DOL Issues
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night — could keep the Department of Labor (DOL) from getting the updated conflict-of-interest/fiduciary regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. That’s right, despite the massive snowstorm that hit the Washington, D.C. area last week...
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In a Jan. 25 telephone interview with reporters, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said that the Department of Labor (DOL) hopes that work on the proposed fiduciary rule will be completed “in the coming months.”According to ThinkAdvisor, Perez also said that the DOL is reviewing the high number of...
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Harkening back to a brief reference to benefit portability in the State of the Union address, the Obama Administration has announced its desire to extend Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) access to the private sector.These so-called “open” MEPs are single retirement plans involving two or more unrelated...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is pushing to get the revised version of its fiduciary rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the end of January, according to published reports.The DOL needs to finalize the rule by April or mid-May at the latest to prevent Congress from exercising its...
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) submitted a comment letter Jan. 15, 2016 to the Department of Labor (DOL) concerning a proposed regulation under which an individual retirement account (IRA) plan, if established and maintained under a payroll deduction program mandated under state law,...
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Just before Christmas, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2029, a massive year-end spending and tax bill containing a number of provisions affecting health and retirement plans. Here’s what you may have missed.H.R. 2029 — now Public Law 114-113 — includes both an omnibus appropriations bill that...
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers last week introduced legislation that they say will “ensure retirement advisors serve their clients’ best interests and preserve access to quality financial planning.” It would also require an affirmative vote of Congress before the final fiduciary rule from the...
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Those hoping that the Department of Labor's (DOL) fiduciary rule would be derailed in congressional budget negotiations found coal in their pre-Christmas stockings instead. Published reports had indicated that some lawmakers had tried to attach a rider to the omnibus spending bill that would...
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As a follow up to the DOL's recent guidance allowing states to sponsor multiple employer 401(k) plans, Congress this week is expected to pass legislation that could have a meaningful long-term impact on the 401(k) industry.The legislation, included in the tax extenders package, would create Pooled...
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Those who have been concerned about the Labor Department’s recent extension of authority to state governments to run so-called “open” MEPs may now have an opportunity to compete more effectively with that alternative.In November, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued Interpretive Bulletin (IB) 2015-...
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The House on Dec. 11, and the Senate on Dec. 10, passed a short-term spending bill that will keep the government funded through Dec. 16. Whether budget legislation ultimately will include provisions affecting the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule remains uncertain.The Hill reports that the...
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Some may consider it a bundle of coal, and others a vision of sugarplums, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers now says that their legislative proposal to ensure retirement advisors protect clients’ best interests could be introduced before the holiday break.The members of the bipartisan working...
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For those thinking the impetus behind the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal might fade with a change in administrations, think again.Earlier this week, presidential aspirant and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton shared her perspective on the fiduciary proposal in no less a forum than a...
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The federal budget bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill this week could become the battleship that eventually sinks the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule.Investment News reported Dec. 6 that, according to Rep. Phil Roe (R-Ill.), it is possible that a measure to deny funding for the enforcement...
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The team of Portman and Cardin have put their heads, and pens, together in a letter to Labor Secretary Tom Perez about the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) fiduciary proposal.Of course, then-Representatives Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) led the charge in the House for the Economic Growth...
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The Department of Labor (DOL), IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Dec. 3 released advance copies of the Form 5500 Series to be used for 2015 reporting.Filings on 2015 forms can be submitted to EFAST2, the electronic system by which the Form 5500 is submitted, through approved...
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A congressional subcommittee hearing Dec. 2 gave voice to the conflicting perspectives on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal, though it seems unlikely that anyone’s perspective was changed.The hearing, “Principles for Ensuring Retirement Advice Serves the Best Interests of Working...
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That “unique representational interest” that the Department of Labor (DOL) feels justifies the sponsorship of an open multiple employer plan (MEP) by a state for its citizens might extend beyond state boundaries.Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi says that some New England states have...
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The Department of Labor has criticized an effort by a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives to address concerns about its proposed fiduciary rule, with a DOL spokesman calling the initiative “puzzling and disappointing.”Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.),...
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Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White on Nov. 18 faced some tough questions from members of the House Financial Services Committee from both parties concerning her agency’s work on setting a uniform fiduciary standard of conduct. White was testifying before the committee...
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