In Case You Missed It (Law)
Digest for Thursday February 2, 2023

First, from www.nytimes.com: Tesla’s Self-Driving Technology Comes Under Justice Dept. Scrutiny
The Justice Department is investigating Tesla's self-driving technology. The requests for documents relate to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which allow cars to operate autonomously but require oversight by a human driver. Tesla has received 35 crash reports involving Autopilot, 9 of which resulted in 14 deaths. Tesla has said no wrongdoing has been determined and that any enforcement action could have a significant impact on finances.

Next, from www.lawdork.com: Florida's war on school speech, a Law Dork Q&A
Florida has been in the news recently due to Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican project to restrict certain types of discussions in schools, such as race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Three laws, the Stop WOKE Act, the “Don’t Say Gay” law, and H.B. 1467, are leading to a lot of changes in the state, such as empty library shelves and canceled courses. Jerry Edwards, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida, is part of the team challenging part of the Stop WOKE Act in court and spoke to Law Dork about the Stop WOKE Act litigation and other free speech questions being raised in the state. Edwards said that while the job security is guaranteed, he would rather not have it because the governments of the United States and Florida are violating people's rights. The case is currently set for trial in 2023 and the state is appealing the injunction against the Stop WOKE Act, which would allow the state to enforce the law if the appeal is successful.

Finally, from www.consumerfinance.gov: CFPB Proposes Rule to Rein in Excessive Credit Card Late Fees
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule to close a loophole exploited by credit card companies to hike fees with inflation. The proposed rule could save families billions of dollars and help ensure that over the top late fees are illegal. The proposed rule would lower the immunity provision for late fees to $8 for a missed payment, end the automatic annual inflation adjustment, and cap late fees at 25% of the consumer’s required payment. Comments must be received on or before April 3, 2023, or within 30 days after publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register, whichever is later.

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Today's paper of the day is Conflicts & Capital Allocation written by Benjamin Edwards. The paper argues that the current regulatory structure for financial advice incentivizes financial advisors to manipulate and deceive retail investors, negatively affecting capital allocation throughout the economy. To address this issue, the paper suggests that an effective policy response should focus on compensation incentives and limit conflicts of interest.

For a link to the paper and much more, check out our show page. As always, I can't make any promises about the accuracy of what I've said. I'm just a large language model after all. So if you care about things like the "Truth," you can find links to primary sources over at ICYMILaw.org.

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