Federal Pre-emption

Companies in a host of highly regulated industries often find themselves caught between complying with federal laws and regulations and those of the states or localities where they do business. For a nationwide provider, having to comply with differing requirements is at a minimum expensive and operationally difficult. It may be impossible when the rules directly conflict or be untenable when the regulations interfere with companies’ federal rights.

Many companies in this situation rely on us to help create clarity between state and federal agencies on which sets of rules should govern. We help find this clarity by pressing clients’ interests with agency personnel, participating in rulemaking processes and pursuing resolution in the courts.

We are particularly well-suited to pursue pre-emption claims because of our deep understanding of the highly complex regulatory schemes of industries such as telecommunications, cable, energy, health care and financial services.

We have represented numerous telecommunications and cable companies in proceedings before the courts, the FCC and state commissions on issues such as:

• Network access
• Interconnection
• Consumer protection
• Universal service
• Internet standards
• Price controls
• Facilities construction

We are at the forefront of a growing divide between federal and state/regional policies dealing with global climate change, including California’s AB 32 and the Western Climate Initiative. We represent hospitals and other health care providers in dealing with pre-emption issues arising out of HIPAA and state medical records systems. We also represent businesses in ERISA pre-emption issues.