Trans rights in the crosshairs
Apr 16, 2021 |
Texas Legislature considers numerous bills targeting transgender Texans
By JAMES RUSSELL | Contributing Writer
A pack of school yard bullies is back in session, and this time, making life hell for transgender people is still atop their agenda.
The LGBTQ community is once again playing defense as the 87th session of the Texas Legislature continues. Equality Texas, the statewide pro-LGBTQ advocacy group, is following more than 40 bills that either target or support the LGBTQ community.
The negative bills include religious exemptions for licensed professionals who think their religious beliefs should exempt them from performing services for LGBTQ people, state pre-emption of municipal nondiscrimination ordinances, HIV criminalization and multiple attacks on transgender people trans youth in particular.
Republican cites mismanagement in opposing new transit funding
Democrats push for larger share of federal spending April 15, 2021 3:44 PM By Lillianna Byington
Transit is emerging as a key partisan split as lawmakers draft legislation to reauthorize surface transportation programs and respond to President Joe Bidenâs $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said transit agencies have already received enough money from the federal government. Congress provided agencies with more than $82 billion in regular annual funding and several Covid-19 relief packages over the past year, Toomey said during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing Thursday.
âWe sent all these billions of dollars to transit agencies without requiring any kind of reforms to be implemented,â Toomey, the panelâs ranking member, said. âLetâs face it, the financial woes of many big city transit agencies long predate Covid.â No othe
[co-author: Madison Gaudreau]
On April 14, 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Gary Gensler as the 33rd Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”).[1] This change will bring forth a Democratic majority at the SEC which, in turn, suggests that the Commission will change its current emphasis on capital formation to focus more on investor protection and the following other areas: rules required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) such as security-based swaps, compensation, and stress tests for certain SEC registrants like asset managers; and inspections, examinations, and enforcement. Below we examine what to expect from Mr. Gensler’s SEC, including an expected new enforcement landscape and heightened interest in digital currency, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”), and new disclosure mandates for issuers on climate and ESG issues.
Senate Hearing Addresses Student Loan Debt essence.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from essence.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Senate OKs Tough Former Regulator As Wall Street Watchdog Chief
FILE PHOTO: Then-Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Gary Gensler testifies at a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana/File Photo
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate has approved President Joe Biden’s choice of Gary Gensler to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling an emphasis on investor protection for the Wall Street watchdog agency after a deregulatory stretch during the Trump administration.
The vote Wednesday was 53-45, mostly along party lines in the narrowly Democratic-controlled Senate, to confirm Gensler, an expert with experience as a strong markets regulator during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Gensler had a two-decade-long career as a Wall Street banker and later, as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he tightened oversight of the $400 trillion worldwide market for complex fi