Federal Regulatory Agencies
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from federal regulatory agencies ranging from the Securities Exchange Commission to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission
Featured Stories
CPSC Warns Consumers to Stop Using Montebello ST and DRT63ST Gas Fireplaces
WASHINGTON, April 26 -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the following news release:
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Multiple Fires Reported
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers about the risk of death and serious injuries from certain Innovative Hearth Products (IHP) gas fireplaces. CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the Montebello ST and DRT63ST fireplaces.
The window glass assembly of the fireplace can allow air to enter the fireplace and direct flames downward, overheating and igniting flammable material under the fireplaces. Fires can ignite under
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WASHINGTON, April 26 -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the following news release:
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Multiple Fires Reported
* * *
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers about the risk of death and serious injuries from certain Innovative Hearth Products (IHP) gas fireplaces. CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the Montebello ST and DRT63ST fireplaces.
The window glass assembly of the fireplace can allow air to enter the fireplace and direct flames downward, overheating and igniting flammable material under the fireplaces. Fires can ignite underfloors and behind walls, where they are not easily visible. CPSC is aware of multiple residential fires involving the Montebello See-Through and DRT63ST fireplaces.
The manufacturer, Innovative Hearth Products LLC, went out of business and is unable to conduct a recall.
From 2011 through March 2021, the fireplaces were marketed and sold nationwide for between $10,400 and $13,000 under the Lennox, Astria, or Superior brand names, as the "Montebello See-Through" or "Montebello ST" and the "DRT63ST" models. Fireplaces manufactured after March 2021 are not affected by this hazard.
Fires have occurred even with fireplaces that were professionally installed and maintained. Because consumer or professional reinstallation of the window glass assembly may not prevent the fire hazard, consumers should have the fireplace replaced or have the gas line professionally sealed.
Report incidents involving the Lennox, Astria, or Superior gas fireplaces, or any product-related injury, to CPSC at http://www.SaferProducts.gov.
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About the U.S. CPSC
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years.
Federal law prohibits any person from selling products subject to a Commission ordered recall or a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with the CPSC.
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Original text here: https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2024/CPSC-Warns-Consumers-to-Stop-Using-Montebello-ST-and-DRT63ST-Gas-Fireplaces-Multiple-Fires-Reported
COMMISSIONER GOMEZ VOTES TO RESTORE NET NEUTRALITY AT FCC APRIL PUBLIC MEETING
WASHINGTON, April 26 -- The Federal Communications Commission issued the following news releaseon April 25, 2024:
Today, Commissioner Anna M. Gomez voted to restore Net Neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) April Open Meeting. Restoring Net Neutrality would bring back a national standard for broadband reliability, security, and consumer protection. Since 2017, there has been no federal oversight over this vital service. Restoring FCC oversight of broadband Internet access service under Title II ensures that this essential resource is open, safe, and secure for all. The Commissioner
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WASHINGTON, April 26 -- The Federal Communications Commission issued the following news releaseon April 25, 2024:
Today, Commissioner Anna M. Gomez voted to restore Net Neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) April Open Meeting. Restoring Net Neutrality would bring back a national standard for broadband reliability, security, and consumer protection. Since 2017, there has been no federal oversight over this vital service. Restoring FCC oversight of broadband Internet access service under Title II ensures that this essential resource is open, safe, and secure for all. The Commissionerdelivered remarks about her vote in English and Spanish.
"Broadband access to the Internet is a critical conduit that is essential for modern life," said Commissioner Gomez. "Protecting this critical infrastructure that is essential to the safety, economy, health, education, and well-being of this country is good public policy. The value is so great that we cannot wait for the flood to arrive before we start to build the levee."
Her full statement in support of restoring Net Neutrality is available below and will also be published on the FCC's website.
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Original text here: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-402091A1.pdf
SEC Chair Gensler Issues Statement on Registered Fund Statistics Report
WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the following statement on April 24, 2024, by Chair Gary Gensler on Registered Fund Statistics Report:
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The Securities and Exchange Commission staff today began publishing a new report, the Registered Fund Statistics report,[1] which aggregates data about the more than $25 trillion registered fund industry. This will give the public a view into the registered fund industry, which includes more than 12,000 mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and closed-end funds.
Providing such data to the public is one of the more consequential
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WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the following statement on April 24, 2024, by Chair Gary Gensler on Registered Fund Statistics Report:
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The Securities and Exchange Commission staff today began publishing a new report, the Registered Fund Statistics report,[1] which aggregates data about the more than $25 trillion registered fund industry. This will give the public a view into the registered fund industry, which includes more than 12,000 mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and closed-end funds.
Providing such data to the public is one of the more consequentialthings a government agency does. Such transparency creates a public good.
Our founders understood such public goods when they embedded data collection in the Constitution itself with the decennial census,[2] the first of which began in 1790.[3]
Many government agencies, from the Department of Agriculture[4] to the Department of Labor[5] to the Energy Information Agency,[6] provide important aggregated economic data to the public.
The SEC also has had a history of publishing aggregate data with regard to the securities markets. Such disclosures by the SEC and other government agencies help us better understand who we are as a people and how our economy and securities markets function.
The new Registered Fund Statistics report includes more than 70 data tables reflecting aggregated and anonymized public and non-public information filed on Form N-PORT. It is the first time the SEC has made such information public.
The new report builds on the aggregated data the SEC has been producing for the last decade. Since 2014, we have published quarterly aggregated trading information data, sourced from the Market Information Data Analytics System (MIDAS),[7] as well as monthly money market fund statistics.[8] In 2015, we began publishing quarterly private fund statistics.[9] Since 2022, we have been publishing data on the security-based swaps market twice a year.[10]
In addition, the SEC has made data more accessible and usable.[11] Since 2015, the Commission has published data sets from structured disclosures by individual registrants. Currently, the Commission publishes 12 such data sets, and we will begin publishing a Form N-PORT data set in the near future.[12]
Further, since 2021, the Commission has made available Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provide public access to financial statements and other disclosures made by publicly traded companies.[13]
Investors, issuers, economists, academics, and the public at large benefit from such regularly published economic data. The SEC also benefits from the feedback we receive on how to improve the accessibility and usefulness of aggregate data.
I want to thank the talented analytic and economic staff who have worked on the Registered Fund Statistics report so that the public can better understand the markets and broader economy, including:
* Natasha Vij Greiner, Tim Husson, Tim Dulaney, Trevor Tatum, Juan Carlos Forero, Jon Hertzke and Christian Broadbent, in the Division of Investment Management; and
* Jessica Wachter, Nadia Winn, Dan Hiltgen, Guilio Girardi, Robert Luby, and Julie Marlowe, in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis.
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Footnotes:
[1] See Securities and Exchange Commission "Registered Fund Statistics" available at https://www.sec.gov/files/im-registered-fund-statistics-20240418.pdf.
[2] See United States Census, "About the Decennial Census of Population and Housing," available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about.html#:~:
text=The%20Constitution%20Requires%20the%20Census&
text=Section%202%20states%2C%20%E2%80%9CThe%20actual,
they%20shall%20by%20law%20direct.%22.
[3]See United States Census, "When was first census in the United States," available at https://www.census.gov/history/www/faqs/demographic_faqs/
when_was_the_first_census_in_the_united_states.html#:~:
text=The%20first%20census%20in%20the%20United%20States%20took%20place%20
beginning,see%20the%201790%20Overview%20page.
[4] See National Agricultural Statistics Service available at https://www.nass.usda.gov/index.php.
[5] See U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics available at https://www.bls.gov/.
[6] See U.S Energy Information Agency's Open Data available at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/.
[7]See Securities and Exchange Commission, "Data Visualizations," available at https://www.sec.gov/marketstructure/data-visualizations. See also Securities and Exchange Commission, "Market Structure Data Downloads," available at https://www.sec.gov/marketstructure/downloads.html.
[8] See Securities and Exchange Commission, "Money Market Fund Statistics," available at https://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/mmf-statistics.
[9] See Securities and Exchange Commission, "Private Funds Statistics," available at https://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/private-funds-statistics.
[10] https://www.sec.gov/files/report-sbs-20231117.pdf.
[11] See Securities and Exchange Commission, "Report on Security-Based Swaps" (Nov. 17, 2023), available at https://www.sec.gov/data.
[12] See Securities and Exchange Commission, "DERA Data Library," available at https://www.sec.gov/data/data-library.
[13] See Securities and Exchange Commission, "SEC Enhances Access to Financial Disclosure Data" (Aug. 19, 2021), available at https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-159.
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Original text here: https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/gensler-nport-report-04242024
NRC Issues Event Notification for Testing Engineers, Concord, Calif.
WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 57078) involving Testing Engineers Inc., Concord, California:
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Rep Org: California Radiation Control Prgm
Licensee: Testing Engineers, Inc.
Region: 4
City: Concord
State: CA
License #: 3691-07
Agreement: Y
NRC Notified By: K. Arunika Hewadikaram
HQ OPS Officer: Ernest West
Notification Date: 04/16/2024
Notification Time: 15:57 [ET]
Event Date: 04/13/2024
Event Time: 00:00 [PDT]
Last Update Date: 04/16/2024
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person
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WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 57078) involving Testing Engineers Inc., Concord, California:
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Rep Org: California Radiation Control Prgm
Licensee: Testing Engineers, Inc.
Region: 4
City: Concord
State: CA
License #: 3691-07
Agreement: Y
NRC Notified By: K. Arunika Hewadikaram
HQ OPS Officer: Ernest West
Notification Date: 04/16/2024
Notification Time: 15:57 [ET]
Event Date: 04/13/2024
Event Time: 00:00 [PDT]
Last Update Date: 04/16/2024
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person(Organization): Young, Cale (R4DO)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICATION (EMAIL)
ILTAB, (EMAIL) (EMAIL)
CNSNS (Mexico), - (EMAIL)
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AGREEMENT STATE - STOLEN GAUGE
The following information was provided by the California Department of Public Health, Radiologic Health Branch (RHB) via email:
"On 4/15/2024, the California Office of Emergency Services (OES) forwarded a report from Testing Engineers, Inc. The radiation safety officer (RSO) notified OES that one of their nuclear gauges (CPN MC-1, serial number MD71108870 containing 10 mCi of Cs-137 and 50 mCi of Am-241) was stolen from a storage unit that is located within a public storage facility in Concord, CA. The gauge was stolen from the storage unit at an unknown time between 04/13/2024 and 04/14/2024, but was discovered missing at 1541 [PDT] on 04/15/2024. A car was used to ram the door of the storage unit, and a pry bar was used to remove the gauge from a locked cabinet. Local law enforcement was notified, and a reward was posted on Craigslist, Facebook, and Nextdoor for the safe return of the gauge.
"RHB will investigate the incident."
THIS MATERIAL EVENT CONTAINS A 'Less than Cat 3' LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Sources that are "Less than IAEA Category 3 sources," are either sources that are very unlikely to cause permanent injury to individuals or contain a very small amount of radioactive material that would not cause any permanent injury. Some of these sources, such as moisture density gauges or thickness gauges that are Category 4, the amount of unshielded radioactive material, if not safely managed or securely protected, could possibly - although it is unlikely - temporarily injure someone who handled it or were otherwise in contact with it, or who were close to it for a period of many weeks. For additional information go to http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1227_web.pdf
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Original text here: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2024/20240424en.html#en57078
NRC Issues Event Notification for Dow Chemical, Lake Jackson, Texas
WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 57080) involving the Dow Chemical Co., Lake Jackson, Texas:
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Rep Org: Texas Dept of State Health Services
Licensee: The Dow Chemical Company
Region: 4
City: Lake Jackson
State: TX
License #: L 00451
Agreement: Y
NRC Notified By: Art Tucker
HQ OPS Officer: Bill Gott
Notification Date: 04/17/2024
Notification Time: 10:34 [ET]
Event Date: 04/16/2024
Event Time: 00:00 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 04/17/2024
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person (Organization):
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WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 57080) involving the Dow Chemical Co., Lake Jackson, Texas:
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Rep Org: Texas Dept of State Health Services
Licensee: The Dow Chemical Company
Region: 4
City: Lake Jackson
State: TX
License #: L 00451
Agreement: Y
NRC Notified By: Art Tucker
HQ OPS Officer: Bill Gott
Notification Date: 04/17/2024
Notification Time: 10:34 [ET]
Event Date: 04/16/2024
Event Time: 00:00 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 04/17/2024
Emergency Class: Non Emergency
10 CFR Section:
Agreement State
Person (Organization):Young, Cale (R4DO)
NMSS_EVENTS_NOTIFICATION (EMAIL)
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AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - DAMAGED GAUGE SHUTTER
The following was received from the Texas Department of State Health Services (the Department) via email:
"On April 16, 2024, the Department was notified by the licensee that they had removed a Natco model B-20-06 nuclear gauge containing a 175 millicurie (original activity) Cs-137 source from a vessel to allow work on the vessel. The gauge shutter was in the closed position and was functioning normally. Dose rates taken at the gauge before removal were normal at 0.65 millirem per hour.
"After the gauge was removed from the vessel, it was placed on a pallet with other gauges that had been removed from the vessel. At this time, the licensee performed additional radiation surveys, and the dose rate taken within a foot at the top of the gauge shutter was now reading 8.65 millirem per hour. The gauges were all moved to a locked storage location.
"The licensee has contacted a service company to inspect the gauge and determine the cause for the increased dose rates. The licensee's radiation safety officer (RSO) stated the shutter may have been damaged as the gauge was being moved to the pallet. The RSO stated no overexposures had occurred.
"Additional information will be provided as it is received in accordance with SA-300."
Texas Incident No.: 10099
Texas NMED No.: TX240012
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Original text here: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2024/20240424en.html#en57080
Federal Court Orders California-Based Precious Metals Company, CEO, Senior Salesperson to Pay Over $56 Million for Fraud in Connection with Precious Metals Sales
WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued the following enforcement news release:
--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced Judge R. Gary Klausner of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a consent order against (Red Rock), (Kelly), and (Spencer) on April 23. The order finds the defendants liable for making fraudulent misrepresentations to customers and rendering unlawful investment advice in connection with the purchase and sale of precious metals.
The order requires the defendants collectively to pay $38,984,313.90
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WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued the following enforcement news release:
--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced Judge R. Gary Klausner of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a consent order against (Red Rock), (Kelly), and (Spencer) on April 23. The order finds the defendants liable for making fraudulent misrepresentations to customers and rendering unlawful investment advice in connection with the purchase and sale of precious metals.
The order requires the defendants collectively to pay $38,984,313.90in restitution to those defrauded, disgorge $5.1 million in ill-gotten gains, and pay $12.25 million in civil monetary penalties. Additionally, the order enjoins the defendants from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), CFTC regulations, and state law provisions, as charged, and imposes permanent trading bans in any CFTC-regulated markets as well as registration bans against the defendants. It also bars Spencer and Kelly from acting as investment advisers, broker-dealers, or commodity advisers in California and Hawaii.
The order resolves the lawsuit filed on May 15, 2023 by the CFTC and its co-plaintiffs, the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation (DFPI) and the State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Securities Enforcement Branch (SEB). [See CFTC Press Release No. 8704-23]
"The defendants preyed upon elderly victims to liquidate their retirement savings to invest in a precious metals scam," said Director of Enforcement Ian McGinley. "The CFTC remains steadfast in ridding the precious metals industry of fraud; this significant resolution announced in conjunction with state partners in California and Hawaii is yet another example of the results."
The order finds the defendants executed a nationwide fraud, from approximately November 2019 through approximately June 2022, in which the defendants convinced at least 950 people to pay over $69 million for silver and gold Canadian Red-Tailed Hawk (RTH) coins worth only $30 million, reflecting mark-ups of between 91.89% and 129.97% over Red Rock's cost to acquire the coins. Most of these customers used tax-deferred or other retirement funds to purchase the RTH coins from Red Rock. The order finds Red Rock did not disclose these mark-ups to customers, but rather Spencer (and other Red Rock salespersons) effectively engaged in bait-and-switch conduct: Spencer discussed the lower mark-up on one category of products Red Rock offered (i.e., 1% to 5% mark-up on common bullion products) but then sold customers the supposedly "premium" RTH coins, which carried the exponentially higher mark-ups.
According to the order, Red Rock sales staff, including Spencer, a senior salesperson, told customers that because Red Rock had a "direct relationship" with the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) which produced the RTH coins, Red Rock was able to buy the coins "at wholesale" and "pass the savings" onto its customers. In fact, the order finds Red Rock did not have a direct relationship with the RCM, but bought all of its RTH coins from a wholesaler. The order also finds Red Rock marketed the RTH coins as "limited quantity," when there was no mintage limit on the RTH coins. The order further finds Kelly, as Red Rock's CEO, controlled the company's operations and was responsible for the actions of its agents, including Spencer.
On May 15, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit against the defendants and another individual for violations arising from the fraudulent precious metals scheme and rendering unlawful investment advice. [See SEC Press Release No. 2023-93]
The CFTC thanks and acknowledges the assistance of the SEC. The CFTC also thanks its co-plaintiffs, the California DFPI and Hawaii SEB, for their assistance.
The CFTC cautions that orders requiring payment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.
The Division of Enforcement (DOE) staff responsible for this action are James Garcia, Dan Jordan, Kelly Folks, Michael Loconte, Rick Glaser, and Erica Bodin.
The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories and Articles that provide the warning signs of fraud, including the Precious Metals Fraud Advisory, which alerts customers to precious metals fraud and lists simple ways to spot precious metals scams.
The CFTC also strongly urges the public to verify a company's registration with the CFTC before committing funds. If unregistered, a customer should be wary of providing funds to that entity. A company's registration status can be found at NFA BASIC.
Customers and other individuals can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the Division of Enforcement via a toll-free hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382), file a tip or complaint online, or contact the Whistleblower Office. Whistleblowers may be eligible to receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected paid from the Customer Protection Fund financed through monetary sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA.
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Original text here: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8898-24
FTC Commissioner Slaughter Issues Remarks at Open Commission Meeting on April 24
WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following remarks by Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter at the open commission meeting on April 24, 2024:
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I am so pleased and proud to support the final rule against noncompete agreements in employment contracts. I have always believed that effective competition policy is an important way to improve the everyday lives of real Americans, but for too long, discourse about antitrust was relegated to an inaccessible ivory tower. It's hard to conceive of a topic that brings competition down to earth more than the efforts to tackle
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WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following remarks by Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter at the open commission meeting on April 24, 2024:
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I am so pleased and proud to support the final rule against noncompete agreements in employment contracts. I have always believed that effective competition policy is an important way to improve the everyday lives of real Americans, but for too long, discourse about antitrust was relegated to an inaccessible ivory tower. It's hard to conceive of a topic that brings competition down to earth more than the efforts to tacklenoncompete clauses. Anticompetitive conduct against workers is so pernicious because work is such an important component of our lives and identities. Reading the stories in the record from so many commenters who have been harmed by noncompetes, it's clear that the freedom to leave your job and take another job is fundamental to a free and fair economy. It is so profoundly un-free and unfair for people to be stuck in jobs they want to leave not because they lack better alternatives, but because noncompetes would preclude another firm from fairly competing for their labor, requiring workers instead to leave their industries or their homes to make ends meet.
Noncompete agreements bind about one in five American workers. That's astounding. And this is not limited to one sector of the economy or category of workers. Low and high wage workers, skilled and unskilled workers; this problem affects so many. And in fact, it really affects all of us. Even if no one in your family is subject to a noncompete agreement for their own employment, the record in our rulemaking proceeding makes clear: noncompetes prevent new business formation, slow innovation, and deprive consumers of the better products and better prices we expect from competitive markets.
I want to highlight the incredible work of our staff on this rule. An immense amount of labor went into reviewing the more than 26,000 comments and incorporating that feedback into the final rule. I also really appreciate the participation in this process of so many workers, labor organizations, non-profits, and businesses. Your perspective has helped us make the rule stronger and informed policymakers in and outside of the FTC.
At the same time that we celebrate this huge step forward for American workers, I am mindful of the work left to do. The FTC Act and our rulemaking process have limitations, and we don't have the authority or ability to effectuate all of our policy preferences through rulemaking. We must be mindful of the boundaries of our authority, and today's final action is consistent with those boundaries. But I want to mention two areas in particular that warrant further focus.
First, this rulemaking process has focused on non-compete agreements in the employment setting, but we received numerous comments about ways to expand the rule. While we ultimately did not expand the rule to cover franchisee/franchisor relationships, I do want to note that this is an area of continued interest for me, and I believe it's appropriate for the FTC to continue case-by-case enforcement against anticompetitive conduct by franchisors against franchisees, including through noncompetes. Similarly, "no-poach" agreements among franchisees are an appropriate subject of heavy scrutiny, as we laid out in our amicus brief over a year ago against McDonald's./2 And of course, employees of franchisees are protected by the rule and will not be subject to noncompete agreements in their employment contracts.
Second, due to limitations on the FTC's jurisdiction, there are still some workers who will not be able to take advantage of the critical benefits of this rule, specifically employees of certain not-for-profit corporations. Our rulemaking record includes powerful stories from healthcare workers who are employed by nonprofits about how noncompetes hurt patients and providers./3 As a matter of policy, I do not think there is a good justification for them to be excluded from this rule. As a matter of law, I am mindful of the fact that Congress has limited our jurisdiction to entities organized for profit. I want to be transparent about the limitations of our jurisdiction, and recognize that there are workers, especially healthcare workers, who are bound by anticompetitive and unfair noncompete clauses that our rule will struggle to reach. To be clear, as the rule stresses, "both judicial decisions and Commission precedent recognize that not all entities claiming tax-exempt status as nonprofits fall outside the Commission's jurisdiction." If you claim non-profit tax status but are really organized for the profit of your members, you are within our jurisdiction and covered by the rule. But true non-profits are not.
But that is also why I am glad that this rulemaking effort is only one angle of attack on noncompete clauses. I am hopeful that other agencies with different jurisdiction, especially over the healthcare industry, can also take up this charge and identify ways that noncompetes may violate their authorizing statutes. I also support efforts in Congress to ban noncompetes by legislation. Bipartisan legislation has already been introduced in Congress such as the Workforce Mobility Act from Senators Murphy, Young, Kaine, and Cramer, and Congressmembers Scott Peters, Gallagher, and Eshoo, as well as the narrower Freedom to Compete Act, from Senators Rubio and Hassan.
I am so proud to support today's approval of the final rule to ban noncompete clauses.
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Footnotes:
1/ The views expressed in these remarks are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Trade Commission or any other commissioner.
2/ Fed. Trade Comm'n, FTC Joins Justice Department in Amicus Brief Supporting Workers' Challenge to McDonald's "No Hire" Franchise Restrictions (Nov. 10, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/11/ftc-joins-justice-department-amicus-brief-supporting-workers-challenge-mcdonalds-no-hirefranchise.
3/ For example, Individual commenter, Doc. No. FTC-2023-0007-20676.
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Original text here: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/noncompetes-oral-statement-slaughter.pdf
