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May 03, 2017 at 10:55 AM
Day two of the markup of the Financial Choice Act of 2017, the bill to torpedo Dodd-Frank, included a spirited debate about the provision of the bill that basically repeals the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule and allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to move first in issuing its own.
However, as Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, argued during the Wednesday markup held by the House Financial Services Committee, the SEC “refuses to get in the game” and issue its own fiduciary rule.
Issuing and finalizing a uniform fiduciary rule is what industry groups pressed newly christened SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, who was confirmed by the Senate on May 2, to put high on his list of priorities.
Markup of the Choice Act started on Tuesday. A spokesman for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, told ThinkAdvisor that “we’ve expected [the markup] will take a couple of days to get through.”
Meanwhile, litigation surrounding the Obama-backed rule continues. The nine groups fighting the fiduciary rule in a Texas court sent on Tuesday their opening brief in their appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
The Texas judge overseeing the lawsuit filed by nine plaintiffs — which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Financial Services Institute — against Labor’s fiduciary rule denied on March 22 an emergency request by the groups to stop the rule from taking effect while they take their case to the appeals court.
During the Wednesday markup of the Choice Act, Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., noted his support of the bill’s provision calling to “delay” Labor’s fiduciary rule until the SEC “can propose a rule, and then the DOL can harmonize [its rule] with that.”
