Enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has been halted yet again by the courts, pausing the beneficial ownership reporting requirements outlined in the CTA. On December 26, 2024, a merits panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated an earlier stay issued on December 23 that would have required the filing of beneficial ownership information reports (BOIRs) while the legal battle over the rule continued. Oral arguments in the case are set to begin in the Fifth Circuit on March 25, 2024, blocking enforcement of the reporting requirements through at least the end of March unless the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) intervenes.
On December 3, 2024, a federal court in Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction, expressing concerns over the law’s constitutionality and its potential negative effects on small businesses. That ruling was appealed by the Government and the motions panel of the Fifth Circuit granted a stay to the injunction on December 23. The Fifth Circuit’s vacation of the stay has paused the requirement to file BOIRs
The CTA, enacted by Congress in 2020, mandates that companies earning $5 million or less in revenue and employing twenty or fewer individuals must file beneficial ownership reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury.
While FinCEN has appealed the nationwide injunction to SCOTUS, filing an Application for a Stay of the Injunction issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on December 31, 2024, it is unclear if SCOTUS would grant the government’s application once again requiring reporting companies to file beneficial ownership information.
House Renews China Committee
The House of Representatives is continuing the bipartisan select committee focused on China, which was established two years ago at the start of the 118th Congress. The House rules package, a resolution establishing the rules governing the House of Representatives for the new 119th Congress, keeps in place the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party while also updating the lists of threats the Committee is charged with assessing to include “ideological.”
The rules package outlines the jurisdiction of the panel to consist of “policy recommendations on countering the economic, technological, security, and ideological threats of the Chinese Communist Party to the United States and allies and partners of the United States.”
While the Select Committee does not have the legislative authority to report bills for a vote on the floor of the House, they were quite active in the 118th Congress holding numerous hearings and promoting policy proposals and legislation from other committees to counter threats from China.
EPA Finalizes Secondary NAAQS Update
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a regulation leaving the “secondary” air standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter (PM) mostly unchanged. The final rule, published on December 27, 2024, would slightly tighten the secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for SOx while retaining the secondary standards for NOx and PM. Primary NAAQS are required by the Clean Air Act to protect public health, while secondary standards are designed to protect the environment.
The SOx secondary standard stands at 500 parts per billion (ppb) of sulfur dioxide (SO2) over three hours, a level also set in 1971. The proposed rule would lower the standard to10 for SO2, averaged over three years.
The secondary standard for NOx will remain at 53 parts per billion (ppb) of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annually, the same level it has been at since 1971. The secondary annual PM2.5 standard will continue to stand at 15 ug/m3, and the secondary daily PM2.5 standard at 35 ug/m3. The secondary daily limit for larger “coarse” PM, or PM10, will continue to be 150 ug/m3. The final rule is effective on January 27, 2025.
Final FHWA Buy America Rule Eminent
A final rule terminating the general waiver of Buy America requirements for manufactured products is set to be released by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in the final days of the Biden administration
In the rule, first proposed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the DOT in March 2024, the FHWA revoked the waiver, which has been operational since 1983, permitting manufactured products used in highway projects, excluding those predominantly made of iron or steel, to be sourced from outside the United States. The proposal also updated the FHWA’s standards for manufactured products under the Buy America requirements.
Under the rulemaking, “Application of Buy America to Manufactured Products,” the FHWA intends to terminate the general waiver of Buy America requirements and revise the standards to align with the “Build America, Buy America” Act (BABA) enacted in 2021. The BABA mandates that all federally assisted infrastructure projects utilize domestically produced iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials.
In addition to discontinuing the waiver, the FHWA proposes updating standards to define a manufactured product, aligning them with BABA’s definition, which stipulates that “a manufactured product must be produced in the United States and that the cost of components mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States must exceed 55 percent of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product.” The final rule is expected to be released shortly.