On December 8, the parties in ongoing litigation over the CFPB’s Personal Financial Data Rights rule (covered by InfoBytes here) filed a joint status report in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The report updated the court on recent developments, including the CFPB’s publication of an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to implement Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act (covered by InfoBytes here) and DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel’s determination that the CFPB may not legally request funds from the Fed at this time (covered here). The Bureau noted it has been considering comments received on the ANPR and that it plans to issue an interim final rule implementing Section 1033 (i.e., a rule issued under the APA’s “good cause” exception to the notice and comment requirements of agency rulemaking), given the uncertainty around continued operations beyond 2025.

The parties agreed that, upon issuance of an interim final rule, the Bureau would immediately notify the court, and the parties would confer and submit a joint status report within 30 days to propose next steps in the litigation. Plaintiffs noted their continued participation in the rulemaking process and requested that the court require immediate notification and a joint status report following any interim final rule. The intervenor-defendant reported participation in the rulemaking and stated that no court action is necessary at this time.

On December 10, the court ordered the CFPB to file a status report within five days of issuing any interim final Section 1033 rule and directed the parties to file a joint status report proposing next steps in the litigation within 30 days of such issuance.