Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ranking Member Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor this week urging it to “effectively and expeditiously implement the SECURE 2.0 Act.”
Specifically, the senators urge the DOL to “prioritize administration” of six provisions:
• Section 127, Emergency savings accounts linked to individual retirement accounts, which provides for employers to offer “pension-linked emergency savings accounts.”
• Section 321, Review of pension risk transfer interpretive bulletin, which requires the DOL to review its current bulletin governing pension risk transfers.
• Section 341, Consolidation of defined contribution plan notices which directs Treasury and the DOL to amend regulations to allow a plan to consolidate certain notices into a single notice.
• Section 343, Defined benefit annual funding notices, which requires annual notices to include information on plan assets, liabilities, and funded status.
• Section 346, Worker Ownership, Readiness, and Knowledge Act (WORK Act), which authorizes a $50 million grant fund to help establish and expand employee ownership centers and requires the DOL to issue guidance on employee stock ownership plan valuation standards.
• Section 347, Report from DOL on the impact of inflation on retirement savings, which directs the DOL to study the effects of inflation on retirement savings and report its findings to Congress.
“We hope DOL will effectively and expeditiously implement the SECURE 2.0 Act—just as DOL has done and continues to do with a slew of bipartisan retirement reforms passed in 2019,” the letter stated. While full implementation of the SECURE 2.0 Act is the ultimate goal, the letter addressed to Acting DOL Secretary Julie A. Su urged the DOL to prioritize administration of the aforementioned six provisions.
The Insured Retirement Institute issued a statement Thursday saying it was grateful to HELP Committee Chairman Sanders and Ranking Member Cassidy for taking the initiative to prioritize those provisions to deliver the substantial benefits of SECURE 2.0.
“The emergency savings rule was an IRI-advocated provision that can aid under-saved workers and retirees. The provision offers the opportunity to accumulate or access emergency savings while maintaining retirement savings,” said IRI Chief Government and Political Affairs Officer Paul Richman. “We also believe a study on the effects of inflation on retirement savings will yield important insights to help craft additional bipartisan public policy solutions to help ensure retirees do not outlive their retirement savings.”
SEE ALSO:
• How SECURE 2.0 Validates Emergency Savings Initiatives
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.