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| 02.06.12 | Business Associates Beware: First HIPAA Enforcement Action Against a Business Associate (And the Plot Thickens with Transparency Demands)On Jan. 19, 2012, in the wake of the theft of an unencrypted laptop computer containing approximately 23,500 patients' records, the Minnesota attorney general brought the first formal enforcement action against a business associate, Accretive Health, Inc., for an alleged violation under the Health I...
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| 02.06.12 | FERC Seeks Comments On How To Advise EPA Regarding the Reliability Impact Of Clean Air Act RulesThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice on Jan. 30, 2012 seeking comments on a Staff White Paper that proposes procedures for a type of FERC action which has no precedent and is based on uncertain statutory authority. The proposed procedures address how FERC should advise the...
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| 02.01.12 | FCC Adopts Lifeline Reform Order; Link Up Eliminated Except in Tribal LandsThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday (Jan. 31, 2012) adopted its long-awaited Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Order and Rulemaking) reforming and modernizing the federal Low Income program, with the goals of preserving this important program whi...
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| 01.31.12 | Annual FCC CPNI Certification Due by March 1As we have reported in previous advisories, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires every telecommunications and interconnected VoIP service provider (including wireless, cable telephony, and even paging and calling card providers) to execute and file an annual officer certification tha...
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| 01.19.12 | Feb. 1 Deadline for Noncommercial Broadcast Stations to File Biennial Ownership ReportAffected Station Groups:
Noncommercial Radio Stations in: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York
Noncommercial TV Stations in: Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma
By Feb. 1, 2012, noncommercial radio stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey a...
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| 01.18.12 | Broadcast Station Update: EEO Reports Due Feb. 1
Annual EEO Public File Report Deadline—Feb. 1Affected States: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York and Oklahoma
Form 396 EEO Report—Feb. 1Radio Stations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi
By Feb. 1, 2012, radio and television S...
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| 01.18.12 | Judge Rules State Assembly Must Open RecordsIn a resounding victory for public access to state government documents, a Sacramento judge has rejected efforts by the California State Assembly to keep secret records reflecting its internal budgeting and spending of taxpayer money. In Dec. 2011, Judge Timothy Frawley held that the Legislative Ope...
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| 01.17.12 | FCC Adopts Closed Captioning Rules for Online Video ProgrammingThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted a Report and Order (R&O) establishing rules for the closed captioning of video programming delivered via Internet protocol (i.e., IP video), as required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). As discussed in ...
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| 01.17.12 | Good News for California Employers on Split-Shift and Reporting-Time PayEmployers whose hours of operation depend on multiple or irregular shifts often wrestle with how to pay employees called into work for off-hours meetings or a short shift, or how to handle split-shift payments for employees whose schedules involve an unpaid break of more than an hour. The California...
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| 01.12.12 | IRS Clarifies Form W-2 Reporting Obligations for Employer-Provided Health CoverageThe IRS has issued Notice 2012-9 to provide new guidance (and modify prior guidance) on employers’ obligations to report health coverage costs on Form W-2.
Background
As part of health care reform, Congress added Section 6051(a)(14) to the Internal Revenue Code to require that employers repo...
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| 01.03.12 | Labor Commissioner Publishes Template for Employer-Required Notice to California New HiresCalifornia’s new Wage Theft Protection Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2012, requires employers (except the government) to provide written notice of certain information to every newly-hired non-exempt employee excluding those covered by union contracts that meet certain criteria. In compliance ...
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| 12.28.11 | Broadcast Station Reminder: Quarterly Issues/Program Lists Due Jan. 10By Jan. 10, 2012, all radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of October, November, and December dealing with those is...
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| 12.28.11 | Broadcast Television Station Reminder: FCC Form 398 Children's Programming Quarterly Reports Due By Jan. 10, 2012, all commercial full-power television stations and Class A LPTV stations must prepare and file an FCC Form 398 Children's Programming Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2011 with the FCC. By this date, stations must also prepare and place in their public inspection files documentation...
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| 12.27.11 | New FCC Ruling Delays Default Bill-and-Keep Compensation Rule for Wireless Traffic; Modifies Universal Service Rules to Force Low Income ETCs to Seek ForbearanceOn Friday, Dec. 23, the FCC changed the rules governing universal service and intercarrier compensation that it had just issued on Nov. 18, 2011. We reported on the earlier order here and here. In a setback for wireless carriers, the FCC pushed out the effective date of “default” bill-an...
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