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Chemical Facility Safety Working Group Issues 90-Day Progress Report

Client Alert | 2 min read | 12.24.13

On December 20, 2013, a multiagency working group issued a report on its progress toward improving safety and security at U.S. chemical facilities. Prompted by the April 2013 ammonium-nitrate explosion in West, Texas, President Obama issued Executive Order 13650, which established the Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group. The Group includes, among others, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency. Its progress report touts the "important steps" it has taken in the three-and-a-half months since EO 13650. These steps include public listening sessions to gather stakeholder input and a pilot program in New York and New Jersey to test interagency collaboration as well as federal coordination with state, local, and tribal partners. Such future coordination may include DHS's sharing Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) data with state, local, and tribal emergency-planning committees.

The four-page report also describes the Working Group's desire "to harmonize the collection and exchange of information to streamline enforcement processes, inform decision-makers at all levels of government and first responders, and avoid duplication of regulatory requirements." Although accomplishing these goals might ease regulated entities' information-sharing burden, increased interagency cooperation may also enhance the government's enforcement capabilities under existing regulations. It is thus critical that stakeholders involved in chemical production, chemical storage, and agricultural supply activities stay current on the Working Group's progress. Those in the oil and gas sector, in particular, should take note of OSHA's recent "request for information" relating to its Process Safety Management (PSM) standard.

Stakeholders may learn more about the Working Group and its efforts by visiting its website. The Group has scheduled four listening sessions in January at which stakeholders may comment on the Group's work. Stakeholders may also submit written comments by email to eo.chemical@hq.dhs.gov.

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Client Alert | 5 min read | 12.12.25

Eleventh Circuit Hears Argument on False Claims Act Qui Tam Constitutionality

On the morning of December 12, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit heard argument in United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC, et al., No. 24-13581 (11th Cir. 2025). This case concerns the constitutionality of the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam provisions and a groundbreaking September 2024 opinion in which the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida held that the FCA’s qui tam provisions were unconstitutional under Article II. See United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Fla. Med. Assocs., LLC, 751 F. Supp. 3d 1293 (M.D. Fla. 2024). That decision, penned by District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, was the first success story for a legal theory that has been gaining steam ever since Justices Thomas, Barrett, and Kavanaugh indicated they would be willing to consider arguments about the constitutionality of the qui tam provisions in U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Res., 599 U.S. 419 (2023). In her opinion, Judge Mizelle held (1) qui tam relators are officers of the U.S. who must be appointed under the Appointments Clause; and (2) historical practice treating qui tam and similar relators as less than “officers” for constitutional purposes was not enough to save the qui tam provisions from the fundamental Article II infirmity the court identified. That ruling was appealed and, after full briefing, including by the government and a bevy of amici, the litigants stepped up to the plate this morning for oral argument....

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