The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will keep its regional offices in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, after reports earlier this year that the agency would shutter its physical footprint in those cities.
According to a commission spokesperson, the General Services Administration (GSA) reached agreements with landlords at the agency’s regional offices in L.A. and Philadelphia to remain in their current locations. (The L.A. lease would expire in September 2029, while the Philadelphia location’s lease would end in August 2035.)
The reprieve comes six months after the commission informed staff that the Trump administration would shutter regional offices in the two cities. The GSA also considered ending the agency’s lease for its Chicago office, though that could come with a financial penalty. (The SEC wouldn’t comment on the state of the Chicago office’s lease.)
According to reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia SEC office in Center City houses about 150 agency employees.
The offices were targeted during Elon Musk’s campaign via the “Department for Governmental Efficiency (DOGE),” which was purportedly initiated to eliminate government spending.
DOGE employees were working inside the commission by April, and the commission offered “eligible employees” buyouts to leave the agency. At least 500 staffers allegedly took the $50,000 buyout and deferred-resignation offers, with the divisions of enforcement, exams and the general counsel being some of the hardest-hit areas.
In May testimony before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the number of SEC employees had dropped 15% since the start of the year, leaving vacancies “that in many cases need to be filled.”
During testimony, Atkins told legislators that the GSA informed the government that it would end leases for the Los Angeles and Philadelphia offices, but the leases hadn’t been terminated at the time, and discussions were ongoing. Atkins said he believed in the need for regional offices at that the SEC should not physically operate only in Washington and New York.
According to a compliance professional who regularly interacts with the commission, closing the offices was likely never the plan. The issue was whether the agency would move to a different location within the city. If the lease were terminated before a new space was ready, staff would telework before moving into the new location.
The compliance professional speculated that the agency got a better deal from the lessor or reconsidered its space needs after SEC staff returned to the office five days a week in April.
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