On Tuesday, three former Labor Department officials issued a report saying that almost every change the Labor Department made had expanded exemptions from the rules.
The S.E.C. disagrees, and in response to questions about the provision, known as 929I, the agency issued guidelines recently to its staff saying that the expanded exemptions should be applied only in a narrow band of cases, and specifically not when the commission itself is the subject of litigation unrelated to a Freedom of Information request.
The next couple of months had the Chairman expanding exemptions to existing rules, retracting inquiries and studies that might have led to more regulation, standing by while pending regulations were nullified, abandoning the defense of challenged rules and fast-tracking mergers like Sinclair's.
They categorized 31 bills as expanding exemptions; none of those passed.
Twenty states have personal belief exemptions, and in five of those states, a bill was introduced to restrict exemptions and in one a bill was introduced to expand exemptions.
At the same time, conservative legislatures have been moving to limit transgender bathroom use and expand exemptions allowing people to deny services that might conflict with their religious beliefs.
Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of the expanded religious exemption noted that the Affordable Care Act already gives some exemptions to religiously affiliated groups, so it should be acceptable to expand the exemption to certain corporations.
In reality, clever lawyers, lots of money and astute marketing have expanded the exemption so that they can be sold to anyone, do almost anything and keep whatever they do, and who they do it for, a secret.Some hedge funds actually hedge, meaning they attempt to invest in a manner that offsets adverse market movements.
However, the Supreme Court greatly expanded the exemption in August when it ruled that a qualified ballot initiative could be adopted outright by a city council, without a popular vote and without complying with CEQA.
The government's proposed changes would have removed offend, insult and humiliate from the provisions, added a new measure about vilification, and expanded the exemptions.
