Alerts

2025 was one of the most active years in recent memory for US state-level privacy enforcement. California and Texas led the way, and we anticipate Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, and New Jersey to emerge as active enforcers in 2026.

With 2026 underway, the AFS Health Care team highlights some of the most pressing legal issues facing the health care industry this year.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

On January 15, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule revising its license review policy for exports of Nvidia H200 chips and its equivalents to China and Macau.

As fashion brands enter 2026, supply-chain pressure, tariff uncertainty, and rising tech spend are accelerating interest in private equity (PE) partnerships.

Prop 65 Counsel: What To Know

Last year saw a number of significant developments in US export controls and sanctions.

On January 6, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two significant updates potentially important for companies operating in the consumer health technology space.

Last week, the White House began its interagency review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule to rescind its 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and related vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) standards.

On January 2, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) under Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 requiring HieFo Corporation to divest the digital chips business of EMCORE Corporation, which it acquired in April 2024, due to national security concerns.

As 2026 begins, nonprofit and association leaders face a legal landscape defined by heightened scrutiny, uneven funding conditions, rapid technological change, and continued uncertainty in policy direction.

Since the Trump Administration’s tariff actions began in February 2025, the US hospitality industry has weathered the resulting uncertainty and shown resilience. The industry’s fundamentals remain broadly stable: deals are getting signed, and development continues — albeit with tighter underwriting and recalibrated budgets.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an inspectional observation (Form FDA 483) to a Texas med spa, Pure Indulgence Aesthetics, citing Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) violations for dispensers.

Bankruptcy law provides special treatment for landlord claims arising from termination of a lease, using a calculation set forth in Section 502(b)(6) of the Bankruptcy Code. The starting point for the calculation is to identify how and when the termination occurred.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

The enforcement landscape entering 2026 points to sustained False Claims Act activity across traditional health care fraud, AI-enabled misconduct, civil rights–based claims, customs and tariff fraud, and expanding theories of investor liability.

The 2026 District of Columbia elections may be the most consequential elections since the advent of home rule in 1975. Against a backdrop of greater federal intervention into the city’s affairs, depleting federal resources, and local budget pressures, many of the city’s most important local offices will have new leadership after the elections in November.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance explaining how it intends to implement the mandatory recall authority established under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA).

The telehealth industry is entering a new phase of scrutiny marked by intensified enforcement actions across civil and criminal fronts that reflect a coordinated, whole-of-government approach.

A receivership is a court-supervised tool to stabilize operations of a distressed borrower, ring-fence pledged revenues, and drive recoveries for municipal bondholders when bankruptcy is not available or not desirable.

Last month, a federal court in Maine halted the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program in its tracks — a mere four days before it was to go into effect.

As we approach the end of the first year of the second Trump Administration, many in the health care sector continue to closely watch federal enforcement trends to identify government priorities going forward.

Over the past year, both the executive branch and the courts sought to pare back certain stringent aspects of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. However, a decision issued in December 2025 illustrates that agencies cannot defer conducting NEPA-required reviews until after project approval.

On December 22, 2025, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Stanley Black & Decker in the US District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging violations of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).

On December 16, 2025, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Examinations released a risk alert, “Additional Observations Regarding Advisers’ Compliance with the Advisers Act Marketing Rule.”