Court Order Blocks Enforcement of California’s SB 343 Recycling Law and Could Impact State’s Extended Producer Responsibility Program
Companies that manufacture products bearing recyclability labels have received temporary relief from impending compliance obligations. On July 14, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction preventing California, “the State,” from enforcing SB 343, the “Truth in Recycling” law, as litigation continues. The law was set to take effect on October 4, 2026, and the preliminary injunction could impact the implementation of SB 54, California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which establishes the State’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program.
Federal Agencies Rescind Endangered Species Act Definition of “Harm,” Narrowing the Scope of Prohibited Activity Affecting Wildlife
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have issued a final rule rescinding the regulatory definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The change is significant because the longstanding definition provided that prohibited “harm” could include significant habitat modification or degradation that kills or injures protected wildlife by impairing essential behavioral patterns, such as breeding, feeding, sheltering, spawning, rearing, or migrating. After the rule becomes effective, the agencies will instead apply the ESA’s statutory definition of “take” without a separate definition of “harm.”
The Department of Transportation’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda: Acceleration of Autonomous Vehicle Rulemaking and Future Action on Fuel Economy
On July 7, 2026, the Department of Transportation released its 2026 unified rulemaking agenda. Many of the items on it relate to autonomous driving systems. They signal that the Trump Administration is accelerating its efforts to promote the development and deployment of autonomous technologies, while — with notable exceptions, particularly fuel economy — putting other regulatory efforts on the back burner. (more…)
