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Government Relations Top News
The U.S. Senate failed to pass a Motion To Proceed to a vote on the DISCLOSE Act by a vote of 57 to 41. Sixty votes was required to bring the bill to the floor. The DISCLOSE Act is aimed at overturning the Supreme Court's decision on the Citizens United case in which the court lifted limits on outside spending in elections. Democrats felt that decision would lead to a flood of hostile corporate money targeting members of their own party during the fall elections. DISCLOSE included an amendment obligating many advocacy organizations that wish to speak out on their candidates and, in certain situations, political issues, to release the identities of many of their donors, while allowing a few large mainstream organizations to preserve the privacy of their donors. In a letter to Capitol Hill, IFDA opposed the legislation.
On July 21, 2010, The House Education and Labor Committee passed the Miner Safety and Health Act of 2010 (H.R. 5663) on a party line vote. H.R. 5663 includes significant changes to the Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) Act’s enforcement, penalties, abatement and whistleblower provisions. H.R 5663 would allow OSHA inspectors to order a work stoppage at a workplace while demanding an employer immediately enact changes that the inspectors require without OSHA proving an imminent threat. It also makes significant changes to the penalty provisions allowing “any responsible corporate officers” that “knowingly” violate the OSH Act to be eligible to face criminal sanctions, increases the civil and criminal monetary penalties, and alters the statute of limitations for which a claim can be filed from 30 days to 180. The legislation advances to the floor of the House for a vote this week. IFDA has partnered with several other associations in the Coalition for Workplace Safety to provide a summary of the bill.
On July 20, IFDA joined with other members of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition to send a letter to the United States Senate supporting reform of the estate tax. Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) have proposed legislation to set the exemption at $5 million with a rate of 35%. If Congress fails to act, the estate tax will return in 2011 at a rate of 55% with a $1 million exemption. The letter urges Senators to support the Kyl-Lincoln compromise to lessen the burden on family-owned businesses faced with estate taxes so that companies can continue to operate in future generations. Click here to view a PDF version of the letter
The Food and Drug Administration issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on the implementation of the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005. The ANPRM, the first step in the rulemaking process, asks a series of questions and requests information about industry practices and contamination occurring during transportation.The rulemaking is part of the implementation of a 2005 law that requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue regulations regarding sanitary transportation practices for the industry. IFDA will be filing comments on behalf of the industry by the August 30 deadline. The follwing resources are available to help you navigate the ANPRM:
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on the implementation of the Sanitary Food Transportation Act
A summary of the ANPRM by IFDA counsel Olsson, Frank and Weeda
FDA issued guidance for industry listing current regulations and other resources on sanitary food transportation
On January 29, 2010 OSHA published in the Federal Register a proposed regulation to add a column to the OSHA 300 Log for tracking musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) “disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, etc.” The proposed definition of an MSD would require employers to record a wide array of conditions on their OSHA logs giving the indication that the disorders were attributed to work related activity. The MSD rulemaking could be applied in one year. Organized labor groups and the Obama Administration are actively seeking to move forward on an approach regarding ergonomics and IFDA believes that the use of the MSD rule is the avenue. The Clinton administration had previously sought this change but it was rescinded in 2003.
IFDA opposes the regulation and submitted comments March 30, 2010 on the proposed rule which are available here:
IFDA Final Comments on MSD Recording and Reporting
A revised memo and a Frequently Asked Questions document describing the requirements of the new health care law are now available. Both documents take into account the changes to the law made by the signing of the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation. While the majority of the law’s new provisions will not take effect until 2014, a number of insurance market reforms such as requiring dependent care coverage until age 26 will be effective beginning October 1. The Frequently Asked Questions will be updated as IFDA members raise additional issues. The revised memo from Jochum, Shore and Trossevin, IFDA’s healthcare counsel is available here and the Frequently Asked Questions document is available here. For more information contact Jon Eisen in the IFDA government relations department.
IFDA has joined with other business groups in the Start Over! coalition to send an open letter to President Obama urging him to take a fresh approach to healthcare reform. The President will hold a bipartisan summit meeting and the letter asks him to focus on practical approaches to reform that that will not impair long-term economic growth and concentrate on reducing the cost of healthcare. The letter lays out a number of issues that must be addressed in any health reform effort including insurance market reform, wellness/preventative incentives, multi-state purchasing and medical malpractice reform. IFDA and the Start Over! coalition view healthcare reform as critical to our nation’s economic stability, but believe Congress and the President have taken the wrong approach and must begin the process again in order to focus on reducing healthcare costs. To view a copy of the letter, click here.
The nomination of union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board fell short of the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster Monday, with just 52 senators voting to support his appointment. The vote served to increase the prospect that the White House would place stalled nominees in executive branch jobs.
On November 18, 2009, The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) was passed by voice vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The bipartisan bill would require food companies to have a food safety plan, set safety standards for certain fruit and vegetables, focus on measures to improve the safety of imported food and food ingredients, and adopt a risk-based approach to inspection. The bill authorized pilot projects on traceability, but unlike legislation passed earlier this year in the House of Representatives, does not require FDA to institute a traceability system. The bill now moves on to the full Senate where action is likely either late this year or early next year.
On November 11, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee approved an $829 billion health care package dubbed the Baucus Bill after the committee’s chairman. Currently, Senate Democrats are working to marry the Baucus Bill with the legislation passed by the Senate Health, Education and Labor (HELP) Committee, and then that product will be taken to the Senate floor for a debate.
A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study, commissioned by the insurance industry, estimates that the cost of health insurance will increase 111 percent in the next 10 years under the Baucus Bill.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Baucus Bill would not provide insurance coverage to all Americans, and would probably still leave 25 million without health insurance.
The House of Representatives voted 220-215 to pass its version of health reform. Only one Republican voted with Democrats to support the legislation. The milestone victory for Speaker Pelosi marks only the continuation of the bill's long journey from the House to the president's desk. Action now moves to the Senate where some have declared the bill “dead on arrival.” To see how your Member of Congress voted, click here.
On October 27, 2009, the Department of Transportation agreed to issue new Hours of Service rules for truck drivers in a settlement of a lawsuit.The regulations were updated in 2004 to allow drivers up to 11 hours of driving time and a 34 hour weekly restart but have twice been overturned by the courts in response to lawsuits from the Teamsters and safety group Public Citizen.After each ruling, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued new rules with essentially the same terms.The most recent rule was finalized in November of last year and was challenged in court once again.Under the terms of the settlement FMCSA will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking within 9 months and have a final rule in place within 21 months.IFDA will closely monitor the rulemaking process and file comments on behalf of the industry.
FDA investigators expect to visit 800 warehouses in 2010 and will take environmental samples and test for salmonella and listeria monocytogenes. Roberta Wagner, head of compliance at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, made the announcement in a recent speech and said the agency plans to ramp up enforcement by better targeting initiatives and the launch of several “blitzes” on such topics as undeclared allergans and label reviews along with warehouse inspections. Wagner stated the warehouse effort “should be interesting because we haven’t looked at warehouses in quite a while.”
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