OMB Finishes Review of Fiduciary Rule Delay Request

The big question, Reish adds, "is whether the delay in the applicability date will be 60 days from April 10 or whether it will be 180 days. There are conflicting rumors about that."

Once OMB releases Labor's proposal to the public in the Federal Register, "we will know the length of the delay of the rule's applicability date and whether stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide comments before or after the delay is effective," Zanotti and her colleagues wrote in a recent client alert.

The question remains as to whether Labor's proposal at OMB is a proposed rule or an interim final rule.

Step one "is delay the [DOL fiduciary] rule, which will happen, probably by an interim final rule that is effective upon issuance that solicits comment," Crowley told ThinkAdvisor in a Feb. 21 interview.  

OMB met with several groups last week, including AARP and Better Markets, which fueled speculation that its approval of the Labor Department's plan to delay the rule was imminent.

Meanwhile, the nine plaintiffs suing the Labor Department over its fiduciary rule in a Texas court said late Friday that they were appealing Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn's Feb. 8 decision upholding Labor's rule. 

"We remain confident in the merits and strength of our case and stand by our assertion that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority," said the plaintiffs, which include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the Financial Services Institute, in a joint statement announcing the appeal.

Five national co-plaintiffs filed the Feb. 25 appeal in conjunction with the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock Chamber of Commerce and Texas Association of Business.

The case will now move to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

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