Effective April 13, 2012, the Department of State adjusted the visa processing fees applicable to beneficiaries applying for a new visa stamp at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Most nonimmigrant visa applications and Border Crossing Cards will increase, except for the E visas (treaty-traders and treaty-investors) and K visas (for fiancés of U.S. citizens).
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) established the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study the effectiveness of various treatments. The Institute's work will be supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) fee.
Bank officers and directors, as well as bank legal counsel should take heed of the FDIC's Financial Institution Letter dated March 19, 2012 (FIL-14-2012).
The redevelopment of environmentally contaminated brownfield sites remains a key component to economic development activities throughout Ohio. Remediation, however, can be expensive.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its count of FY2013 cap-subject H-1B petitions and advanced degree cap-exempt petitions receipted. As of April 9, 2012, nearly 17,400 H-1B cap-subject petitions were receipted.
For the first time in decades, an Ohio agency has issued a statement on the status of the corporate practice of medicine prohibition. On March 15, 2012, the State Medical Board of Ohio (the Medical Board) published a statement unequivocally declaring that Ohio law does not prohibit an Ohio licensed physician from rendering medical services as an employee of a corporation or any other form of business entity.
As we discussed in a prior client alert, the Ohio Certificate of Need (CON) Program was changed to permit some inter-county bed relocations. Historically, Ohio CON law has prohibited relocating long-term care beds across county lines.
On March 22, 2012, House Bill 489 and Senate Bill 314 (collectively, the Bills) were introduced in the General Assembly. The Bills represent the “JobsOhio II legislation,” which is follow up legislation to the provisions of House Bill 1, which was enacted in February 2011.
In a long-awaited move, the U.S. House on Thursday passed, as part of the JOBS Act, proposed legislation that includes raising the threshold for SEC registration for banks and bank holding companies from 500 shareholders to 2,000 shareholders. The threshold for deregistration would be increased from 300 shareholders to 1,200 shareholders.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the expansion of TSA Precheck, a passenger pre-screening initiative. Under this initiative, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) focuses its efforts on passengers the agency knows less about, while providing expedited screening for travelers who volunteer information about themselves before flying.
As you may know, the annual cap for the current fiscal year allocation of H-1B visas was reached on November 22, 2011. Since that time, employers have not been able to file H-1B visa petitions subject to the annual cap.
Every 10 years, following the census, the Ohio Apportionment Board is tasked with redrawing Ohio’s House and Senate districts to reflect changes in population. The Ohio legislative districts must include 99 House Districts and 33 Senate Districts.
An SBC is a standardized explanation of health coverage intended to help individuals make apples-to-apples comparisons of their options for health coverage. The Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services (the Departments) published proposed SBC rules and an SBC template on August 22, 2011.
The development of oil and gas from Utica shale is one of the most significant opportunities for economic development in Ohio in the recent past. For example, geologists have estimated that Ohio’s portion of Utica shale alone could contain up to 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5 million barrels of oil-related liquids.
On February 1, 2012, the Ohio EPA issued its final general permit for oil and gas production sites. The general permit covers equipment used for production activities at Marcellus or Utica/Point Pleasant shale wells in Ohio.
The IRS issued Notice 2012-9 on January 3, 2012, clarifying some of its earlier guidance in Notice 2011-28 on reporting the cost of health coverage on Form W-2. The aggregate cost of health coverage will be reported in Box 12 with Code DD, starting with 2012 Form W-2s (distributed in January 2013).
