Committee Leaders Introduce Retirement Legislation in House

Leadership from the House Committee on Education and Labor and its Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions have introduced the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement (RISE) Act to expand worker access to a secure retirement.

The proposed legislation includes several noteworthy provisions.

• Establishes an online, searchable "Retirement Lost and Found" database at the Department of Labor (DOL) to help workers locate savings as they move from job to job
• Increases the force-out threshold for rollovers from retirement accounts to IRAs from $5,000 to $7,000
• Allows 403(b) plans to participate in multiple employer plans (MEPs) and pooled employer plans (PEPs)
• Enables employers to provide small financial incentives, such as low-dollar gift cards, to incentivize workers’ participation in retirement plans
• Directs the DOL to update guidance regarding benchmarking investments (such as target date funds)
• Clarifies that a named fiduciary is responsible for implementing written contribution collection procedures and collecting contributions in a PEP
• Requires the DOL to review the current interpretive bulletin governing pension risk transfers and report to Congress on its findings
• Simplifies and clarifies retirement-related disclosure requirements
• Reduces the long-term, part-time eligibility requirements set forth under the SECURE Act from three to two consecutive 12-month periods during which the employee has at least 500 hours

The House Committee on Education and Labor is scheduled to hold a markup session for the bill on November 10.