CalPERS Agrees That It Will Not Enforce Conflict Of Interest Policy
As discussed in this post, I had petitioned the Office of Administrative Law for a determination that the Statement of Investment Policy for External Investment Resource Conflict of Interest adopted by...
View ArticleCan Congress Veto A Rule Adopted By The SEC?
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, P.L. 104-121, March 29, 1996, provides that before a federal agency rule may take effect, the agency must submit to each house of the...
View ArticleCalifornians Like To Whistle While They Work
California Ranked No. 1! The staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission recently released the 2012 Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program. It turns out that California leads the...
View ArticleCourt Holds That Same Attorney May Advocate Before The ALJ and Agency Head
The Department of Corporations, like many state and federal agencies, does not observe a strict separation of powers. Indeed, the Department performs quasi-legislative functions in the form of rule...
View ArticleDOC Gives Notice of New Filing Requirements For Real Estate Issuers
New Filing Requirements Yesterday, the Commissioner of Corporation issued Release 121-C announcing new filings required by Corporations Code Section 25102.2 which takes effect on January 1, 2013. As...
View ArticleDOC Warns Financial Services Licensees And Can A Theory Be A Tautology?
Last April, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued this Bulletin cautioning supervised banks and certain non-depository financial services companies that they must have “an effective process...
View ArticleDoes The Victims Of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund Deny Due Process?
In notorious defiance of the California Constitution, the legislature in 2002 established the Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund. See Victims of Corporate Fraud. The purpose of the fund is...
View ArticleIn What Branch Of Government Are State Agencies?
Article III, Section 3 of the California Constitution declares that the powers of state government are legislative, executive and judicial. Section 3 then explicitly provides that “Persons charged...
View ArticleNew Law Lets A Thousand Rules Bloom, But Only Quarterly
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Office of Administrative Law is responsible for the review of regulations promulgated by over 200 state agencies. In 2011, reportedly 103 different agencies...
View ArticleSEC Includes Disclosure Of Corporate Political Spending Rule In Unified...
On August 3, 2011, a group of leading academics, including Harvard Law School Professor Lucian A. Bebchuk, submitted this petition for rulemaking to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The...
View ArticleSEC Faces A Swarm Of Legal Issues In Considering The Investor Advisory...
The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee held another meeting last week with Elisse B. Walter making her first public appearance as SEC Chairman. She and Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar had many kind words...
View ArticleCould The Product Of Two Debts Really Be A Fortune?
In 628 in the Gurjar capital city of Bhillamala (now, Bhinmal, India), the mathemetician Brahmagupta set out to explain how zero and negatives numbers work. In his book, Brahmasphutasiddhanta, he set...
View ArticleCourt Orders Disclosure Of Venture Capital Fund Performance
California’s analog to the Freedom of Information Act is the Public Records Act, Government Code § 6250 et seq. In enacting the the Public Records Act, the legislature quite properly found and...
View ArticleCalPERS To Consider External Investment Resource Disclosure Rule
Last August the Investment Committee of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) approved revisions to its External Investment Resource Conflict of Interest Policy. A week later, I...
View ArticleDepartment Of Corporations Issues Crowd Funding Bulletin
Last week, the Department of Corporations issued this bulletin which it styled as a “Crowdfunding Update”. The Bulletin makes several important points. Until the Securities and Exchange Commission...
View ArticleWithout An “Intelligible Principle” Can The SEC Adopt Political Spending Rules?
In August 2011, Professor Lucian Bebchuk and nine other law professors submitted this petition asking that the Securities and Exchange Commission adopt rules requiring public companies to disclose to...
View ArticleCourt Clears Way For Case Against CalPERS, Judicial Council & Prison...
Nearly two years ago, Mr. Daniel E. Francis filed a petition for writ of mandamus against CalPERS and other based on allegations that the pension fund had laundered the salary of the receiver appointed...
View ArticleHow Many Ways Can The SEC Describe A “Year”?
It’s not easy to write regulations and lawyers can be a hypercritical group. Nonetheless, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules can be maddingly inconsistent. As one small example, I offer...
View ArticleThe PUHCA, Chenery & The Run For The Roses
Earlier this week, I mentioned the former Public Utility Holding Company Act (aka PUHCA). Although it was repealed several years ago, the PUHCA remains important as the legal substrate upon which the...
View ArticleSupreme Court To Decide If It Will Decide Whether Section 16 Plaintiff Has...
No Harm, No Foul The late Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn was known for coining or popularizing numerous basketball expressions, including “air ball” and ”no harm, no foul”. Now, the U.S. Supreme...
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