This update covers information regarding the California Air Resources Board (CARB) rulemaking delay for California’s climate disclosure laws, SB 253 and SB 261, as well as additional new litigation challenging the constitutionality of these laws. The bottom line for companies is that despite the rulemaking delays and ongoing litigation, the laws remain valid and in…

In Louisiana, even a name on the product may no longer help a plaintiff climb to the apparent manufacturer level according to Pellecer v. Werner.

The Louisiana Supreme Court’s October 24, 2025 decision under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (“LPLA”) redefines the doctrine of apparent manufacturer. Traditionally, when a product bears a company’s name…

Updating our earlier post from March 2025, Maine has completed a regulatory process and has adopted updates to its PFAS in products rules to identify two approved Currently Unavoidable Use (CUU) exemptions from the state’s phased ban on in-state sales of products with intentionally added PFAS.  The first phase of the ban, which is…

Tues. Oct. 28: AgWorks: Legal Authority to Work in the U.S. and Other Pre-Employment Screening Processes
Fri. Oct. 31: Understanding Immigration Compliance: I-9s, Audits and ICE Raids (FREE Attorney CLE!)
National Agricultural Policy: USDA Announces Plan to ‘Strengthen American Beef Industry’
On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a three-pronged plan…

In a published opinion filed October 17, 2025, the Fourth District Court of Appeal (Div. 1) reversed the trial court’s judgment and directed it to grant a writ of mandate invalidating the City of San Diego’s (“City”) Supplemental EIR (“SEIR”) prepared for its second City-sponsored ballot measure to exclude the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning area (“MPH area”) from its Coastal Height Limit Overlay Zone, which generally limits building heights to 30 feet.  The Court held the SEIR violated CEQA because it failed to analyze potential significant environmental impacts of this significant plan update other than views and neighborhood character, omitting what it deemed required analysis of noise, air quality, biological resources, geological conditions, and other impacts, and improperly deferring analysis to future site-specific projects.  Save Our Access v. City of San Diego (2025) 115 Cal.App.5th 388.

On October 14, 2025, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) quietly announced it was delaying its release of a proposed rulemaking on California’s climate laws.

While the rules were originally mandated by January 1, 2025, a statutory amendment in 2024 pushed that deadline to July 1, 2025. As that date came and went without any proposed rulemaking, CARB announced its intent in a public workshop on August 21, 2025, to publish proposed rules on October 14. On that date, CARB instead posted a sentence on the “resources” section of its website that read, “CARB is proposing an updated timeline for bringing the initial rulemaking (including the fee-related provisions) to the board in Q1 2026.”

On October 3, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted EPA’s unopposed motion to hold the PFAS drinking water standards litigation in abeyance due to the lapse in appropriations as a result of the government shutdown. The order directed the parties to file motions governing further proceedings within ten days after…