The Legal Framework for States as Employers-of-Choice in Workplace Flexibility: A Case Study of Arizona and Michigan

Outlines the statutes, regulations, executive actions, and collective bargaining agreements that authorize flexible work arrangements, time off, and career flexibility in the two state workforces; the elements of model programs; and their benefits

The Argument Against a Government Resolution Authority

Argues against the proposal to authorize government agencies to resolve failed or failing "systemically important" nonbank financial institutions as a way to avoid systemic breakdowns. Compares scenarios for government resolution authority and bankruptcy

Standard of proof, unpredictable behaviour and the High Court of Australia's verdict on preventive detention laws

Preventive detention laws authorize courts to order the continued detention in prison of a person who has served their allocated term of imprisonment, but who are thought to be at risk of re-offending if released. They raise fundamental issues about the separation of powers, the purpose of incarceration, and the standard of proof which is/should be required to authorize detention. They assume that it is possible to predict, with a satisfactory rate of success, whether or not a past offender would if released commit further offences. Recently, a majority of the High Court of Australia validated such legislation. The author in this article explains his reasons for disagreeing with the verdict of the Court in this matter

Sex Trafficking: Proposals in the 114th Congress to Amend Federal Criminal Law

[Excerpt] The 114th Congress opened with the introduction of a number of proposals that address human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking. Among them were proposals to amend existing federal criminal law, which would expand the coverage of federal sex trafficking laws; amend bail provisions; raise the limits on supervised release; authorize more extensive wiretapping; and adjust the application of federal forfeiture and restitution laws

Justice Roberts’ America

Less than a week after the Roberts Court issued its decision in National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius, Jeffrey Toobin, writing in The New Yorker, compared the first part of Chief Justice John Roberts\u27s opinion, in which he found that the Commerce Clause did not authorize Congress to enact the individual mandate section of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires all individuals to buy health insurance, with an Ayn Rand screed, noting that the pivotal sections of the argument were long on libertarian rhetoric but short on citations of authority. Roberts held (although held might be stating it too strongly) that the Commerce Clause does not authorize Congress to regulate the inactivity of individuals—the act of not buying health insurance—even if that inactivity impacts interstate commerce. Rather, the Clause only authorizes congressional regulation where there is some activity of a commercial nature there to be regulated. Injecting a dose of libertarian and individualist thinking more typically associated with the Lochner-era\u27s substantive due process jurisprudence into Commerce Clause reasoning, Roberts argued that the inactivity of not buying insurance is tantamount to doing nothing, and doing nothing cannot be characterized as commercial activity even if it has a commercial impact

A Modest Reform for Federal Procedural Rulemaking

Following the adoption of the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure relating to discovery in 2000, Prof. Tobias notes the lack of empirical research or other indication of how the new rules might work in practice preceding their enactment. He suggests that Congress should reconsider a reject 1983 amendment to F.R.C.P. 83 which would authorize courts to obtain Judicial Conference approval to test promising mechanisms for five years before adoption

A Hobbesian Bundle of Lockean Sticks: The Property Rights Legacy of Justice Scalia

No modern United States Supreme Court Justice has stimulated more thought and debate about the constitutional meaning of property than Antonin Scalia. This essay evaluates his efforts to change the prevailing interpretation of the Takings Clause. Scalia sought to ground it in clear rules embodying a reactionary defense of private owners’ prerogatives against environmental and land use regulation. Ultimately, Scalia aimed to authorize federal judicial oversight of state property law developments, whether through legislative or judicial innovation. In hindsight, he stands in a long tradition of conservative judges using property law as a constitutional baseline by which to restrain regulation

Everybody Wins: Creating a Successful Prize-Linked Savings Program in Arkansas

The objective of this paper is to lay the foundation for Arkansas to enact legislation enanbling a prize-linked savings (PLS) program to exist in the state. In this report, Southern Bancorp Community Partners' policy team makes the case for why Arkansas should authorize the use of PLS programs thorugh the distributions channels of fnancial institutions or the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. This brief will illustrate the purpose and effectiveness of PLS accounts, explain why a PLS program in Arkansas would be advantageous for the state and its people, and offer three PLS program alternatives for state policy consideration

Transaction authorization and alert system

An automated method for alerting a customer that a transaction is being initiated and for authorizing the transaction based on a confirmation/approval by the customer thereto. In accordance with one illustrative embodiment, a request to authorize the transaction is received, wherein the request includes a customer identifier; a determination is made whether to authorize the transaction based on the customer identifier; if the determination is to authorize the transaction, that fact is communicated to the customer; a confirmation that the transaction should, in fact, be authorized is received back from the customer; and the transaction is authorized in response to the customer's confirmation thereof. In accordance with another illustrative embodiment, a transaction initiated by an agent of the customer (i.e., the principal) is authorized by the principal when one or more threshold parameters that may be pre-defined by the principal are exceeded. A preferred method of alerting the customer and receiving a confirmation to authorize the transaction back from the customer is illustratively afforded by conventional two-way pagers.Published versio