12 INVESTMENT ADVISOR DECEMBER 2019 | ThinkAdvisor.com
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Certainty is good.
Drinker Biddle in Washington, given
that “next year becomes more and more
about the [presidential] election and
that kind of fighting.”
But whatever happens, the bill’s “con-
cepts … have gotten bipartisan approv-
al, so they’re going to hang around,”
Campbell opined.
The bill’s package of retirement-relat-ed tax provisions increases the auto-escalations safe harbor to 15%, changes
the required minimum distribution age
to 72, gets rid of the age limit for contributions to IRAs, and puts in place a safe
harbor for selecting an annuity provider
for workplace retirement plans.
A couple of Secure Act provisions
“have raised some eyebrows,” according
to Campbell, including one that says that
employees who work 500 or more hours
for a company in three consecutive years
are eligible to join its retirement plan.
“That’s raised some questions about
compliance and other issues.”
If there’s another tax bill next year,
and “if there is another opportunity
after the presidential election and the
next congressional election and the
next Congress, we’ll see these ideas [in
Secure] stay and some of them will make
it through; the question is what’s the
vehicle and what’s the timing?” he added.
WILL REG BI COMPLIANCE DATE STICK?
Meanwhile, attorneys prognosticated in
late October whether Regulation Best
Interest’s June 30, 2020, compliance
date would actually kick in, given the
lawsuits lobbed against the agency’s
controversial rule this year.
The recent lawsuits filed against the
Reg BI by seven states are “more political posturings” than “credible, legal
maneuvers” and are unlikely to succeed, Campbell said on Drinker Biddle’s
Inside the Beltway webcast.
The recent lawsuits by the state
attorneys general show they believe Reg
BI “was not the right policy solution,”
Campbell said. The lawsuit “fits in” with
the actions by some states to pursue
their own fiduciary regulations.
The lawsuits are “more indicative
of a political split and a policy split
between the federal government and the
states,” said Campbell, the former head
of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration.
Jim Lundy, partner in Drinker
Biddle’s Chicago office, added that he
believes the SEC “will do everything to
be successful” in fighting the lawsuits. “I
do think the [legal] challenges [against
Reg BI] will be unsuccessful.”
He reminded attendees that the legal
challenges are only against Reg BI and
not the other parts of the SEC’s advice-
standards package, like Form CRS.
The attorneys did not opine on the
lawsuit brought against Reg BI by
XY Planning Network, led by advisor
and blogger Michael Kitces, as they
WASHINGTON WATCH
