A House appropriations bill was unveiled last week that included a provision designed to stop the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal by defunding its implementation, but what are its chances?
The fiduciary provision simply states, “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the proposed Definition of the Term ‘Fiduciary’; Conflict of Interest Rule — Retirement Investment Advice regulation published by the Department of Labor in the Federal Register on April 20, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 21928 11 et seq.).” It was included in the draft fiscal year 2016 Labor, Health and Human Services funding bill, which the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related Agencies Subcommittee considered on June 17 and will mark up on June 24.
By now you’ve heard that the budget process in Congress hasn’t worked the way it’s supposed to for years. This year, once again, Republicans will look to maintain so-called “sequestration” levels of spending and Democrats will disagree, so individual appropriations bills will falter. Instead we will see, yet again, a “continuing resolution” to keep the government going, without controversial ideas like defunding regulations thrown into such a “must-pass” bill. Bills like this one just don’t survive in this environment.
NTSA believes the best path forward is to work with the DOL and Congress to identify changes that will make compliance with the proposed regulation feasible and eliminate some of the unintended consequences of the current proposed language. The hearing on the proposed DOL fiduciary regulation held last week by the House Education & Workforce Committee was a good step towards the parties coming together. NTSA believes there was broad consensus among all parties that a best interest standard is the correct direction for consumers and the employer-based retirement system. NTSA also believes that all parties recognized that there are problems with the way the proposed regulation attempts to achieve that end.
The industry is therefore going to have to help the DOL do this the right way. At the end of the day, the most effective strategies are going to be public comment and direct negotiation between industry leaders and decision makers.
Ray Harmon, Esq. is government affairs counsel for NTSA.
The fiduciary provision simply states, “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the proposed Definition of the Term ‘Fiduciary’; Conflict of Interest Rule — Retirement Investment Advice regulation published by the Department of Labor in the Federal Register on April 20, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 21928 11 et seq.).” It was included in the draft fiscal year 2016 Labor, Health and Human Services funding bill, which the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related Agencies Subcommittee considered on June 17 and will mark up on June 24.
By now you’ve heard that the budget process in Congress hasn’t worked the way it’s supposed to for years. This year, once again, Republicans will look to maintain so-called “sequestration” levels of spending and Democrats will disagree, so individual appropriations bills will falter. Instead we will see, yet again, a “continuing resolution” to keep the government going, without controversial ideas like defunding regulations thrown into such a “must-pass” bill. Bills like this one just don’t survive in this environment.
NTSA believes the best path forward is to work with the DOL and Congress to identify changes that will make compliance with the proposed regulation feasible and eliminate some of the unintended consequences of the current proposed language. The hearing on the proposed DOL fiduciary regulation held last week by the House Education & Workforce Committee was a good step towards the parties coming together. NTSA believes there was broad consensus among all parties that a best interest standard is the correct direction for consumers and the employer-based retirement system. NTSA also believes that all parties recognized that there are problems with the way the proposed regulation attempts to achieve that end.
The industry is therefore going to have to help the DOL do this the right way. At the end of the day, the most effective strategies are going to be public comment and direct negotiation between industry leaders and decision makers.
Ray Harmon, Esq. is government affairs counsel for NTSA.
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