Each week, Crowell & Moring's State Attorneys General team highlights significant actions that State AGs have taken. See our State Attorneys General page for more insight. Here are this week's updates.
Multistate
- A coalition of sixteen Democratic state attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of the U.S. Department of Education's 2024 Title IX Final Rule. Following the Biden administration's issuance of the final rule, a number of Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits challenging the rule and seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to stop the rule from going into effect on August 1, 2024. The amicus brief from argues the following: (1) the rule's definition of sex and sex discrimination is consistent with Title IX's plain text and the U.S. Constitution; (2) the rule's definition of hostile environment sex-based harassment is appropriately defined in a manner that effectuates Title IX; (3) the rule does not violate the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution; and (4) the Amici States' experience confirms that the Final Rule will yield broad benefits without compromising privacy or safety, or imposing significant costs.
- A coalition of twenty Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to the American Bar Association (ABA) arguing that the Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA) requires the ABA to significantly adjustits current Standard 206 of its Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools 2023–2024. The Standard states that law schools should demonstrate, by concrete action, a commitment to diversity and inclusion by providing opportunities in both the admissions and employment contexts. Proposed revisions to Standard 206 broaden the Standard to include students with identity characteristics that have led to disadvantages. Proposed revisions also broaden the Standard include faculty that are diverse with respect to characteristics other thangender, race, and ethnicity, but also as to military status and socioeconomic background. The letter urges the Council overseeing the proposed revisions to bring Standard 206 in line with what the coalition argues is the federal law's prohibition of race-based admissions and hiring.
Colorado
- Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a settlement with ANS Inc., d/b/a Workplace Compliance Solutions, a company providing business administration services, settling allegations that it illegally solicited businesses using advertising that lacked the required legal disclaimers. According to the Office of the Attorney General, Workplace Compliance Services sent solicitations offering to file documents with the CO Secretary of State's Office on the client's behalf but failed to include the required disclaimer, explaining that the solicitation was not coming from or on behalf of a government agency, and that businesses are not required to pay or otherwise act on the offer. The settlement requires Workplace Compliance Services to refund an additional $11,900 to 85 businesses, in addition to the $7,000 that it has already refunded to 50 other businesses. The company is required to submit future advertisements to the Department of Law and will pay $7,000 for costs associated with the state's investigation.
Florida
- Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a Consumer Alert warning state residents about a cybercrime tactic called malvertising1. This tactic occurred more than 800 times in the first half of 2023, and includes leveraging sponsored links and advertisements on search engines to mimic frequently visited pages, leading unsuspecting users to malware-infected websites. Attorney General Moody urged consumers to report incidents to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Computer Crime Center.
Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced that Esme Caramello will lead the office's newly established Housing Affordability Unit. The new Unit is set to advance statewide interest in expanding the availability of affordable housing through legal advocacy, resource provision, municipal guidance, and zoning expertise to support the development of affordable housing. The Unit will focus on ensuring municipalities and private developers comply with existing housing laws.
Michigan
- Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit against Canary Date Sculpting, Inc. (d/b/a Canary Tree Service), for allegedly misleading consumers about the nature of clean-up tree service agreements, the cost of the services, potential financial responsibility for costs not covered by insurance, and price gouging consumers after a 2022 tornado. According to the complaint, Canary Tree Service violated the Business Corporations Act and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. Attorney General Nessel is seeking $3,000 for violation of the Business Corporation Act, $500 for noncompliance with a previous court order, and injunctive relief as to the contracts against consumers identified in the complaint.
New Jersey
- New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin along with the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) announced that the DCR has proposed a new rule that describes and clarifies the prohibitions against disparate impact discrimination under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD). The LAD codifies state and federal case law and provides examples of policies and practices that may result in a disparate impact on members of a protected class under the LAD.
Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced an agreement in connection with UPMC's acquisition of Washington Health Care Services. As outlined in the agreement, UPMC Washington, the renamed hospital entity, must negotiate with any willing health insurance plans, and commit to a single, last best offer arbitration, to resolve any disputed contract terms. More specifically, UPMC Washington is prohibited from imposing any anti-tiering, anti-steering, gag clauses, most-favored nation clauses, exclusive contracting, and all-or-nothing clauses in its new contracts with health insurance plans. In addition, UPMC Washington may not expressly limit a health insurance plan's ability to contract with any other health care providers. UPMC is required to continue to honor all existing employment contracts, subject to legal requirements, and may not impose any non-compete agreements more restrictive than those that currently exist within Washington Health Care Services.
Texas
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office has launched a major data privacy and security initiative, establishing a team that will focus on enforcement of Texas' privacy laws, including the Data Privacy and Security Act, the Identify Theft Enforcement and Protection Act, the Data Broker Law, the Biometric Identifier Act, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and federal laws including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The team is poised to become among the largest in the country focused on enforcing privacy laws.
Footnote
1. Malvertising is the use of online advertising to spread malware and typically involves injecting malicious or malware-laden advertisements into legitimate online advertising networks and webpages.
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