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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > DOL

Senate Democrats Press DOL for More Time on Fiduciary Rule Comments

By Melanie Waddell

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Seven Senate Democrats are urging the Labor Department to extend the comment period on its new fiduciary rule proposal.

In a letter sent late Wednesday to acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, the senators — including Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. — told Su that “given the broad impacts of this potential rulemaking, we are concerned that you are rushing this process.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a separate letter to Su that “given the many thoughtful comments” Labor received during its public hearings, held Dec. 12 and 13, Labor should extend the comment period by 30 days.

The current 60-day comment period, which ends on Jan. 2, “is insufficient for stakeholder engagement on a rule that the agency has spent almost three years drafting, more than a decade considering, and will have such broad impacts on retirement savers,” the senators wrote.

“This is significantly shorter than comment periods for previous iterations of this proposal,” they said, and ”includes several major holidays, which has the effect of abbreviating the comment period even further.”

Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, denied in mid-November a request by industry trade groups to extend the comment period on Labor’s fiduciary rule.

At the hearing Dec. 12, Gomez said Labor takes comments on the rule “very seriously,” and that Labor has “every expectation that the final rule will benefit from your thoughtful participation.”

The 2010 proposal, which the department eventually withdrew, “offered a 90-day comment period with a 14-day extension followed by a public meeting with its own 15-day comment period,” the senators told Su.

The 2016 fiduciary rule “had a 75-day comment period with a 15-day extension and a public hearing followed by an additional 15-day comment period,” they said.

“We ask that DOL quickly move to extend the comment period, delay the hearing until after the close of the comment period, and provide an additional period for comment following that hearing.”

The current proposal “would be a significant change to our existing system with serious implications and potential repercussions,” the senators said. “Adequate time must be taken to consider what would happen if this rule went into effect and address potential unintended consequences.”

Credit: Chris Nicholls/ALM; Adobe Stock

Melanie Waddell

@Think_MelanieW

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