Thursday, January 14, 2021
Increased enforcement of workplace safety and health regulations is on the horizon and it will not be all about COVID-19. In December, the U.S. Department of Labor
updated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Site-Specific Targeting (SST) Directive inspection program, emphasizing recordkeeping requirements.
Additionally, over the past several years, the number of compliance safety and health officers at OSHA decreased. This might change with a new Democrat-controlled Congress and a bigger budget for OSHA that can translate into hiring more compliance safety and health officers to conduct more inspections.
Background
The SST Directive is OSHA’s primary site-specific, programmed inspection initiative targeting general industry, non-construction, workplaces with at least 20 employees. The program directs agency enforcement to establishments with high rates of injuries and illnesses. OSHA selects companies for inspect
America is hurting.
Tensions are high. Coming together and having meaningful dialogue seem impossible. People are tired of politics creeping into everyday life. Worst of all, self-righteous unifiers uninterested in unity continue to fan the flames of division.
Is it too difficult to set aside our differences, to lower the temperature, and to demand better from elected officials? It shouldn’t be.
For instance, healing will take a backseat should the incoming Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Congress pursue aggressive gun control policies. Why? Democrats, Republicans, and independents don’t want to lose their Second Amendment rights.
In the spirit of healing and unity, President-elect Joe Biden and his Congressional backers should reconsider this push.
In the early to mid-2010s, China-based investors flooded the coffers of U.S. commercial real estate. Multiple forces aligned to make the country the No. 1 foreign investor in the U.S. American real estate was hot, and the countries were fairly friendly as globalization ruled daily political discourse with minimal pushback.
A lot has changed since then. Investment from China has plummeted, and the political relationship between the U.S. and China is different. Don t expect a new administration to change all of that. The coronavirus pandemic and its economic aftermath have placed more public scrutiny on China, which could continue to affect CRE investment flow between the two countries.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on January 20, 2021 as the forty-sixth President of the United States could usher in a sweeping period of environmental regulatory changes vastly eclipsing those of his immediate predecessor – and perhaps even those of President Barack Obama. Further, with key Senate victories in January by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia, a Democrat-controlled Congress is better situated to help the President-elect achieve the environmental goals he’s promised would be a focus of his administration.
Regulated industries can expect the new administration to consider action on climate change, environmental justice, chemicals regulation, wetlands/waters of the United States, and endangered & threatened species. Although some of these actions may be complex, look for key Trump administration rules to be rolled back and replaced and new rules and legislation to be proposed. Below we provide a brief overview of key e