On Wednesday, February 17, 2021, the Indiana House of Representatives (“Indiana House”) approved House Bill 1224 (“HB 1224”) by a vote of 69 to 28. The bill, which now advances to the Indiana Senate, could result in a reversal of Indiana’s 2019 ban on smokable hemp. Lifting the ban would, according…
On January 28, 2021, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed freedom of contract principles and upheld discounts of over thirty percent in the fair market valuation of shares in a dispute over the buyback provision in a shareholder agreement among all of the shareholders of a closely held company. In …
Earlier this month, the Office of the Indiana State Chemist (“OISC”) began accepting applications for licenses to commercially grow and process hemp using its new online licensing software (the “Application”). The new Application is live following approval of the Indiana State Hemp Plan (the…
Within the past two months, there has been a flurry of activity in the cannabis space, including continued litigation over Indiana’s hemp laws,1 the release of Indiana’s 2021 hemp grower/handler application by the Office of Indiana State Chemist & Seed Commissioner (“OISC”), the passage of the …
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA” or the “Act”) as part of the greater National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The CTA requires certain domestic and foreign companies to disclose beneficial ownership information to the U.S. Department of…
Congress finally agreed on a new COVID relief package, passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the "Act") after months of intense negotiations about scope and dollars, and has sent the Act to President Trump for his signature. The President has tweeted objections about some provisions of…
On Friday, December 4th, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3884, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (MORE Act) by a vote of 228 to 164. If enacted, the MORE Act would end federal prohibition of cannabis, require federal courts to expunge prior cannabis (or…
On November 18, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Ruling 2020-27 and Revenue Procedure 2020-51, which, respectively, provided additional guidance regarding the IRS position on the non-deductibility of expenses funded with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan proceeds and a…
On October 30, 2020, the SBA released two additional questionnaires that will need to be submitted by for-profit and non-profit PPP borrowers as part of their loan forgiveness applications. This follows a notice issued by the SBA on October 28 in the Federal Register indicating that the SBA was…
On October 22, 2020, the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) approved the Indiana State Hemp Plan (the “Plan”), allowing hemp growers to grow and process hemp commercially in Indiana without obtaining the previously required university research affiliation. Applications for the 2021…
On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg issued its long-anticipated decision in the case of Data Protection Commission v. Facebook Ireland, Schrems (Schrems II). The decision concludes two years of litigation of a complaint initiated by Austrian privacy…
On October 2, 2020, a Procedural Notice issued by the SBA (the “Notice”) became effective that provides information and procedures addressing requirements for approval of changes of ownership for an entity that has received funds under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). The Notice put in…
