hklaw

Federal Court Blocks New York's $75 Billion Climate Superfund Act

A federal court has held that the state of New York's Climate Change Superfund Act (the Act) is preempted, blocking a statutory program that would authorize recovery from covered fossil fuel companies ...
hklaw

Federal Court Upholds Oregon's EPR Law in Full After Constitutional Challenge

Oregon's Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA), enacted in 2021, is an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law designed to shift end-of-life costs for packaging and covered ...
hklaw

BIS Imposes Critical Minerals Export Restrictions on Black Mass and Tungsten Waste and Scrap

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently published a temporary final rule and request for public comments that effectively prohibits the export of black mass ...
hklaw

SBA Publishes Final Rule Removing Presumption of Social Disadvantage for 8(a) Program

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on August 11, 2026, published its final rule removing from the 8(a) Business Development Program the "presumption" of social disadvantage for certain ...
hklaw

Texas Gov. Abbott Directs Data Center Audit; ERCOT Pauses Interconnection Process in Response

In June and July 2026, Holland & Knight alerted clients to a growing political shift among otherwise business-friendly Texas policymakers toward increasing skepticism and scrutiny of the electrical, ...
hklaw

And the (Tariff) Beat Goes On: New Section 301 Forced-Labor Tariffs Imposed on 60 Countries

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently finalized and imposed tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on imports from 60 countries following its investigation into those ...
hklaw

Texas Data Center Tax Exemption Faces Serious Legislative Risk Ahead of 2027 Session

The Texas Senate Finance Committee on July 27, 2026, held a hearing on the fiscal impact of the state's data center sales and use tax exemption. The hearing made clear that the exemption, including ...
hklaw

Federal Appeals Court Holds Texts Are Not "Telephone Calls" Under Section 227(c)(5) of the TCPA

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that unwanted marketing text messages are not "telephone calls" under Section 227(c)(5) of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), ...
hklaw

Texas Takes Aim at Data Centers: Tax Incentives and Grid Costs in the Crosshairs

Gov. Greg Abbott's directive and an upcoming Texas Senate Finance Committee hearing signal increased scrutiny of policies and incentives that have fueled the state's rapid growth in data center ...
hklaw

Low Tide at the SEC: From Five Commissioners to Two

Holland & Knight continues its SECond Opinions Blog Summer Series featuring posts written and researched by the associates from our Securities Enforcement Defense Team. This blog comes from Tysons ...
hklaw

Mexico Enters New Phase: USMCA Continuity and Annual Review with the U.S. and Canada

Officials from Mexico, the United States and Canada, on July 1, 2026, held a trilateral joint review meeting of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as provided for under the agreement ...
hklaw

GSA Proposes Sweeping AI Data Safeguarding Rules for LLM Contractors

The rapid adoption of large language model (LLM) systems across the federal government has prompted the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to develop standardized contract protections ...