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The House Goes Long On Drones

Client Alert | 1 min read | 09.20.22

Last week, the House passed the Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act, which establishes programs within the Department of Transportation (DOT) to support the use of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) when inspecting, repairing, or constructing a variety of types of infrastructure, including roads, electric grids, water, and other critical infrastructure. 

Specifically, the legislation authorizes DOT to award up to $100 million over two years in grants to state, tribal and local governments to support their purchase and use of sUAS to increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker safety, and reduce carbon emissions when carrying out infrastructure inspections, repairs, and construction.  In addition to the customary flowdown requirements that accompany grant funding, the infrastructure inspection grants will include mandatory country of origin provisions, requiring grant recipients to use U.S.-manufactured sUAS made by companies not subject to Chinese influence or control. 

The legislation also authorizes a separate $100 million pool of funding for DOT to use for grants to educational institutions to support student training and education in the use of drones and related technologies.

The bill, which passed the House by a 308-110 vote, now proceeds to the Senate. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate on August 8 and has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for consideration.  Both bills have significant support from industry leaders and local government groups.

  

Insights

Client Alert | 6 min read | 03.26.24

California Office of Health Care Affordability Notice Requirement for Material Change Transactions Closing on or After April 1, 2024

Starting next week, on April 1st, health care entities in California closing “material change transactions” will be required to notify California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (“OHCA”) and potentially undergo an extensive review process prior to closing. The new review process will impact a broad range of providers, payers, delivery systems, and pharmacy benefit managers with either a current California footprint or a plan to expand into the California market. While health care service plans in California are already subject to an extensive transaction approval process by the Department of Managed Health Care, other health care entities in California have not been required to file notices of transactions historically, and so the notice requirement will have a significant impact on how health care entities need to structure and close deals in California, and the timing on which closing is permitted to occur....