House committee advances bipartisan retirement security bill

The House Committee on Education and Labor approved a bipartisan retirement security bill Wednesday in a voice vote.

The Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement Act, or RISE Act, includes several ideas that have been introduced as stand-alone bills and as parts of larger retirement security bills, including the creation of a national online lost-and-found database for retirement accounts at the Department of Labor and enabling 403(b) plans to participate in multiple employer plans and pooled employer plans.

The RISE Act would also reduce the service requirement for part-time workers to participate in an employers' retirement plan to two years from three, along with requiring the Labor Department, the Treasury Department and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to review reporting and disclosure requirements for pension plans and make recommendations to Congress to consolidate, simplify, standardize and improve such requirements. The bill would enable employers to offer minor financial incentives, such as low-dollar gift cards, to boost employee participation in workplace retirement plans.

Committee leaders — Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Va.; ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif.; and subcommittee ranking member Rick Allen, R-Ga. — introduced the RISE Act on Monday and urged colleagues to advance the bill at Wednesday's markup hearing.

"The bill offers us an opportunity to send a message to workers and retirees across the country that their retirement security is a critical priority for every member of the Education and Labor Committee," Mr. Scott said at the markup.

On the provision allowing employers to offer minor financial incentives to employees if they join a workplace retirement plan, Ms. Foxx said, "We should use every tool to encourage more Americans to start saving for retirement and we all know you catch more flies with honey."

Ms. Foxx noted that the RISE Act includes many of the same provisions as the bipartisan Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021, which was introduced by leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee in May and advanced out of that committee the same month.

"The RISE Act, in addition to including important retirement policy provisions, is meant to assert the Committee on Education and Labor's important jurisdiction over the ERISA provisions of SECURE 2.0 and wed these changes with (the Securing a Strong Retirement Act) ahead of potential consideration on the House floor," Ms. Foxx said.

The "SECURE 2.0" Ms. Foxx referenced is shorthand for efforts in Congress to pass another retirement security package. Bills now under consideration, like the RISE Act and Securing a Strong Retirement Act, build on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, known as the SECURE Act, which Congress passed and was signed into law in late 2019.

The RISE Act will now head to the full House where it will likely become part of a SECURE Act 2.0 package. A vote in the House has yet to be scheduled.

In a letter to Education and Labor Committee leadership Wednesday, Andy Banducci, senior vice president of retirement and compensation at the ERISA Industry Committee, said advancing the RISE Act "is a critical step in building" on the SECURE Act.