Directive identifies the matters the Division will prioritize, gives its Corporate Enforcement Section a role throughout corporate investigations and specifies factors prosecutors must weigh heavily when considering charges and resolutions. It does not change DOJ’s existing corporate voluntary self-disclosure policy.

Financing Compute: Legal Risks and Opportunities in the Emerging GPU Asset Class
10.08.2026

The recent surge in data center financing has typically encompassed both physical data center facilities and the graphics processing unit (GPU) systems housed within them. However, the debt markets for AI infrastructure are beginning to move beyond this integrated model, and GPU systems are increasingly being financed separately from the longer-lived data center assets that support their operation. Recent transactions show that identified GPU systems can sit in dedicated financing subsidiaries supported by customer contracts and the cash flows associated with their deployment. For purposes of this alert, “GPU systems” means the GPU accelerators together with the servers or compute trays in which they are installed, related networking and other system-level hardware.

Newly Approved Amendments Put More Eyes on Proposition 65 Settlements
10.08.2026

Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2577 into law on September 27, 2026, and the amendments are effective on January 1, 2027. According to the author of AB 2577, the bill was intended to strengthen judicial oversight over Proposition 65 settlements, which will both promote public trust in the law and continue to protect public health and the environment. Those practicing in the Proposition 65 space are aware that the Attorney General’s office has already been more closely scrutinizing proposed settlements.

Bipartisan Senate Permitting Bill Would Reshape Federal Environmental Review and Energy-Project Approvals
10.07.2026

On September 30, 2026, the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (the “Act”). It proposes changes affecting energy, transmission, mining and other infrastructure projects through amendments to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Federal Power Act (FPA) and other project-specific permitting statutes. The provisions discussed below reflect the bill as introduced and may change during negotiations.

Governor Newsom Signs SB 690: Private CIPA “Pen-Register and Trap-and-Trace” Website-Tracking Suits Curtailed
10.05.2026

On September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 690. Effective January 1, 2027, it eliminates private actions for website- and app-based pen-register and trap-and-trace claims under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) while leaving other CIPA claims available to private plaintiffs and applying retroactively to certain pending cases. It also applies retroactively to certain pending claims filed before the law’s effective date.

Developments in Nonprofit and Association Law 2025–2026
10.02.2026

The following review offers associations and other nonprofit organizations a concise guide to significant cases and regulatory developments from the past year. What follows are practical summaries of developments affecting governance, tax exemption, constitutional rights, antitrust and competition, political activity and lobbying, employment and benefits, intellectual property, and administrative law—along with their potential implications for nonprofit operations and decision-making.

Enforcing Chinese Judgments in the United States: A Roundup of Recent Cases
10.02.2026

Holders of Chinese court judgments have long been told that enforcement in the United States is impractical: no bilateral judgment-recognition treaty, no federal statute generally governs recognition of foreign-country money judgment (recognition is governed by state enactments of the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (UFCMJRA)), no guarantee. Recent appellate decisions in New York and California confirm that Chinese money judgments can be recognized and enforced when the statutory requirements are met, but they also show that recognition is not automatic. The decisive issues are increasingly the creditor’s proof, the timing and form of the application, case-specific defenses, provisional relief and the location of collectible assets.

SEC Innovation Exemption for Tokenized NMS Stock
09.29.2026

The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) has created a temporary, conditional pathway for a specific type of on-chain secondary market in tokenized public stocks. The five-year Order permits qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) to operate permissioned automated market maker (AMM) liquidity pools for tokenized National Market System (NMS) stock without registering as national securities exchanges or as broker-dealers and without operating as alternative trading systems (ATSs). It also provides limited dealer relief for certain firms that supply proprietary liquidity to those pools.

IRS Releases New Guidance on Emissions Rate Determinations Under IRC Section 45Z
09.29.2026

On September 8, 2026, the IRS issued Notice 2026-53, providing new guidance on the determination of emissions rates for purposes of the clean fuel production credit (CFPC) under section 45Z of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Notice 2026-53 primarily covers three topics.

SEC Proposes Rescission of Rule 14a-8 and Proxy Solicitation Reforms
09.28.2026

On September 16, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued two proposals that, taken together, would represent a substantial restructuring of the federal proxy and shareholder proposal framework. The first proposal (the Rule 14a-8 Proposal) would rescind Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), which sets forth the process under which qualifying shareholders may require companies to include certain shareholder proposals in company proxy materials. If enacted, the rescission of 14a-8 is expected to leave determinations regarding shareholder proposal rights principally to state law and company governing documents. The Rule 14a-8 Proposal also would amend Rule 14a-4 to expand the circumstances in which companies may exercise discretionary authority to vote proxies on shareholder proposals presented at a meeting but omitted from the company’s proxy card.

Indian Gaming and Prediction Markets: Circuit Split Raises the Stakes
09.24.2026

We have previously examined the rapid growth of prediction markets and burgeoning litigation. The basic dispute is straightforward: Prediction-market operators say their “event contracts” are federally regulated derivatives; states, Tribes and commercial casinos disagree, contending these contracts are simply sports bets by another name, and are subject to the same regulations as other forms of gaming.

Treasury and IRS Proposes New Rule on Racial Nondiscrimination: Impacts on Private Tax-Exempt Schools
09.23.2026

On September 4, 2026, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a proposed rule, Racial Nondiscrimination in Private Schools, that would codify and revise the federal tax-law nondiscrimination requirements for private schools currently operating under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Tax Exempt Schools”). For purposes of the rule, the term “school” includes elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educational organizations. Section 501(c)(3) exempts from federal income tax organizations that are organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, educational, or other specified purposes, including qualifying private schools.

SBA Issues Guidance to Resume Processing 8(a) Program Applications and Prioritize Defense-Critical Firms
09.15.2026

On September 10, 2026, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced new guidance implementing recent reforms to the 8(a) Business Development Program for individually owned firms. The guidance addresses three key areas: (1) the treatment of pending applications under the new social disadvantage standard; (2) the reinstatement of the “potential for success” review requirement; and (3) the prioritization of 8(a) applications from firms in defense-critical industries.

CARB Issues Proposed Climate Disclosure Regulations
09.11.2026

Over the past five weeks, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has taken two important actions to further develop the state’s Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Climate Related Financial Risk Disclosure Programs.