Announcements, information & updates from the Attorney General Alliance Members and Associates
November 19, 2021
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Attorney General Alliance & Thomson Reuters present |
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Cannabis Law Deskbook
Virtual Launch Party
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
2:00pm – 3:30pm EST
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Thomas “T.J.” Donovan Vermont
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A bipartisan conversation on cannabis law featuring Attorneys General Brnovich and Donovan.
Cannabis Law Deskbook is a first-of-its-kind publication, authored by subject matter experts in Attorney General Offices and regulatory offices, and intended to help a variety of stakeholders navigate the myriad of federal, state, and local laws governing the US and Canadian cannabis and hemp markets.
The Launch Party will feature a conversation with State Attorneys General on the need for clarity and collaboration within this field of law and a moderated conversation with contributing authors to discuss the creation of Cannabis Law Deskbook and its value to the bar.
Please direct inquiries to Austin Bernstein at abernstein@agalliance.org.
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Visit Thomson Reuters online store to learn more about
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North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody led a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general, to include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming to protect people from unwanted robocalls. The attorneys general wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of its efforts to reduce illegal robocallers’ access to legitimate phone numbers to make unending robocalls.
Earlier this year, phone companies were required to implement STIR/SHAKEN – caller ID authentication technology to combat spoofing by ensuring that telephone calls originate from verified numbers. Because the technology prevents robocallers from spoofing phone numbers, scam robocalls have dropped by 29 percent as the phone industry continues to put STIR/SHAKEN into effect. The impact of illegal and unwanted robocalls can range from a momentary nuisance to serious fraud involving identity theft or life-changing financial losses.
In their letter, the attorneys general support the FCC’s proposals to implement a more thorough application, review, and monitoring process for phone companies that request direct access to phone numbers and they also supports the FCC’s efforts to require these companies to verify their customers’ identities to help keep the numbers from being sold, leased, or rented to illegal robocallers.
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A bipartisan group of state attorneys general from Vermont, North Dakota, Arizona and Connecticut, sent a letter to leaders in Washington, DC to express their strong interest in defending states’ rights, protecting public safety, improving our criminal justice systems, and regulating new industries appropriately. This bi-partisan group from both Coasts that represent rural America and urban centers agreed that at least when it comes to cannabis policy and specifically, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (“CAO bill”), which calls for the federal legalization of cannabis, there must be cooperation between federal-state actors. Without such collaboration oversight of products that contain cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds cannot promote public health and safety, ensure consumer safety, or advance social equity in the emerging cannabis marketplace. AGs Brnovich, Tong, Stenehjem and Donovan did not endorse or oppose the CAO bill, or even any state’s or territory’s particular approach to cannabis policy, opting instead to unite around a simple concept: in our society, states matter more today than ever and federal policy must respect states’ rights, expertise, and willingness to work together to get the job done. |
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The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas issued a Judgment and Order requiring Dominion Management of Delaware, Inc and Dominion Management Services, Inc., which did business as CashPoint, and their owner and Vice President Kevin Williams, to pay more than $8.5 million for charging illegally high interest rates on car title loans.
Separately, the Attorney General won an important court ruling against a different car title lender, Auto Equity Loans of Delaware, LLC (AEL), which had sued the Attorney General in an attempt to block a consumer protection investigation. After extensive litigation led by the OAG’s Civil Litigation Section, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted the OAG’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and dismissed AEL’s lawsuit, holding that, “the Attorney General is entitled to investigate and test Plaintiff’s claim that no part of the company’s loan transactions took place in Pennsylvania.”
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Williams pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Medicaid Fraud. District Court Judge Crystal Eller sentenced Williams to 364 days in jail and ordered him to pay more than $98,000 in restitution, penalties and costs.
The investigation began during the course of another investigation conducted by the Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) involving Medicaid claims showing potentially fraudulent billing practices at Williams’ company, Aaron Williams Therapy. The investigation revealed that Williams, a marriage and family therapist, submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for payment and used falsified records to try to support the claims. In many instances, Williams didn’t even have any records to support the claims he submitted to Medicaid for payment.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James, in partnership with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), announced an agreement with two major home care health agencies to deliver up to $18.8 million in unpaid wages to approximately 12,000 workers who had been denied fair pay for years. The agreement is the result of a multipronged investigation conducted by Attorney General James and DCWP which found the companies — Intergen Health, LLC (Intergen) and Amazing Home Care Services (Amazing) — repeatedly violated New York Labor Laws and the New York City Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law by failing to pay their employees millions of dollars in wages and failing to provide workers with paid sick leave. The agreement, which is one of the largest of its kind in New York state, requires the companies to pay workers up to $18.8 million in two phases, implement new policies to prevent any future violations, and comply with oversight from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and city authorities.
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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro led the coalition in a legal challenge to a U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) rule that unlawfully sought to remove the limit on non-tipped work a tipped worker may complete and still receive only the tipped minimum wage, $2.13 per hour federally and $2.83 per hour. They all joined together in praising the Department of Labor’s new Tip Regulation, dismissing their lawsuit and ending the fight to overturn the harmful rule. Under the new regulation, tipped workers can only be paid the tipped minimum wage when the vast majority of their work generates tips, helping protect them from exploitation and wage theft.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law establishing a baseline of critical workplace protections, such as minimum wage and overtime, for workers across the country. It permits employers to take a credit against their minimum wage obligations for the tips workers receive. As the coalition advocated, the new rule restores the twenty percent cap and imposes an additional limit of thirty consecutive minutes of non-tipped work. In addition, it provides helpful, clarifying definitions for tipped work, non-tipped work, and work that does not generate tips itself but directly supports tipped work.
The effort joined by the attorneys general from Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York.
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, and New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 11 attorneys general — as well as several local agencies across the country — in a letter in support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) plan to change its worksite enforcement practices to support enforcement of wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights, and other employment laws and standards. In the letter, the coalition highlights several key recommendations to ensure that DHS’ immigration enforcement policies and practices facilitate the ability of state and local labor enforcement officials to advance fair labor standards.
In the letter, the coalition — in an effort to advance the mutual goals of ensuring workplaces across the nation comply with labor laws, protecting working conditions, and standing up for the rights and dignity of workers — urges DHS to consider a number of recommendations in its new effort.
Joining the leaders of the coalition of attorneys general are Delaware, District of Columbia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington State, as well as the Seattle Offices of Labor Standards and Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, the City of New York, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries,Chicago Office of Labor Standards, Suffolk County District Attorney (MA), Washentaw County Prosecutor’s Office (MI), and the City of Philadelphia.
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In addition to Arizona, attorneys general from Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia are plaintiffs in the case.
As an update to the original complaint, Judge Terry Doughty has issued an expedited briefing schedule on the case. The now expedited briefing schedule requires all briefs to be completed on or before December 1, 2021.
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Idaho ICAC Task Force Receives 2021 Victim Services Award
Idaho’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Victim Services Award from the Idaho Victim Witness Association.
Representatives from the Victim Witness Association and the Idaho Crime Victims Compensation Program presented the award to task force members during a ceremony at the Idaho Capitol on November 12.
Victim witness coordinators in the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office nominated ICAC in August based on the group's work to protect young victims. ICAC was selected as the 2021 award winner this fall.
The nomination noted that ICAC works “tirelessly to help some of the most vulnerable victims in Idaho. With social media and other internet outlets allowing predators easier access to children who are naïve to some of the dangers that lurk in the world, it’s comforting to know that ICAC is working behind the scenes to make sure we hold those who choose to take advantage of innocence accountable while protecting future victims from harm.”
The ICAC Task Force is a coalition of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute individuals who use the internet to criminally exploit children. The ICAC Unit, which oversees the Task Force, is housed in the Office of Attorney General’s Criminal Law Unit.
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“ICAC makes Idaho safer so our children and grandchildren have every opportunity to flourish, it’s a high calling but very difficult work. I’m thankful to the men and women of ICAC for committing their professional lives to something so noble. They’re incredibly deserving of this honor.”
-- Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden
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Missed our live programs? No problem! Follow the button below to visit our Virtual Seminar Library for access to all recordings.
Do you have a webinar topic suggestion? We want to hear from you! Please email ideas to Patricia Salazar at PSalazar@AGAlliance.org.
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CWAG Executive Committee
AG Alliance Co-Chairs
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Attorney General Alliance 5050 | Laguna Blvd., Ste. 112-323 | Elk Grove, CA 95758
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