Advocacy in action blog

The Department of Labor has proposed a fiduciary-only rule that would limit the choices consumers have when seeking investment and retirement-planning advice and could make it difficult for low- and middle-income investors to receive services and advice. 

NAIFA has strong advocacy relationships with interstate organizations like the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), and North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). We attend their meetings, provide input through comments and testimony, and work with them on resolutions and model regulations that impact consumers and the insurance and financial services industry. 

NAIFA congratulates the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson and looks forward to working with him on legislative matters that impact the financial security of Americans and the ability of insurance and financial professionals to serve their clients’ best interests.

NAIFA is a strong proponent of the Congressional Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus and has urged members of Congress to join during the Congressional Conference and In-District Meetings earlier this year. The bipartisan caucus raises issues important to NAIFA members and consumers they serve in the consciousness of lawmakers. Its members are legislators "committed to empowering Americans with the tools needed to build wealth and achieve financial stability."

NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux, CAE, told the Biden Administration in a meeting that the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) current efforts to revive a fiduciary-only regulation for financial professionals is unnecessary and likely to harm low- and middle-income consumers.

NAIFA has submitted a comment letter to SEC Secretary Vanessa Countryman sharing concerns about the SEC’s proposed rule on the use of predictive data analytics by financial professionals. The proposal, which would place new burdensome requirements on broker-dealers and investment advisers using a broad array of investments-related technology, would have a “devastating effect on our members and their primary clients: low- and middle-income savers and investors,” the letter states.

NAIFA members held more than 135 In-District Meetings with federal lawmakers and senior staff during the recent Congressional recess. This is the second post-COVID year in a row that the number of meetings has reached triple digits. In addition, many NAIFA members also met with state officials over the summer.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced new regulations in the Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for Plan Year 2024 that all agents, brokers, and web-brokers must follow before helping consumers complete and submit their Marketplace application. To ensure that agents and brokers understand the specific guidelines of these new regulations, CMS recently published several frequently asked questions (FAQs) that answer common questions about these new requirements.

NAIFA has not been sitting idle as the Department of Labor made moves to propose a new fiduciary rule. In anticipation of the rulemaking, NAIFA helped the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) draft a resolution that opposes the DOL's new fiduciary rule as unnecessary and likely harmful to consumers. The resolution, which NCOIL adopted in July after NAIFA testified at the Conference's 2023 Summer Meeting, states: "NCOIL urges the DOL to refrain from further rulemaking that would revive all or parts of the 2016 Fiduciary Rule" and "...urges state legislators and other interested stakeholders to join in opposition to any further rulemaking by DOL reviving the 2016 Fiduciary Rule."

On August 18, 1966, NAIFA formed the Insurance and Financial Advisors Political Action Committee (IFAPAC) as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Then known as LUPAC, it was created "to engage in voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns, compile voting records of individual members of Congress, and implement nonpartisan courses designed to stimulate citizen involvement in politics," according to NAIFA's magazine at the time. The PAC also solicited "contributions to aid selected Congressional candidates," the publication said.