Because the Department of Labor must have its new fiduciary rule in place before Jan. 20, 2017, the day the new administration takes office, DOL will push to issue a final rule by May 2016, according to ERISA lawyer Steve Saxon.
After the comment period expires July 21 on its reproposed rule to amend the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and DOL conducts an August hearing on the redraft, DOL will not have time to issue a reproposal of the plan, rather the department will go straight to a final rule, Saxon, chairman of Groom Law Group, said Monday at the annual SPARK conference in Washington.
If the DOL's redraft is still "outstanding" by Inauguration Day, and a Republican candidate wins, that would present problems for the Obama administration-backed rule, Saxon said.
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
