Have you prepared an Official Statement since January 1, 2009 in order to sell your notes, bonds or other obligations? If you have, then participating the Municipal Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative (“MCDC Initiative”) may be to your advantage. The new SEC initiative encourages issuers, conduit borrowers and underwriters to self-report instances where an Official Statement has contained material inaccurate information about prior compliance with their continuing disclosure obligations in exchange for more favorable settlement terms. All transactions from January 1, 2009 are eligible.

Beginning in August, school districts will need to prepare for a new process to address conflicts and complaints from citizens. On August 11, the new/amended process, known as the “Conflict Resolution Process for Citizens (Conflict Resolution) will go into effect, replacing the former “Appeals Procedure for Citizens.”

The Ohio Supreme Court today held that when a subcontract makes payment by a project owner to the general contractor a condition precedent to the general contractor’s obligation to pay the subcontractor — the subcontract contains a valid and enforceable pay-if-paid provision. The case is Transtar Electric, Inc. v. A.E.M. Electric Services Corp., 2014-Ohio-3095 (Ohio Sup. Ct. July 17, 2014).

The issue in the case was whether the use of the term “condition precedent” in a subcontract is by itself sufficient to transfer the risk of the owner’s non-payment from the general contractor to the subcontractor. The Ohio Supreme Court held that it does.

After surviving this past winter’s polar vortex, it is hard to believe that summer is flying by and that vacation season is in full swing. Summer vacation, or any trip, is a great opportunity to relax and recharge by spending time with family or friends. As attorneys, we often find that an upcoming trip also prompts people to take care of those estate planning updates that they have been putting off. Allow yourself to fully relax on your upcoming trip by first ensuring that your estate planning is in proper order.

On July 1, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) radically changed the way nonprofits apply for exempt status by introducing the 1023-EZ form, an alternative process for applying for §501 (c) (3) tax- exempt status. As we first told you in June, the new form has been compared to a highway express lane that will streamline a stalled out process.

Yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued its first enforcement guidance on pregnancy discrimination and related issues (“the Guidance”) in 31 years. The Guidance, which offers an expanded interpretation of pregnancy discrimination and re-defines the circumstances in which an employer is required to accommodate pregnancy restrictions and lactations, represents a significant departure from the current guidelines. It was issued without public comment and over the stated dissent of two of the Commissioners, with Supreme Court and Congressional action on the horizon.

This time of the year county board of education personnel offices are busy filling both professional and service positions for the fast approaching 2014-15 school year (yeah, it’s hard to believe the school year will be here soon). At the same time, the personnel offices are becoming more familiar with West Virginia Department of Education Policy 5000 as it relates to professional positions for the upcoming 2014-15 school year, many of which will be filled by the transferring of regular employee applicants. The purpose of this month’s education alert is to remind county boards of education of the “stay put” provisions for professional personnel found in W. Va. Code § 18A-4-7a. Recall that beginning in the 2012-13 school year the “stay put” provisions changed from five days to 20 days.

On September 18, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted to adopt its final rule establishing registration requirements for municipal advisors in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act. This final rule went into effect on July 1, 2014. The new rule will greatly impact the ability of certain service providers, particularly broker-dealers and investment bankers, to interact with their issuer and conduit borrower clients.

Federal, state, and local governments frequently allow standby letters of credit to be used to support a variety of obligations. Typically, those agencies become beneficiaries of the letters of credit and require that the letters of credit be issued in a mandated form that the agency drafts and includes in applicable statutes, regulations or ordinances.

The Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) has issued another Special Fraud Alert, this time specifically targeting a recent trend in arrangements between laboratories and physicians. The alert describes two types of arrangements that may violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.