We are issuing another update to our recent Alerts regarding the final rules recently issued by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) with respect to fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and the DOL’s Best Interest Contract Exemption (“BICE”) from ERISA’s prohibited transactions provisions as well as Congress’s attempt at blocking implementation of the ERISA fiduciary rule and BICE. On April 28, 2016, the House of Representatives passed a joint resolution disapproving DOL’s fiduciary rule and BICE pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. The vote on the joint resolution was along party lines, 234 to 183. The joint resolution of disapproval now moves to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass along party lines.
As we noted in our last Alert, assuming that the Senate votes to disapprove the ERISA fiduciary rule and BICE, it is expected that President Obama will veto the Congressional joint resolution. Congress will then likely seek to override the veto. However, it is doubtful that House and Senate leaders will have enough votes to override the veto.