The Dodd-Frank Act's first birthday yesterday was marked by observations that a large number of the legislation's deadlines have been missed. The Acts mandated Federal Insurance Office finally got a director in March 2011, but it remains to be seen whether Michael McRaith will be able to deliver a report on ways to modernize the insurance industry, the deadline for which falls in in Jan. 2012.

In May, a MarketWatch article referred to the legislation in question as the "Dawdle-Frank Act," noting that dozens of deadlines had been missed, and forecasting a trend in such delays:

Hundreds of deadlines were set, mostly to ensure regulators maintain a sense of urgency even as the height of the crisis has abated.

However, an increasing number of deadlines have been missed — many for high-profile, controversial rules — by a wide variety of regulators including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Rules that will impact mortgage availability, commodity derivatives trading and executive pay packages all had deadlines that have passed with no approval.

According to an article in Investment News, as of July 15, 131 rule-making deadlines would be missed. Citing law firm Davis Polk & Wardell's regulatory tracker, only 49 rules had been finalized and 30 proposed, with 190 still pending.

Observers should not be surprised at the missed deadlines, owing to the massive size of the Dodd-Frank Act, argued The Heritage Foundation's Diane Katz, in a web memo:

It comes in at some 2,300 pages, so it should surprise no one that dozens of regulatory deadlines have been missed and a multitude of agencies are months behind in their rulemaking schedule. It's is certainly fair to question, then, how the bureaucrats and technocrats who cannot get the rules written can possibly manage the vast and roiling markets over which they now rule.

Katz argues that this legislation aimed at limiting financial uncertainty is having the opposite effect:

The uncertainty is now worse than ever - and nothing beats uncertainty for inhibiting investment and job growth.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill trying to limit the powers of the Dodd-Frank-mandated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which still lacks a director). The bill is not expected to get further than the Democratic Party dominated Senate, but is shows the political strife surrounding the legislation.

It's not clear exactly what form Federal Insurance Office report on the insurance industry will take, but it may take some doing for Director Michael McRaith to deliver the report within 18 months of the legislation's passage, as mandate within Dodd-Frank.