Overnight Regulation: House Republicans look to repeal joint-employer rule | Perry downplays energy grid study | Greens lose appeal over pesticide

by Lydia Wheeler - 07/18/17 5:49 PM ET

Welcome to Overnight Regulations, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill and the courts. It’s Tuesday evening here in Washington where Republicans are reeling after their plans for repealing ObamaCare unraveled. Here’s the latest.

THE BIG STORY

House Republicans are pushing to change an Obama-era rule to make it more difficult to find a company liable for a labor law violation committed by a subcontractor or franchise.

The Republicans say the current standard imposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is too onerous for businesses.

Under the current standard:

A company is considered a “joint-employer” with a contractor if it has “indirect” control over the terms and conditions of employment or has the “reserved authority to do so.”
That means it can be found jointly liable for a violation.

Under the old standard:

Companies were considered a joint-employer when the two entities exerted “direct” and “significant” control over the same employee — a lower standard.

Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and other members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee are working on legislation to repeal the NLRB’s 2015 ruling that set the new standard.

{mosads}

Republicans have tried unsuccessfully over the last two years to block the labor board ruling from being enforced. Support for changing the standard from the Trump administration, however, has ushered in a new wave of hope.

“We also have a president who’s willing to sign it, who’s not pushing the Department of Labor to go against the flow of what has been traditionally our free enterprise system,” said Walberg, who added that he’s talked with the administration about the joint-employer issue and “they get it.”

Read the full story here.

ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY

The House Appropriations Committee will meet to mark up the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education proposed 2018 budget, which includes language to block enforcement of the National Labor Relations Board’s joint-employer standard.

The Senate Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe will hold a hearing to look at illicit cigarette smuggling in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe region.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing to look at a bill to increase protections for wildlife.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a business meeting to vote on the nominations of Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel to be members of the National Labor Relations Board.

REG ROUNDUP

Environment: A federal appeals court rejected a request from environmental groups to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision not to restrict the controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos.

The San Francisco-based Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit made its decision on procedural grounds, writing Tuesday that the green groups, led by the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), need to first file a challenge with the EPA before they can go to court.

Timothy Cama has the story here.

Trade: The White House is focusing on its bread-and-butter issue of trade this week as it tries to shift the spotlight away from the Russia controversy dogging the administration.

President Trump’s top trade negotiator on Monday rolled out the administration’s strategy for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a big campaign promise, while an announcement on new steel tariffs could be made in the coming days. Both moves would deliver on Trump’s promise to crack down on what he says are unfair trade practices.

Jordan Fabian has the latest here.

Energy: A Senate Appropriations Committee panel on Tuesday approved a $38.4 billion bill to fund federal energy and water programs, including the Department of Energy (DOE), in fiscal 2018.

The legislation would increase spending for the DOE and other programs by $629 million next year. Total funding in the bill is about $900 million more than that set aside in the House and is $4.1 billion more than the budget request President Trump released in May.

Devin Henry has the low down on that for you here.

Tech: A net neutrality recap for the day. The White House on Tuesday offered support for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to roll back the Obama-era net neutrality internet rules.

“We support the FCC chair’s efforts to review and consider rolling back these rules and believe that the best way to get fair rules for everyone is for Congress to take action and create regulatory and economic certainty,” deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Her comments come a day after the agency closed its comment period on Republican Chairman Ajit Pai’s “Restoring Internet Order” plan to undo the rules, which prevent broadband providers from blocking or slowing content.

The Hill’s Ali Breland has more here.

The Internet Association, a trade group representing internet companies, lashed out at a pro-net neutrality group on Tuesday for initially saying that they planned to go after Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) with billboard attack ads.

Fight for the Future announced on Tuesday that it planned to launch a billboard campaign targeting lawmakers who have spoken in favor of the Federal Communications Commission’s effort to repeal its net neutrality rules.

Evan Greer, the group’s spokeswoman, sent a list of lawmakers to The Hill that would be targeted by the billboard. Scalise, who is currently recovering from a gunshot wound inflicted during an attack on lawmakers last month, was included on that list.

Greer has since clarified that the Louisiana Republican’s name was mistakenly added and that the group has no plans to launch ads against him.

But the Internet Association, which has largely been on the same side of the net neutrality fight, took issue with Fight for the Future’s announcement.

Harper Neidig has the full story here.

Education: A majority of students are choosing in-state schools or living at home to reduce the cost of college, the federal student loan servicing company, Sallie Mae found in a study released Tuesday.

The annual report Sallie Mae produces with the market research company Ipsos found that 73 percent of students went to in-state schools, 50 percent opted to live at home and 26 percent enrolled in accelerated programs to save money.

The study also found that students and parents equally shared the cost of college in the 2016-2017 school year, contributing about one-third of the expense, while relying on scholarships and grants to cover 35 percent of the costs – the largest share in the report’s 10-year history.

“Throughout our 10 years of conducting this study, families have consistently demonstrated they are determined to make college happen, and they’ve also become more value-conscious as they pay for higher education,” said Raymond J. Quinlan, chairman and chief executive officer, Sallie Mae.

“The value families place on a higher education degree is so strong that the majority expect their child to achieve a graduate degree.”

Voter fraud: A federal district court judge on Tuesday refused to block President Trump’s voter fraud commission from holding its first public meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied without prejudice a request from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law for a temporary restraining order against the Presidential Advisory Commission on Integrity.

The civil rights group claimed the commission Trump created to investigate his claims of voter fraud in last year’s presidential election violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act by failing to put out a public notice or disclose details of conference meetings members held by phone on June 28th.

Find the details on that court battle here.

Finance: The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled a new slate of economic sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program and destabilizing actions in the region. The sanctions came a day after the administration announced that it will grudgingly recertify Tehran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement reached under former President Obama.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated 16 entities and individuals for supporting “illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity,” according to a statement Tuesday.

Some of those targeted had supported the Iranian military or Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by developing drones, fast attack boats and other military equipment. Others stole U.S. and western software programs, which were sold to the Iranian government, according to the statement.

Katie Bo Williams has the story here.

Energy: Energy Secretary Rick Perry says he hasn’t seen a key department study into renewable energy and the electric grid, draft versions of which leaked to the public on Monday.

“There are lots of people breathlessly waiting to read that,” Perry said at a National Press Club event Tuesday. “There are a lot of folks throwing jello at the wall, folks that say they may have some information that’s in the report. I haven’t seen it yet.”

A draft version of the study, posted Monday by various news outlets, concludes that the growth of renewable power and federal energy regulations have had minimal impacts on changes to the electric grid.

It instead blamed declining electricity demand and the plunging cost of natural gas for the early retirements of traditional coal and nuclear power plants.

The Energy Department has said the draft study is out of date and a new version could have different conclusions. But the draft report seems to undercut some of the warnings Perry and the Trump administration have issued about the state of the electric grid.

Devin Henry explains here.

IN THE NEWS

Kamala Harris slams Sessions on criminal justice reform – The Hill

California votes to extend cap and trade – The Hill

Bathroom bill opens deep rift in Texas GOP – The Hill

FTC names new acting chief technologist – The Hill

Report calls for new civil service system with more power to agencies – The Washington Post

Jeff Sessions wants to let police take more people’s stuff even if they aren’t convicted of a crime – Vox

Wall Street lays out its wish list for SEC reforms for public companies – Reuters

New U.S. rule on class actions enters critical period – Reuters

Financial regulators edge closer to showdown over arbitration rule – The Wall Street Journal

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