POLICY ROUNDUP

Who is responsible when something goes wrong? That is the biggest legal question that trial lawyers will be watching.

Sixteen states introduced legislation related to autonomous vehicles in 2015, up from 12 states in 2014, nine states and D.C. in 2013 and six states in 2012.

“You’re going to get a whole host of new defendants,” Kevin Dean, who is suing General Motors over faulty ignition switches and Takata Corp. over airbag failures, said in a recent interview with Automotive News. “Computer programmers, computer companies, designers of algorithms, Google, mapping companies, even states. It’s going to be a very fertile ground for lawyers.”

Consumer worries about liability could be a major roadblock to putting driverless cars on the roads. So Google, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz have pledged to accept liability if their vehicles cause an accident. But lawyers see that as merely a marketing ploy.

Under current law, the car owner, often the driver, is responsible for accidents. If an owner wants to blame the manufacturer, he or she must prove the company was negligent in some way. Changes will have to be made because there is nothing that says the manufacturer of the automated system is financially responsible for crashes.

California proposed rules in December that would require a human to always be ready to take the wheel. But what if the person is sleeping or distracted on Twitter? The proposal also would compel companies manufacturing the cars to file monthly performance reports. The rule, which could set the standard for nationwide regulation, “gravely disappointed” Google, which hopes to reduce the 33,000 road fatalities each year with the new technology. — Joana Suleiman

HEALTHCARE

Overdose patients still get opioids

As public health officials try to figure out the best strategy for tackling increased opioid abuse, officials are focusing on changing how doctors dole out the powerful painkillers.

It turns out that isn’t a bad idea.

A new study found that opioid overdose victims continue to receive prescriptions for the painkillers even after the overdose.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 2,848 commercially insured patients who had an overdose after receiving opioids. Researchers found that after nearly a year, opioids were given out to 91 percent of those patients, the study said.

About 212 people had repeated overdoses and still got the painkillers.

“Almost all patients continue to receive prescription opioids after an overdose,” the study said. “Opioid discontinuation after overdose is associated with lower risk for repeated overdose.”

The White House issued a strategic plan to tackle overdoses in October. A key facet of that plan was better training for prescribers on how to properly prescribe opioids. Critics have long said that doctors often prescribe the powerful painkillers for unnecessary problems such as back pain, when the painkillers should be doled out for more serious chronic pain such as those suffering from cancer. — Robert King

TAXES

Omnibus bill includes major changes to tax laws

Measures in the “tax extenders” legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last month will make it easier for foreign investment in U.S. real estate.

In a major departure from prior law, non-U.S. investors now can hold up to 10 percent of publicly traded U.S. real estate investment trust stock without triggering the 1980 Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act when selling the stock or receiving proceeds from the trust’s sale of assets. Previously, the law was triggered when a foreign investor sold or had a capital gain distribution and held more than 5 percent of a U.S. real estate investment stock. The new law also allows foreign pension and retirement fund investments in the investment trust stock to receive the same tax treatment as U.S. pension funds.

“The policies adopted by Congress recognize the vast role that commercial real estate plays in the U.S. economy. These sensible, pro-growth steps will help ensure a more robust, more sustainable recovery over the long term,” Real Estate Roundtable Chairman William Rudin told tax-news.com. “The … changes pave the way for new investment that will create jobs and help modernize U.S. commercial real estate and our aging infrastructure.” — Joana Suleiman

LABOR

Right-to-work laws lead to fewer strikes

Major labor strikes are nine times more likely to be held in a state without a right-to-work law than in a state that has the law, according to a new study by the conservative Freedom Foundation. The group argued the finding means that right-to-work laws promote “labor peace” in the workplace.

The study, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, found 446 reported work stoppages involving more than 1,000 public or private workers since 1993.

Of that total, 397 of the strikes took place in states that allow union contracts with so-called “security clauses,” provisions that prohibit managers from employing anyone who does not join the union or at least pay it a fee. The fee ostensibly compensates the union for its expenses related to its collective bargaining on behalf of the employees.

Critics argue it is unfair to force workers to have to support a union, and 25 states have passed laws that prohibit this practice — hence, the term “right to work.” Only 49 of the 446 reported strikes took place in these states.

It is not just that unions are more common in non-right-to-work states. The unions in those states strike more frequently: 0.13 strikes per year for every 100,000 union workers compared with just 0.06 strikes per year per 100,000 union workers in right-to-work states. — Sean Higgins

ENVIRONMENT

Hyundai to roll out vehicles with super-fuel cells

Hyundai plans to put all other electric vehicles to shame with a sport utility vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells with a 500-mile range, the Korean auto giant announced.

Other electric car competitors such as Tesla have a range of 200-265 miles, while Toyota’s new fuel cell car, the Mirai, has a 300-mile range. But the Hyundai ix35 SUV beat the Marai and is less expensive, Hyundai officials say. The cars could be on showroom floors well before 2020. Toyota announced its Mirai in 2015 as the first mass-market fuel cell vehicle, claiming that electricity provided by hydrogen to power the car is the answer to the range issues that have plagued electric carmakers that use bulky lithium-ion batteries. Hydrogen fuel cells use a chemical process to produce highly efficient electricity to improve a vehicle’s range without the disadvantages of added weight that come from using batteries to increase range.

“Every solution leads to hydrogen. Either you use renewable energy sources to create and store hydrogen, or you use traditional fuels like coal to create hydrogen. Either way, hydrogen is the way to store energy and control supply and demand,” Sae-Hoon Kim, Hyundai’s head of hydrogen fuel cell research, said in an interview with the British-based Autocar website.

President Obama has been pushing the transportation sector to move away from fossil fuels, first pushing battery-powered electric vehicles, but now also partnering with the private sector to ramp up fuel cells as a power source for electric vehicles. — John Siciliano

EDUCATION

Bush alum defends No Child Left Behind

Though the law was despised by many, some George W. Bush administration alumni are defending No Child Left Behind now that the K-12 education law has been replaced.

Michael Gerson, former policy adviser and speechwriter for Bush, defended No Child Left Behind in his Washington Post column on Dec. 28. “Failing schools didn’t like to be labeled failures, because it made administrators feel as though they were, like, you know, failing or something,” Gerson wrote.

No Child Left Behind was replaced in December by the Every Student Succeeds Act, which passed with bipartisan support. Gerson’s biggest critique of the new law centered on the way it rolls back federally enforced accountability for schools to educate disadvantaged children.

“What does it say that the one thing everyone in Washington can agree on effectively devalues the educational needs of black children?” he wrote.

The new law still requires states to publish academic testing data on disadvantaged students, but states decide how to help them. Gerson’s defense of No Child quickly drew criticism. “Whether or not we think the schools are the federal government’s business, it doesn’t have the capacity to fix them,” Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in the National Review Dec. 29. “The new bill is an advance for realism.” — Jason Russell