Each week, Crowell & Moring’s State Attorneys General team highlights significant actions that State AGs have taken. See our State Attorneys General page for more insights. Here are last week’s updates.
Multistate
- A coalition of 19 state attorneys general filed a Motion to Intervene in BlackRock, Inc’s attempt to obtain authorization to purchase, acquire, or take over voting securities in certain utilities from the U.S. Federal Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). The Attorneys General claim that BlackRock has a history of pressuring utility companies to phase out traditional energy investments. Utah’s State Attorney General Sean D. Reyes stated, “BlackRock’s latest attempt to bypass federal law escalates the need for action as the reliability of our nation’s electrical grid remains in jeopardy.” In the November 12, 2024 filing, the AGs argued that FERC should only grant BlackRock’s request for reauthorization as long as BlackRock (and all of its affiliates and subsidiaries) limit their collective ownership to 20% or less of the of each FPA-covered utility.
- A coalition of 32 state attorneys general wrote to Congress urging it to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (“KOSA”). The AGs claim that the legislation protects children from online harm and addresses the growing crisis of youth mental health by instituting: (1) mandatory default safety settings; (2) addiction prevention; and (3) parental empowerment. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez stated, “[l]obbyists for Big Tech are working overtime to kill this legislation because they know it will hold them accountable.” This follows a number of investigations and lawsuits against major social media platforms for targeting underage users by state AGs.
- A coalition of 18 state attorneys general challenged the Security and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) attempt to exclusively regulate most cryptocurrencies in opposition to what the state attorneys general find contradict state crypto statutes. The AGs detail in their pleadings how the federal government’s approach to regulating blockchain technology is unconstitutional and unlawful, partially because digital assets in the industry are not investment contracts that Congress intended the SEC to regulate.
Nebraska
- Attorney General Hilgers filed an antitrust lawsuit against the “Clean Truck Partnership.” The Partnership sought to limit the availability of internal combustion semi-trucks in favor of electric ones. This transition from diesel to electric truck fleets follows California’s implementation of regulation that are allegedly designed to eliminate semi-trucks with internal combustion engines. Attorney General Hilgers stated his primary reason for filing the lawsuit was that, “Eliminating diesel-powered semi-trucks is practically impossible to accomplish and would impose enormous costs on Nebraska and Nebraska companies.”