Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
    • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
    • 2022 WorldPensionSummit
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Print
February 23, 2004 12:00 AM

Boehner sticks with advice bill

Congressman, White House convinced of need for help

Vineeta Anand
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    WASHINGTON — Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is not giving up on his investment advice bill. Nor is the Bush administration.

    Sources say Mr. Boehner, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, hopes pending legislation on the benchmark for pension liabilities will be acted upon quickly, clearing the way for the investment advice legislation to be taken up next. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said the advice bill could be included during House-Senate negotiations over a broader pension package, but the Senate needs to pass its version of the pension legislation first.

    Mr. Boehner has two ways to proceed: he could persuade key senators to include his advice provision in the Senate pension bill, or he could hope to get his provision in during last-minute horse trading between the Senate and House versions of the pension package. Mr. Boehner is apparently choosing the latter course.

    H.R. 1000 (the Pension Security Act), which includes the investment advice provision introduced by Mr. Boehner, passed the House last May but has stalled in the Senate. The advice provision of the bill would allow employers to make investment advice available to plan participants through qualified investment advisers, including the plans' own service providers.

    Greater need

    Meanwhile, Assistant Labor Secretary Ann Combs said that the widening mutual fund scandal creates a greater need for participants to have advice about their retirement investments. "It's just absolutely clear that people need investment advice," she said in an interview. The legislation would be "a step forward from the current situation."

    Currently, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act forbids investment advisers that collect fees for managing some or all of a retirement plan's investment options from offering investment advice to participants. Mr. Boehner's bill would eliminate those prohibitions, but it would still hold plan sponsors liable for selecting and monitoring the investment advisers, and those offering the advice would have a fiduciary duty to make sure it is solely in the best interests of participants. They would also have to disclose the fees they collect on the different investment options to investors.

    J. Scott DeFife, senior policy adviser to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Mr. Boehner might consider floating the investment advice provision as a separate bill. Mr. DeFife made his observation during a speech at the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems in Washington earlier this month.

    That would not be the first time. In November 2001, the proposal initially passed the House as a stand-alone measure. It has since been rolled into other broader pension legislation.

    Still, Mr. Boehner's investment advice legislation could face an uphill battle because the recent mutual fund scandals have raised concerns about investor protections. "When small mutual fund investors appear to be getting hoodwinked, it makes (the bill) a tougher climb," said a source who declined to be identified.

    "Important to get advice"

    Officials at the American Council of Life Insurers hope that isn't the case. "All of us who believe in the bill think it's important to get investment advice to participants and hope that the mutual fund situation has not thrown cold water on it," said Angela Arnett, a lobbyist for the Washington-based trade group. "We think it has many safeguards for participants — the adviser has to be a fiduciary (and) there has to be full disclosure."

    The Senate's version of thecomprehensive pension bill — the National Employee Savings and Trust Equity Guarantee Act —passed the Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 17, but was not taken up by the full Senate before the end of the session.

    There are still hopes that the Senate will move ahead. Sources say top Senate Republicans have promised Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to make available time on the Senate floor for the legislation to be taken up this year, but there is no indication yet of when that would happen.

    The Senate legislation includes an alternative investment advice provision, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. That provision would shield plan sponsors from liability for advice provided to participants by qualified investment advisers, so long as they are SEC-registered investment advisers, banks or insurance companies — but not the plan's service provider.

    Willing to amend

    For Mr. Boehner's advice proposal to pass, he would have to be willing to amend his legislation so a compromise can be reached with Mr. Bingaman. So far, Mr. Boehner has shown no inclination to compromise.

    "It'll never happen unless they make a deal with Bingaman," noted Brian H. Graff, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based American Society of Pension Actuaries, which opposes the Boehner bill.

    There's also the overriding problem of time in an election year. Because of the compressed legislative schedule and a number of other pending bills competing for attention, there's little guarantee that the pension bill would even be considered by the Senate this year.

    Recommended for You
    Read the print edition of P&I
    Read the print edition of P&I
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    How low is low? Projections say it's not low enough
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    FINRA honors Wharton's Olivia Mitchell with Ketchum Prize
    Private Markets
    Sponsored Content: Private Markets

    Reader Poll

    July 29, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Gaining Momentum: Where Next for Trend-Following?
    The market opportunity in U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities
    Credit Indices Evolve with Enhanced Data Inputs
    Hedge Funds 2.0: Back to the future
    How Has 2022's Carnage Reshaped Global Stock and Bond Markets?
    Crossroads: Politics, Inflation, & Bonds
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    August 1, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
      • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
      • 2022 WorldPensionSummit