Hunton Retail Law Resource

After more than 40 days of gridlock, Congress appears close to a deal to reopen the federal government. The Senate has reached an agreement in principle on a package of appropriations and continuing resolutions, but both chambers must still complete votes before funding is enacted. A full reopening may take several more days. During the shutdown, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been operating with only a small emergency staff to handle matters posing an immediate threat to markets or investors; the agency’s core review and interpretive functions have been effectively paused.

In December of last year we posted on Hunton’s Retail Law Resource Blog about the changing of the guard at the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) with the new administration.

The inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, will lead to a change in control of  the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). On November 21, 2024, current SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced that he will resign his position at 12:00 p.m. on January 20, 2025. The next day, Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga (D) also announced his intent to step down, effective January 17, 2025. These key departures will leave a 2-1 Republican majority at the SEC at the start of the next administration.

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its Spring 2024 Regulatory Flexibility Agenda, which sets out the SEC’s rulemaking agenda for the upcoming year. Some observers may have been wondering if Chair Gensler and the SEC would plan to advance any further rulemaking actions before the November elections. It is true that actions could be taken ahead of the proposed dates in the agenda, but many signs point to the SEC proceeding deliberately and without undue haste with this round of rulemaking. Several agenda items in the proposed and final rule stages from prior RegFlex agendas have been postponed to April 2025.