One Fell Swoop: SEC Erases Ambitious Gensler-Era Rulemaking Agenda

On June 12, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a release announcing that it was withdrawing 14 notices of proposed rulemaking issued between March 2022 and November 2023 and stating that it “does not intend to issue final rules with respect to these proposals.” This action marks another significant step by the SEC to unwind the expansive rulemaking agenda of the Biden administration and align its current rulemaking framework with the Trump administration’s regulatory overhaul.[1] The SEC’s actions also reflect the regulatory philosophy of Chair Paul Atkins, who recently remarked that the “SEC is returning rulemaking to regular order” and that the SEC’s rulemaking will be mindful of “how rules overlap” and of “their costs and benefits.” 

On the heels of abandoning its defense of the climate disclosure rules — which required domestic and foreign registrants to disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions — the SEC has withdrawn an array of proposed rules that span three of the six SEC divisions, including enhanced ESG disclosure requirements for investment advisers and investment companies and rules impacting predictive analytics usage.

Below are the withdrawn proposed rules grouped by division:

Investment Management

• Conflicts of interest associated with the use of predictive data analytics by broker-dealers and investment advisers (also withdrawn by trading and markets)
• Safeguarding advisory client assets
• Cybersecurity risk management for investment advisers, registered investment companies, and business development companies
• Enhanced disclosures by certain investment advisers and investment companies about ESG investment practices
• Outsourcing by investment advisers

Trading and Markets

• Prohibition against fraud, manipulation, and deception in connection with security-based swaps; prohibition against undue influence over chief compliance officers
• Volume-based exchange transaction pricing for NMS stocks
• Regulation Best Execution
• Order Competition Rule
• Regulation systems compliance and integrity
• Cybersecurity risk management rule for broker-dealers, clearing agencies, major security-based swap participants, the municipal securities rulemaking board, national securities associations, national securities exchanges, security-based swap data repositories, security-based swap dealers, and transfer agents
• Supplemental information and reopening of comment period for amendments to Exchange Act Rule 3b-16 regarding the definition of “exchange”
• Proposed amendments to the National Market System plan governing the consolidated audit trail to enhance data security

Corporation Finance

• Substantial implementation, duplication, and resubmission of shareholder proposals under Exchange Act Rule 14a-8  

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

The withdrawn proposed rules are likely just the first phase of the SEC’s plan to reshape the regulatory landscape.

The SEC’s actions appear to flow from the Trump administration’s “regulatory freeze memorandum,” issued on January 20, 2025, which ordered that executive departments and agencies “not propose or issue any rule ... until a department or agency head” reviews and approves the rule. These withdrawals follow the procedure contemplated by the freeze memorandum. Fifteen members of Congress had also urged the SEC to withdraw several proposed and finalized rules.

Carlton Fields will provide in-depth analyses of how these withdrawn proposed rules might impact market participants and investors.

[1] As discussed in prior articles, the Trump administration has issued a number executive orders, such as Executive Orders 14215, 14178, and 14192, and a memorandum that are intended to enhance agency accountability and reduce regulatory burdens.