In connection with the continued efforts of New York State to grapple with the COVID 19 pandemic, recent orders have updated the emergency measures in place impacting pending and potential litigation in New York and possibly beyond.

On May 21, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it has adopted amendments to the rules for financial statement disclosure requirements in connection with the acquisition or disposition of a business.

The IRS announced in Notice 2020-41 relief for taxpayers developing renewable energy projects to satisfy the “beginning of construction” requirement by extending the four-year “continuity safe harbor” for certain projects that began construction in 2016 or 2017. The Notice also provides a “3.5 month safe harbor” for services or property paid for by the taxpayer on or after September 16, 2019 and received by October 15, 2020. This guidance provides taxpayers with flexibility to satisfy the beginning of construction requirement and minimizes the impact of COVID-19 on the ability to claim energy tax credits.

Pursuant to the recently-amended Washington Business Corporation Act (WBCA), effective June 11, 2020, corporations subject to the WBCA that are public companies will be required to either have a “gender-diverse board” by January 1, 2022 or comply with new board diversity disclosure requirements. The law considers a board to be gender diverse if, for at least 270 days of the fiscal year preceding a public company’s annual meeting of shareholders, the board is comprised of at least 25% of individuals who self-identify as women.

On May 22, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury published its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness Rules and Loan Review Procedures and Related Borrower and Lender Responsibilities. The rules provide borrowers and lenders guidance on requirements for loan forgiveness and the SBA’s process for reviewing PPP loans.

On April 8, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), adopted amendments that would allow business development companies (BDCs) and registered closed-end funds (CEFs), to use the securities offering rules that are available to public reporting companies. In this alert, we refer to all BDCs and CEFs as “Affected Funds.”

Following Mexico’s energy regulatory reforms that began at the end of 2013 and were championed by the prior administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto, foreign investment in the energy sector in Mexico flourished, in particular through three successful rounds of energy auctions that attracted considerable development of new wind and solar power generation plants. As with other countries in Latin America, the pendulum has swung back with populist candidates replacing “free market” leaning administrations, and current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected to the presidency in part by his message that he would always put the Mexican people first. Since his election, his administration has used this line of argument to justify several changes that have disrupted foreign and private investment in critical infrastructure projects, such as the cancellation of the Mexico City airport project, the cancellation of the fourth renewable energy auction, the cancellation of auctions for the exploration of oil and gas fields and efforts to renegotiate certain long-term gas pipeline contracts.

Last month, West Texas Intermediate crude dropped below $0.00 for the first time in history after weeks of low global oil demand as a result of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the Saudi Arabia-Russia price war. Many upstream and midstream oil and gas companies are currently faced with the lack of, or limited, offtake capability and disappearing crude oil storage capacity, which has these companies evaluating the impact of shutting in wells or pipelines.

Shearman & Sterling attorneys acted as contributors to the 2020 edition of Global Legal Insights: AI, Machine Learning & Big Data, a book published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London. The publication covers the latest trends, legal issues, board governance considerations and market practices in 29 global jurisdictions around artificial intelligence and its intersection with the laws of each country.