Nevin Adams
By Nevin Adams 6/22/2017
The Golden State has modified the legislation regarding its state-run auto-IRA program for private sector workers in place, readying the measure for Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) expected signature.In the wake of the Trump administration’s removal of the Obama administration’s ERISA safe harbor guidance...
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By Nevin Adams 6/20/2017
With little fanfare and precious little notice, come July 1, 2017, broker-dealers and advisors doing business in Nevada will be subjected to a new fiduciary standard. Senate Bill 383, signed into law by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) on June 2, revises the Nevada Securities Act to mandate that any...
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By Nevin Adams 6/7/2017
The Department of Labor (DOL) has taken its first step in the review of the fiduciary regulation ordered by President Trump earlier this year.That step was marked by the delivery of a request for information on the fiduciary rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget, according to the...
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By Nevin Adams 5/23/2017
The Department of Labor (DOL) has published a new set of FAQs about the fiduciary regulation, these focused on the so-called “transition period” from June 9, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2018. The big question on many minds is likely to be found in Question 4, which asks: “Will the Department make additional...
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By Nevin Adams 5/23/2017
Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta is now on record saying he won’t delay implementation of the fiduciary regulation. He chose a very public means of doing so: an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) in which he states that “the Labor Department has concluded that it is...
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By Nevin Adams 5/19/2017
President Trump may have signed legislation pulling back the Obama administration’s ERISA safe harbor guidance for state-run auto IRAs, but California officials say they don’t need it.In a press release, California State Treasurer John Chiang and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los...
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By Nevin Adams 5/18/2017
President Trump has signed legislation that overturns the Obama administration’s ERISA safe harbor rule for state-run auto-IRA programs for private sector workers.He signed the legislation on the last day he could to avoid a pocket veto of the measure. On May 3 the Senate passed H.J. Res. 66 by a...
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By Nevin Adams 5/18/2017
No sooner had the U.S. Senate voted to unwind the Obama administration’s safe harbor exempting state-run auto-IRA programs from ERISA, than a pair of Senate Democrats introduced legislation designed to restore the exemption. The Preserve Rights of States and Political Subdivisions to Encourage...
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By Nevin Adams 5/12/2017
One of the more novel legal arguments opposing the fiduciary regulation has resurfaced in an amicus (friend of the court) filing.Arguing on behalf of plaintiffs (including the Chamber of Commerce) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), a nonprofit...
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By Nevin Adams 5/9/2017
Having moved to unwind the Obama administration’s safe harbor exempting municipalities’ auto-IRA programs from ERISA, it now looks as though the state-run program version will meet the same fate. On May 3 the Senate passed H.J.Res. 66 by a vote of 50-49, echoing action taken by the House of...
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By Nevin Adams 5/3/2017
Senate Republicans feel they have the votes to undo the Department of Labor’s (DOL) rules crafting a safe harbor that exempted states’ auto-IRA programs from ERISA. The vote on H.J. Res. 66, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution cancelling the Obama administration’s regulation on state...
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By Nevin Adams 4/27/2017
Unveiling President Trump’s tax reform proposal April 26, Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic advisor and director of the National Economic Council, said that “retirement savings will be protected.”While that was immediately reassuring to those concerned that this version of tax reform would...
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By Nevin Adams 4/21/2017
A new white paper says that fund changes already underway in response to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation may well have broad beneficial effects.According to “Early Evidence on the Department of Labor Conflict of Interest Rule” by Morningstat’s Director of Policy Research Aron...
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By Nevin Adams 4/17/2017
Among other changes, the American Retirement Association has requested that the Labor Department change the Best Interest Contract (BIC) Exemption to eliminate reliance on the plaintiffs’ bar as an enforcement mechanism. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the current fiduciary regulation is...
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By Nevin Adams 4/10/2017
Plaintiffs seeking to obtain an emergency injunction blocking the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation were rebuffed again by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.The denial kept the DOL’s fiduciary litigation streak unblemished.Not that the judges minced words explaining...
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By Nevin Adams 4/5/2017
The Labor Department made it official yesterday, pushing the April 10 applicability date of the fiduciary rule back the widely anticipated 60 days to June 9 – but providing some additional compliance space on the Best Interest Contract Exemption. Specifically, while the Labor Department also...
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By Nevin Adams 4/4/2017
Having received the final rule on its proposed extension of the applicability date from the Labor Department, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has scheduled a couple of meetings related to that review. According to an update on the OMB’s website, the agency had meetings on March 31 with...
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By Nevin Adams 3/29/2017
Having put its proposed extension of the applicability date out for public comment, the Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted its final rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. According to an update on the OMB’s website, the final rule was received on March 28. The 60-day...
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By Nevin Adams 3/28/2017
Plan fiduciaries largely lost their attempt to dismiss charges filed by plan participants in an excessive fee suit brought by the St. Louis-based law firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton.The lawsuit, filed in late 2015 in the Southern District of Indiana, alleged that fiduciaries of the $5.1...
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By Nevin Adams 3/27/2017
With health care reform off the table (at least for the moment), Congress will now turn to… tax reform.Over the weekend, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said he aims to move a tax reform bill through his committee this spring. According to Reuters, Brady said he...
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