Deals & People November 25, 2024

Trump Picks Union Supporter for Secretary of Labor

President-elect Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, to head the Department of Labor.

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Lori Chavez-DeRemer

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday his intent to nominate Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, as Secretary of Labor, along with his plan to nominate hedge fund manager and billionaire Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury. Both will require Senate confirmation.

As a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Chavez-DeRemer was one of the few Republicans to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. Chavez-DeRemer lost her bid for reelection earlier in November to Democrat Janelle Bynum.

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“I am proud to hereby nominate Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, from the Great State of Oregon, as United States Secretary of Labor,” Trump wrote on social media. “Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America. I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs.”

In response to the announcement, the National Education Association, the country’s largest professional employee organization, championed Chavez-DeRemer’s selection while also criticizing Trump’s policies.

Chavez-DeRemer’s record “stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s anti-worker, anti-union record, and his extreme Project 2025 agenda that would gut workplace protections, make it harder for workers to unionize, and diminish the voice of working people,” wrote NEA President Becky Pringle in a statement.

Scott Bessent, Key Square Capital Management LLC

Pringle added that educators and workers will be watching to see how Chavez-DeRemer moves through the nomination process and whether she will pledge to “continue to stand up for workers and students as her record suggests, not blind loyalty to the Project 2025 agenda.”

Trump and his campaign have stated repeatedly that he is not linked to Project 2025 and not following its agenda.

Retirement industry players, meanwhile, will be watching to see how, if approved for the role, Chavez-DeRemer will address pending DOL issues, including further work on the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022, the Retirement Security Rule and guidance on environmental, social and governance investing in defined contribution retirement plans.

Trump’s Treasury nominee, Bessent, is founder and CEO of Key Square Group LP, which he founded in 2015. He has been a public proponent of Trump’s tariff and tax-cutting policy agendas.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump wrote on social media in announcing his intent to nominate Bessent.

Compliance November 25, 2024

Nevada Joins NAIC Best Interest Annuity Rule, Making 48 States

Insurance industry groups are championing the move, because the state insurance regulations are one of the arguments against bringing retail annuity sales under ERISA.

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Nevada has become the 48th U.S. state to institute the best interest annuity rule administered by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau’s legislative review committee on Monday approved the Nevada Division of Insurance’s rule based on the NAIC regulation, and it now applies to annuity sellers in Nevada, following similar moves this year by California, Indiana and Louisiana. Massachusetts and New York are the two states that have not implemented it.

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The addition is a win for NAIC and the American Council of Life Insurers, who have been advocating for national uptake of the rule designed to ensure consumers get fair and accurate advice for an annuity sale.

The organizations have pointed to the best interest guidance when seeking court dismissals of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Retirement Security Rule. That rule, currently stayed by two federal courts, sought to bring annuity sales under the umbrella of fiduciary advice related to retirement savings, as regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The ACLI fought the retirement security rule, both in public commentary and in the courts. With President-elect Donald Trump set to return to power, analysts say it is likely the DOL will not appeal the stays. The first Trump administration declined to appeal in support of a prior fiduciary rule made under former President Barack Obama after it was tossed out by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors’ Nevada political action committee also championed Monday’s move, saying it would bring the best interest guidelines to consumers of annuities seeking to create a guaranteed income stream in retirement. It also highlighted its pushback against the DOL’s fiduciary rule in regulating annuities.

“These measures offer a better way to protect consumers than the harmful fiduciary-only approach adopted by the U.S. Department of Labor, which limits access to guidance and information about choices for retirement,” said ACLI President David Chavern and NAIFA Nevada Political Action Committee Chair Jarod Morgan in a joint statement.

The NAIC’s rules align with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Best Interest Regulation, which is focused on the “quality and transparency” of retail investors’ work with advisers and broker/dealers.

Nevada signing on to the standard comes shortly after the Insured Retirement Institute issued joint comments with 10 financial trade associations regarding a draft of regulatory guidance to amend and clarify the NAIC’s best interest model. The trade organizations provided detailed comments on and suggestions for the draft guidance.

“We appreciate the Working Group’s efforts to provide greater clarity on the safe harbor provisions of the Model for state examiners, and our review of the Draft Guidance is focused on ensuring consistency with the Model,” they wrote. “It is important that any guidance fully conform to the Model without imposing any new or different requirements on the industry.”

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