House Subcommittee seeks bipartisan proposals to update ERISA including encouraging defined contribution plans to provide annuities, eliminating the “common nexus” requirement for private Multiple Employer Plans and other changes.

Document Excerpt

Subcommittee members and witnesses discussed four bipartisan proposals that would amend ERISA to better meet the retirement plan needs of employees and employers with businesses large and small:

•H.R. 4604, the Increasing Access to a Secure Retirement Act of 2017, reduces the compliance uncertainty that companies face by amending ERISA to clarify existing rules that provide a fiduciary safe harbor when selecting an annuity provider.

•H.R. 4158, the Retirement Plan Modernization Act, increases the automatic cash-out limit for retirement plans from $5,000 to $7,600, and defrays some of the costs of retirement plan administration for small employers.

•H.R. 854, the Retirement Security for American Workers Act, eliminates two burdensome requirements affecting multiple employer plans: the “common nexus” requirement that prevents adoption of open multiple-employer plans (MEPS), in which unrelated employers may collectively satisfy plan administration requirements, and the “one bad apple” rule that punishes all employers in a plan for the failure of one employer to meet the plan’s requirements.

•H.R. 4610, the Receiving Electronic Statements to Improve Retiree Earnings Act, authorizes the electronic disclosure of retirement plan information so that plan participants may access their plan information online.

Link

https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402742