United States Capitol Building in Washington DC
On behalf of our member companies, I travelled to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to meet with the majority of Indiana’s congressional delegation: Sen. Mike Braun (R) and Reps. Jim Baird (R), Jim Banks (R), Larry Bucshon (R), Erin Houchin (R), Frank Mrvan (D), Greg Pence (R) and Rudy Yakym (R). I also had conference calls with the teams of both Rep. Andre Carson (D) and Sen. Todd Young (R) the week before. Some of the business issues and potential solutions that we discussed included: energy security, the shortage of affordable housing, childcare for workers, a federal data privacy standard, workforce concerns, education and health care.
I also visited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and met with some of its policy team. We discussed the potential Teamsters strike of UPS (see Ashton’s post above). Also, one of the U.S. Chamber’s other priorities is its LIBERTY Campaign (Legal Immigration And Border Enforcement Reform This Year), which is very similar to the Indiana Chamber’s position on immigration of streamlining and increasing legal immigration while securing the U.S. border.
There are also several other items of note that saw action in D.C. this week.
The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a final rule Wednesday requiring public companies to make certain public disclosures regarding material cybersecurity incidents they experience. They must also disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy and governance.
The White House also announced Wednesday the creation of a Cabinet-level task force committed to addressing methane emissions and advancing proactive leak detection, data transparency and enforcement of methane emissions regulations.
Furthermore, the Indiana Chamber signed a letter that was sent to Congress yesterday opposing numerous bills attempting to prohibit arbitration and class action waiver provisions. Arbitration is a long-established way for businesses to resolve disputes. It has been an important alternative dispute resolution mechanism since the enactment of the Federal Arbitration Act in 1925.
