At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the FY 2020 budget request for the DOJ, Attorney General William Barr discussed the current state of interaction between state and federal law with respect to marijuana.

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance determined that, for the purposes of applying Exchange Act Rules related to " Collar Contracts," an insider will be deemed to own the Corporation Shares underlying the operating partnership units. Currently, the "insider" of a U.S. public company is not permitted to take a short position in the common stock issued by an insider's employing company. The SEC has generally treated this prohibition broadly, prohibiting even short derivative positions that are economically offset by a long derivative on the company's common stock. The SEC's no-action letter

FINRA filed for immediate effectiveness a proposal to extend until October 18, 2019 a pilot program concerning FINRA Rule 11892 ("Clearly Erroneous Transactions in Exchange-Listed Securities").

FINRA updated the "Interpretations of Financial and Operational Rules" concerning net capital requirements for brokers or dealers. Specifically, the update concerns Exchange Act Rule 15c3-1(c)(2)(viii) ("Open Contractual Commitments") and relates to the conditions under which the beneficiary of an underwriting backstop agreement in a firm commitment underwriting would not be required to take a contractual commitment charge where the provider of the backstop took the charge instead.

The Senate Banking Committee (the "Committee") considered the roles that special interest groups and retail investors play on environmental, social and corporate governance ("ESG"). At a Committee hearing, Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) emphasized that retail investors must have a voice in investment and corporate governance decisions, which represent their shares. He noted that index funds hold just over 17 percent of all U.S. shares and are the largest shareholders in 40 percent of all U.S. companies. Former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm argued that past reforms by Congress, the SEC and the