On November 30, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) does not apply to health care workers whose fingerprints are collected, stored, and used to access medication and medical supplies.
Advancing Nuclear Energy: The Role of Advanced Technologies in a Changing Political and Regulatory Landscape
Published in Infrastructure, Volume 62, Number 4, Summer 2023. © 2023 American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Nuclear energy has long been a significant source of reliable, clean energy within the United States. In 2021 alone, nuclear energy accounted for approximately 20 percent of electricity generated in the country and 50 percent of its carbon-free electricity. And while some sources of carbon-free generation are necessarily intermittent, nuclear generation has a high-capacity factor, capable of running at all hours of the day.
Illinois Court Eliminates Another BIPA Defense
This summer, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois further bolstered Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act’s (BIPA) nearly unfettered private right of action in Lewis v. Maverick Transportation. In a simple but firm four-page ruling, Judge Rosenstengel denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss, holding that a cause of action under BIPA does not require a plaintiff to plead that data collected is used for identification purposes. The ruling serves to highlight the apparent lack of any real technical defenses to the statute — making it imperative that companies focus on strict compliance before they find themselves in court.
Making an Impact: State Attorneys General Races in 2023 and Beyond
This article was originally published on September 7, 2023 in Reuters and is republished here with permission.
State Attorneys General (AGs) uniquely wield power to enforce the law, direct policy, and effectuate political goals. Exercising their civil prosecutorial authority, State AGs have redefined priorities of paramount concern to CEOs and in-house legal counsel that impact the corporate and commercial landscape.
AG Bonta Issues New Investigative Sweep of Mobile Application Companies
On January 27, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an “investigative sweep” of businesses with mobile applications for allegedly failing to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This ongoing sweep targets popular mobile applications in the retail, travel, and food service industries that fail to offer a mechanism for consumers to opt out of data sales or that fail to process consumer opt-out requests, including requests submitted via an authorized agent like Permission Slip.
Federal Contractors on Notice After DOJ Announces First Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative Settlement
On February 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to a $930,000 settlement with Comprehensive Health Services (CHS) to resolve False Claims Act allegations. The resolution represents the department’s first settlement under the False Claims Act since instituting its Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative in October 2021.[1] This is a watershed moment in the