On July 3, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a limited preliminary injunction and stay of the Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete final rule, holding that the FTC exceeded its statutory authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The Court limited the scope of the injunctive relief to named plaintiff Ryan LLC and plaintiff-intervenors the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America; the Business Roundtable; the Texas Association of Business; and the Longview Chamber of Commerce.

On May 24, ABC joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more than 200 national associations and state and local chambers in urging the Federal Trade Commission to stay the effective date of its final rule to ban noncompete clauses in order to allow for judicial review. The effective date of the rule is Sept. 4.

On May 14, ABC joined a broad group of trade associations in filing an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs’ request for injunctive relief against the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule to ban noncompete clauses. Injunctive relief is appropriate and necessary to avoid the immediate and irreparable harm the FTC’s final rule would impose on the hundreds of thousands of American businesses—like construction companies—that appropriately rely on narrowly tailored noncompetes.

On April 23, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to issue its final rule to ban noncompete clauses. The rule is effective Sept. 4, 2024.

ABC’s Regulatory Roundup is updated on a regular basis and includes information about federal regulations, guidance and compliance materials from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, National Labor Relations Board, Federal Trade Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and Council on Environmental Quality.

The Biden administration recently released its Fall 2023 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to publish in 2023 and 2024. ABC has prepared a summary of the actions of interest to ABC members by agency.