May Flowers Need Governance Weeding

INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.

Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Daniel A. Cotter, Attorney, and Counselor.

The Daniel Cotter Commentaries

Welcome to “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.” I am Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC.  For more information, please visit howardandhoward.com.

We have written in the past about the need to stay on top of topics such as governance and cyber and privacy. The world is everchanging.  As a business, you must remain focused on the task at hand, marketing and selling your goods and/or services.  At the same time, having a good, well grounded governance and compliance infrastructure is necessary to be a championship caliber organization.  That is where your team of trusted advisors, including legal, must come in to play and be part of the overall team.

An alphabet suit of regulators and regulatory frameworks faces your business, no matter what industry you are in, and regardless of size of entity.

For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, continues to consider its policies around environmental, social, and governance, or ESG.  The latest is that it will issue a final rule some time in early 2024.  The debate in the meantime continues on whether states will allow such implementations, with Texas and Florida leading the charge.

On the privacy front, in recent weeks, Washington passed a medical health information privacy act that is broader than we have seen.  In addition, Tennessee, Iowa, and Indiana recently passed comprehensive consumer privacy acts, and Montana has a pending bill on the desk.

The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, recently issued Policy Statement of the Federal Trade Commission on Biometric Information and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The policy statement addresses the use of biometric information and the increased scrutiny by the FTC. After making it clear that the FTC has been examining biometric information usage and practices for over a decade, it sets forth issues the FTC will be looking at:

“In light of the evolving technologies and risks to consumers, the Commission sets out below a non-exhaustive list of examples of practices it will scrutinize in determining whether companies collecting and using biometric information or marketing or using biometric information technologies are complying with Section 5 of the FTC Act.”

It lists a number of things the FTC will consider under the broad categories of deception and unfairness.

Privacy and ESG are just two categories of compliance and changing landscapes for companies. Your trusted advisor can help you navigate these areas and help ensure your compliance, so that you can focus fully on the task at hand, making your business the most successful it can be.

This is “Your Attorney as a Trusted Advisor with Daniel Cotter.”  I am Daniel Cotter, Attorney and Counselor at Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC, and your trusted advisor.  Please visit howardandhoward.com for more information.

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