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Monday, April 29, 2013

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to be the Next Secretary of Transportation

The cat is out of the bag. After weeks of speculation as to why Charlotte's mayor Anthony Foxx declined to run for re-election to the city's highest office, the White House officially confirmed that President Obama will nominate the Charlottean native today, Monday, April 29th as Secretary of Transportation.

The nomination will come one day before Foxx' 42nd birthday. The young lawyer who was named by POLITICO magazine in 2011 as "one of 50 politicos to watch" was the first Democrat elected to the mayor's office in 22 years. His most notable achievement came when he drew the Democratic National Convention to the Queen City in 2012.

News of Mr. Foxx’s nomination comes at a time when the president has been criticized openly for the lack of diversity in the Cabinet. The issue provoked a joke from the notoriously outspoken late night TV host Conan O'Brien at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association last Saturday night who said “Mr. President, your hair is so white it could be a member of your cabinet”.

Foxx will have his work cut out for him, trying to get the department functional despite the forced budget cuts that led to last week's air controller furloughs and the resulting breakdown of airline traffic nationwide.

Author: Heidi Lind, International Group Coordinator, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Bundestagswahlen in Deutschland - Kanzlerkandidaten

Am 22. September diesen Jahres finden die Bundestagswahlen in Deutschland statt. Hier finden Sie einen kurzen Überblick über die Kanzlerkandidaten der verschiedenen Parteien.

Angela Merkel
Die regierende Bundeskanzlerin wird für die Union aus CDU und CSU nach 2005 und 2009 erneut für eine dritte Amtszeit kandidieren. Die 59jährige studierte Physikerin belegte 2012 den zweiten Rang in der Liste der weltweit mächtigsten Personen des renommierten Forbes Magazine. Dies ist der höchste Rang, den jemals eine Frau in dieser Liste erreicht hat.

Peer Steinbrück
Der ehemalige Bundesfinanzminister mit der forschen Redensart wurde einstimmig bei der SPD als Kanzlerkandidat für die Bundestagswahl 2013 nominiert. In Sachen Familienpolitik spricht er sich gegen das von der CDU/CSU durchgesetzte Betreuungsgeld aus, befürwortet aber die Gleichbehandlung gleichgeschlechtlicher Partnerschaften mit der klassischen Ehe und strebt eine Angleichung steuerlicher Privilegien an. Kontrovers ist seine Einstellung gegenüber der Integrationspolitik. So fordert er getrennten Sportunterricht für muslimische Jungen und Mädchen. Im Zuge der europäischen Staatsschuldenkrise unterstützt Steinbrück die Forderung seines Parteikollegen Sigmar Gabriel nach einer gemeinsamen Schuldenhaftung in Europa.

Jürgen Trittin
Die Grünen schicken gleich zwei Kandidaten ins Feld. Einer von ihnen ist der ehemalige Bundesumweltminister und aktuelle Fraktionsvorsitzende der Fraktion Bündnis 90/Grüne, Jürgen Trittin. Seit seinem Ausscheiden aus dem Amt des Umweltministers engagiert sich der als pragmatisch angesehene Trittin in seiner parlamentarischen Arbeit vor allem in der Außenpolitik und der Europapolitik. In der Energieaußenpolitik setzt sich der 58jährige für einen weltweiten Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien und gegen die Abhängigkeit der Weltwirtschaft vom Erdöl ein.

Katrin Göring-Eckardt
Die zweite Spitzenkandidatin der Grünen ist die die 45jährige Vizepräsidentin des Deutschen Bundestags. Sie ist seit 2009 Präses der Synode der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland, setzt sich unter anderem stark für das Thema Altersarmut ein und fordert die gesetzliche Frauenquote.

Rainer Brüderle
Die FDP schickt den liberalen Fraktionsvorsitzenden Rainer Brüderle ins Rennen. Der 67jährige spricht sich gegen die Frauenquote aus und fordert unter anderem die Abschaffung der Ökosteuer und der Kfz-Steuer, um gegen die steigenden Benzinpreise anzukämpfen.

Die Linken
halten es spannend. Sie schicken gleich ein 8-köpfiges Gespann ins Rennen. Hierzu gehören neben dem Team Gregor Gysi und Sahra Wagenknecht ebenso der stellvertretende Fraktionsvorsitzende Dietmar Bartsch, der frühere Parteichef Klaus Ernst, die stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Caren Lay, der andere stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende und Greenpeace Aktivist Jan van Aken sowie die brandenburgische Abgeordnete Diana Golze und ihre bayerische Kollegin Nicole Gohlke. Zudem wird gemunkelt, dass Oskar LaFontaine, der 1990 als Kanzlerkandidat für die SPD aufgestellt wurde, dort 2005 abgesprungen ist und sich mit den Linken verbündet hat, nicht gegen eine erneute Nominierung abgeneigt wäre. Er hatte 2009 nach seiner Krebserkrankung auf eine Kandidatur für den Bundestag verzichtet. Gregor Gysi, dessen Ruf seit den letzten Vorwürfen über eine Zusammenarbeit mit der Stasi lädiert ist, war über eine Kooperation mit Kollegin Wagenknecht, der aktuellen Lebensgefährtin LaFontaine's durchaus nicht erbaut, scheint sich doch inzwischen seinem Schicksal ergeben zu haben.

Piratenpartei
An möglichen Kanzlerkandidaten mangelt es dieser alternativen Partei nicht; sage und schreibe 46 Parteimitglieder bewerben sich um die Aufstellung. Der Kreis wird im Laufe der nächsten Wochen auf diversen Parteitreffen eingeengt. Frage bleibt momentan nur, ob die Partei, nach dem letzten Landtagswahldebakel in Niedersachsen, überhaupt den Sprung in den Bundestag schaffen wird.

Autor: Heidi Lind, International Group Coordinator, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte

North Carolina Legislative Update

Transportation Plan

Gov. Pat McCrory announced a new transportation plan in April. The so-called “strategic mobility formula,” selects projects based on objective data and local input. Under the proposal, all modes of transportation compete for the same funds.
The new plan would fund 260 projects and create more than 240,000 jobs over the next 10 years. 

Here are the key elements of this proposal:
  • State Level
    Projects that address traffic congestion and bottlenecks of statewide significance will receive 40% of the available revenue, totaling $6.4 billion over 10 years. 
  • Regional Level
    Projects that will increase access and mobility for entire regions of the state will receive 40% of the available revenue, equaling $6.4 billion over a decade based on regional population. 
  • Local Level
    Projects that will reduce localized congestion, improve safety concerns and increase connectivity will receive 20% of the available revenue shared equally over NCDOT’s 14 transportation divisions. That totals $3.2 billion over 10 years.

Education Reform Proposals

The House approved House Bill 719, which reforms the teacher tenure system, giving administrators the ability to remove ineffective teachers. The new system removes tenure and gives teachers either a probationary or non-probationary status. Under the bill, teachers would be considered "non-probationary" after four years but they would have to undergo yearly evaluations. A teacher would go on probation if he or she received bad evaluations for two years in a row, and could be fired at will.


Competing Auto Insurance Reform Plans

Two bills reforming automobile insurance passed through the Senate. Senate Bill 180 allows insurance companies to offer optional program enhancements that are currently available in other states. Senate Bill 181 keeps insurers from using years of driving experience as a factor for determining rates. This measure is ensures that experienced drivers from outside the United States do not have to pay the same rate as new drivers. SB 181 would allow insurance companies to take age into consideration in determining rates if a driver is younger than 19 years.


House Files Proposal to Halt Film Tax Credits

Under current law, film companies based in North Carolina can claim a 25 percent tax credit, up to $20 million, on productions spending more than a quarter million dollars in the state. House Bill 994 would eliminate the tax credit and waive any tax liability the company accrues over the next five years up to an equivalent amount. Opponents of the bill claim that it would slow the amount of films produced in the state.

The Fallout of Sequester Cuts

While every community has, in some way, been affected by the "sequester" imposed on March 1 of this year, it took almost 2 months for the general public - the traveling kind anyway - to start feeling its widespread effects. On Sunday, April 20th, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration furloughed all 47,000 agency employees, including almost 15,000 controllers, and closed 149 contract air traffic control towers in an effort to meet the imposed budget cuts of approximately $600 million this year.

This step caused more than 2,250 flight delays on Monday and Tuesday. The airports hit hardest on Monday were Charlotte, which had more than one third of its flights delayed, and New York's LaGuardia airport, with over half of the scheduled flights leaving or arriving late.

According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, 5,800 flights were delayed across the U.S. - including weather-related delays -  in the first three days of the furloughs compared with 2,500 delays in the corresponding period a year ago.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/24/4001009/another-day-of-flight-delays-in.html#storylink=cpy

FAA Administrator Michael Huerta stated on Wednesday that flight delays in the United States linked to the furlough of thousands of air traffic controllers have not been as bad as expected so far. According to him, the agency could not find the kind of "sizeable" non-payroll budget cuts that would have avoided furloughs and the resulting flight delays. It has cut spending on contracts, information technology, travel and other non-payroll expenses, but since 70 percent of its operations budget goes to pay it was left with no other choice.

US Airways, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have warned that furloughs could cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost revenue.

"We can't do this for long without having major disruption to the flying public," US Airways CEO Doug Parker said in an interview on Wednesday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is currently reviewing a motion filed last Friday, April 19th, by two airline industry associations, Airlines for America (A4A) and the Regional Airline Association (RAA), requesting a moratorium of the tarmac delay rule which places a three-hour limit on the length of time airlines can keep passengers waiting inside planes on the tarmac without giving them the opportunity to return to a terminal. Airlines can be fined as much as $27,500 per passenger for violating the limit.

The Associated Press writes that "under growing pressure, the Obama administration signaled Wednesday it might accept legislation eliminating Federal Aviation Administration furloughs blamed for lengthy delays affecting airline passengers, while leaving the rest of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts in place."

Author: Heidi Lind, International Group Coordinator, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

TSA Delays Its Decision to Allow Knives on Planes


Pressure from flight attendant unions and politicians resulted in the TSA "temporarily delaying" its decision from March 5, to allow certain knives, tools and other implements that could be used as weapons on board airplanes (see our blog entry regarding the new ruling). This policy was supposed to free up screeners and alert them to more catastrophic threats (TSA screeners confiscate approximately 2000 small knives per day), and also be more in line with global regulations.

On April 22, three days before this controversial plan was supposed to go into effect, the TSA released the following statement: "In order to accommodate further input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from the aviation community, passenger advocates, law enforcement experts, and other stakeholders, TSA will temporarily delay implementation of changes to the Prohibited Items List, originally scheduled to go into effect April 25. This timing will enable TSA to incorporate the ASAC's feedback about the changes to the Prohibited Items List and continue workforce training".


The news about allowing knives, sporting equipment and tools on airplanes was met with fierce opposition from passengers, flight personnel and politicians alike, and although the TSA hasn't altogether abandoned the idea of implementing the policy, the agency has also not set a new date when it would enter into effect.


Author: Heidi Lind, International Group Coordinator, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte


Das deutsche Generalkonsulat in Atlanta warnt

Eine Nachricht vom Sicherheitsbeauftragten des deutschen Generalkonsulats in Atlanta nach den Bombenanschlägen in Boston:

Die Anschläge in Boston entsprechen dem traditionellen Muster: Gefährdet sind in besonderem Maße Menschenansammlungen, symbolträchtige Tage und Orte. In Atlanta haben Bürgermeister Reed, die Atlanta Braves (die...in den kommenden Wochen spielen) und das Nahverkehrssystem MARTA Erklärungen veröffentlicht, dass sie ihre Sicherheitsmaßnahmen intensivieren werden. Besonders im Bereich des Nahverkehrs sollen verstärkt Polizeistreifen eingesetzt werden, darunter auch Hundestaffeln ("K-9-units").

Auch deutsche Auslandsvertretungen und deutsche Institutionen im weitesten Sinn sind potenzielle Ziele für Terroristen. Besondere Vorsicht wird deshalb empfohlen, ohne dass Anzeichen für eine konkrete Gefährdung derzeit vorliegen.


Dr. Alfred Schlicht

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Immigration Reform Bill - Key Provisions


A bipartisan group of Senators, known as the “Gang of Eight” introduced their immigration reform proposal, an 844-page document, on April 17. The Obama administration reacted positively to the news that the group introduced the bill and urged the Senate “to quickly move this bill forward” and pledged to “do whatever it takes to make sure that comprehensive immigration reform becomes a reality as soon as possible.” If enacted, up to 11 million of “undocumented” immigrants could apply for a green card after 10 years and for US citizenship three years after that. It would apply to individuals in “unlawful” status who arrived in the US before December 31, 2011, provided they have not committed a felony or three misdemeanors.

These are the key provisions of the bill:

- New Registered Provisional Immigration (“RPI”) Status and a 13-year pathway to citizenship for those who are in the unlawful immigration status;
- New categories of visas for foreign investors and entrepreneurs - “start-up” visas;
- New “merit based” visa category;
- New W visa category;
- H-1B Reform and expansion of H-1B quota;
- Elimination of certain family-based immigrant categories;

- Elimination of Diversity Visa (Green Card Lottery) Program

Legalization

Individuals present in the US in “unlawful” status will be able to apply for the RPI status, provided they entered the US prior to December 31, 2011 and maintained continuous presence since then. Immigrants in RPI status will be able to work for any employer and travel outside of the United States.

Individuals outside of the United States who were previously here before December 31, 2011 and were deported for non-criminal reasons can apply to re-enter the United States in RPI status if they are the spouse, of or parent of a child who is, United States citizen or lawful permanent resident; or are a childhood arrival who is eligible for the DREAM Act.

Those who have been convicted of a felony, 3 or more misdemeanors or a foreign offense will not be eligible for RPI status.

Family Immigration Reform

  • Siblings of US Citizens will no longer be able to obtain Green Cards through family petitions
  • Immediate relative category will be expanded to include children and spouses of Lawful Permanent Residents (Green Card holders).
  • Married sons and daughters of US citizens who are 31 years of age or older will not be able to obtain Green Cards through family petitions 

H-1B Visa Reform 

  • Annual quota on H-1B visas will be expanded from 65,000 to 110,000, with a mechanism of adjusting the quota in future years.
  • Employers will be required to advertise H-1B positions for 30 days prior to hiring H-1B workers.
  • Certain employers will be excluded from the program – unable to sponsor H-1B workers.
  • Spouses of H-1B workers will be able to obtain work authorization.

New W-Visa Program for Lower-Skilled Workers

  • A new non-immigrant classification, the W-Visa will be created for those who come to the US to perform services or labor for a registered employer in a registered position. The spouses and minor children of the W visa holders will be allowed to accompany the principal visa holder to the US and will be given work authorization for the same period as the W visa holder.  

New Merit-based Visa

120,000 visas will be available per year based on merit. Under this category individuals wishing to immigrate to the United States will be awarded points based on their education, employment, length of residence in the US and other considerations. Those with most points will obtain the visas.

Merit-based visas will also be used to eliminate current backlog in certain categories. Beginning in October 2014, merit-based visas will be allocated to employment-based visa petitions that have been pending for three years or more and to family-based petitions that have been pending for five years or more.

A new category of “long-term alien workers” will be also be allocated merit-based visas. This category includes those who have been lawfully present in the US for not less than 10 years and who are not admitted in the W visa category.

Many amendments to the proposal outline above are anticipated in the coming weeks. We will provide updates on the most important developments.

Author: Manvel Vasilyev / Attorney at Law, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte

Thursday, April 11, 2013

H-1 B Lottery

On April 7, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducted a computer-generated random lottery of the entire H-1B cap for FY 2014 petitions received from April 1 - April 5, 2013.

The agency received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. According to the agency, it received a sufficient number of H-1B cap-subject petitions to reach the annual 65,000 “regular cap” limit. USCIS also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will reject H-1B cap-subject petitions filed and received after April 5.

USCIS conducted the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected were part of the random selection process for the standard 65,000 limit.

It was the first time since 2008 that the United States has had such a rush in interest, forcing a random selection. It is a sign that the economy is recovering, but it is also a sign that the demand for highly skilled workers is far exceeding the supply of visas.

Receipt notices have already been issued for some cases filed under the premium processing service. However, USCIS will only begin to adjudicate those cases on April 15 in accordance with its previous announcement. For petitions filed under regular processing, receipt notices may not be issued for several weeks.

Author: Aleksandra Chesnokov / Legal Assistant / BridgehouseLaw Charlotte

Saturday, April 06, 2013

USCIS Reaches FY 2014 H-1B Cap

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 5, 2013 hat it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. After April 5, 2013, USCIS will NOT accept H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption.

USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as the “lottery”) for all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013. The agency will conduct the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit. Due to the high number of petitions received, USCIS is not yet able to announce the exact day of the random selection process. 

Also, USCIS is currently not providing the total number of petitions received, as we continue to accept filings today. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap

BridgehouseLaw will provide more detailed information about the H-1B cap as it becomes available from USCIS.