I 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 5060 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for greater spousal protection under defined contribution plans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY27, 2023 Ms. U NDERWOOD (for herself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. NORCROSS, and Ms. B ONAMICI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Commit- tees on Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be sub- sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for greater spousal protection under defined contribution plans, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Retirement 4 Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5060 IH (1) Approximately 25 percent of non-retired 1 adults have no defined benefit plan or retirement 2 savings, according to 2021 data from the Board of 3 Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 4 (2) In 2021, approximately one-third of the pri-5 vate sector workforce did not have access to a retire-6 ment plan at the workplace, and only half of the 7 workforce actually participated in a retirement plan. 8 (3) Women’s retirement preparedness often lags 9 significantly behind their male counterparts’, result-10 ing in the median income for women aged 65 and 11 older in 2022 being just 83 percent of the median 12 income of men aged 65 and older, including income 13 from social security, pension plans, investments, and 14 earnings. 15 (4) Women aged 80 and older had the highest 16 poverty rate among older persons in all age groups, 17 with 14.7 percent of women aged 80 and older living 18 in poverty while 10.3 percent of men in the same 19 age group live in poverty. 20 (5) Women make up two-thirds of low-wage 21 workers, even though they comprise less than half of 22 all workers, and low-wage workers are less likely 23 than other workers to participate in a retirement 24 plan at work. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5060 IH (6) Because of the pay gap, women working 1 full-time, year-round typically lose $398,160 over a 2 40-year career thereby requiring the average woman 3 to work almost a decade longer than her male coun-4 terpart to make up that career wage gap. 5 (7) Due to the lower lifetime wages stemming 6 from unequal pay and caregiving duties, the average 7 Social Security benefit in 2021 for a woman was 8 $1,484 a month, while for men such average month-9 ly benefit was $1,838. 10 (8) While the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Pub-11 lic Law 117–328) will go a long way to address this 12 coverage gap, just 1 in 5 part-time workers who 13 work a full year are eligible for a retirement plan, 14 and women are almost twice as likely to work part- 15 time as men. 16 (9) While traditional defined benefit retirement 17 plans have spousal protections, defined contribution 18 retirement plans, which have become increasingly 19 common, currently provide no similar spousal protec-20 tions. 21 (10) The Thrift Savings Plan of the Federal 22 Government, the largest defined contribution plan in 23 the world with approximately 6,500,000 partici-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5060 IH pants, requires its married participants to have their 1 spouses consent for withdrawals and loans. 2 (11) There were almost 700,000 divorces in the 3 United States between 2020 and 2021. After the 4 family home, retirement savings tends to be the larg-5 est asset to be divided in a divorce. 6 (12) While fees and expenses associated with 7 retirement plans have been in decline, participants 8 have seen direct charges for processing qualified do-9 mestic relations orders increase significantly. 10 SEC. 3. INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE-11 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS. 12 (a) A MENDMENT OF EMPLOYEERETIREMENTIN-13 COMESECURITYACT OF1974.— 14 (1) I N GENERAL.—Part 2 of subtitle B of title 15 I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 16 of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is amended by in-17 serting after section 205 the following new section: 18 ‘‘SEC. 205A. ADDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE-19 MENTS. 20 ‘‘(a) I NGENERAL.—Each individual account plan to 21 which section 205 does not apply shall provide that, except 22 as provided in subsections (c) and (d), no distribution may 23 be made under the plan unless the spousal consent re-24 quirements of subsection (e) are met. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(b) COORDINATIONWITHSECTION205.—Nothing 1 in this section shall be construed to exempt an individual 2 account plan from the requirements of paragraph (1)(B), 3 (1)(C), or (2) of section 205(b) with respect to any partici-4 pant. 5 ‘‘(c) E XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAINDISTRIBUTIONS.— 6 Subsection (a) shall not apply to— 7 ‘‘(1) any distribution that is— 8 ‘‘(A) a minimum required distribution de-9 scribed in section 4974(b) of the Internal Rev-10 enue Code of 1986; 11 ‘‘(B) permitted under section 203(e)(1) to 12 be made without the consent of the participant; 13 or 14 ‘‘(C) in an amount that is less than 25 15 percent of the account balance; 16 ‘‘(2) any distribution in the form of a qualified 17 joint and survivor annuity (as defined in section 18 205(d)(1)), a qualified optional survivor annuity (as 19 defined in section 205(d)(2)), a qualified preretire-20 ment survivor annuity (as defined in section 205(e)), 21 or a series of substantially equal periodic payments 22 (not less frequently than annually) made for the 23 joint lives (or life expectancies) of the participant 24 and the participant’s spouse; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(3) in the case of a participant who does not 1 elect a form of benefit described in paragraph (2) 2 under the plan or who is participating in a plan that 3 does not provide such a form of benefit, any dis-4 tribution of the participant’s entire nonforfeitable 5 accrued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued benefit 6 is transferred to an individual retirement plan (as 7 defined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Rev-8 enue Code of 1986) of the spouse of the participant. 9 A transfer described in paragraph (3) to an individual re-10 tirement plan shall be treated in the same manner as a 11 transfer under section 408(d)(6) of the Internal Revenue 12 Code of 1986. 13 ‘‘(d) E XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAINROLLOVERCON-14 TRIBUTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any dis-15 tribution, involving a participant who has a spouse, that 16 is an eligible rollover distribution (as defined in section 17 402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) made 18 in the form of a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer within 19 the meaning of section 401(a)(31) of the Internal Revenue 20 Code of 1986— 21 ‘‘(1) to a plan to which this section or section 22 205 applies; or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(2) to an individual retirement plan (as de-1 fined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 2 Code of 1986) if— 3 ‘‘(A) the beneficiary of such plan is the 4 spouse of the participant, or the spousal con-5 sent requirements of subsection (e) are met 6 with respect to any designation of 1 or more 7 other beneficiaries; and 8 ‘‘(B) under the terms of the individual re-9 tirement plan, the beneficiary of such plan 10 (whether the spouse or other beneficiary des-11 ignated under paragraph (1)) may not be 12 changed unless— 13 ‘‘(i) the spousal consent requirements 14 of subsection (e) are met with respect to 15 any such change, or 16 ‘‘(ii) the spousal consent under sub-17 paragraph (A) to the designation of a ben-18 eficiary other than the spouse expressly 19 permits such designation to be changed 20 without the further consent of the spouse. 21 ‘‘(e) S POUSALCONSENTREQUIREMENTS.— 22 ‘‘(1) I N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-23 tion, except as provided in paragraph (2), the spous-24 al consent requirements of this subsection are met 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5060 IH with respect to any distribution or any designation 1 or change of beneficiary if— 2 ‘‘(A) the plan provides to each participant, 3 within a reasonable period of time before such 4 distribution or designation or change of bene-5 ficiary is made and consistent with such regula-6 tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre-7 scribe, a written explanation of the rights of the 8 participant and the participant’s spouse under 9 this section; 10 ‘‘(B) the spouse of the participant consents 11 in writing to the distribution or designation or 12 change of beneficiary; 13 ‘‘(C) in the case of a distribution, the writ-14 ten consent under subparagraph (B) is made 15 during the consent period; and 16 ‘‘(D) the written consent under subpara-17 graph (B)— 18 ‘‘(i) acknowledges the effect of such 19 distribution or designation or change of 20 beneficiary; and 21 ‘‘(ii) is witnessed by a plan represent-22 ative or a notary public. 23 ‘‘(2) E XCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION 205(C)(2)(B) 24 TO APPLY.—The requirements of paragraph (1) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5060 IH (other than subparagraph (A) thereof) shall not 1 apply with respect to any distribution or designation 2 or change of beneficiary if a participant establishes 3 to the satisfaction of the plan administrator that— 4 ‘‘(A) there is no spouse; 5 ‘‘(B) the participant and the participant’s 6 spouse have not been married for at least 1 7 year as of the date of the distribution or des-8 ignation or change of beneficiary; or 9 ‘‘(C) such consent cannot be obtained be-10 cause— 11 ‘‘(i) the spouse cannot be located; or 12 ‘‘(ii) of such other circumstances as 13 the Secretary of the Treasury, in consulta-14 tion with the Secretary of Labor, may by 15 regulations prescribe. 16 ‘‘(3) C ONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE AND 17 EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 18 paragraph (1), or the establishment by a participant 19 that an exception under paragraph (2) applies with 20 respect to a spouse, shall be effective only with re-21 spect to that spouse and to the distribution or des-22 ignation or change of beneficiary to which it relates. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(4) CONSENT PERIOD.—For purposes of this 1 subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re-2 spect to any distribution— 3 ‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre-4 ceding the date of such distribution; or 5 ‘‘(B) such other period as the Secretary of 6 the Treasury may provide. 7 ‘‘(f) D ISCHARGE OFPLANFROMLIABILITY.—Rules 8 similar to the rules of section 205(c)(6) shall apply for 9 purposes of this section.’’. 10 (2) C LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-11 tions of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Em-12 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is 13 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec-14 tion 205 the following new item: 15 ‘‘Sec. 205A. Additional spousal consent requirements.’’. (3) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the 16 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 17 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para-19 graph (10); 20 (B) by striking the period at the end of 21 paragraph (11) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 22 (C) by adding at the end the following new 23 paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(12) by an individual for appropriate relief in 1 the case of a violation of the individual’s rights 2 under section 205A.’’. 3 (4) P ARALLEL AMENDMENT TO SECTION 205 .— 4 Section 205(c)(2)(B) of the Employee Retirement 5 Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 6 1055(c)(2)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, because 7 due to exceptional circumstances requiring the par-8 ticipant to seek the spouse’s consent would be inap-9 propriate’’ after ‘‘located’’. 10 (b) C ONFORMINGAMENDMENT TO INTERNALREV-11 ENUECODE OF1986.—Section 401(a) of the Internal 12 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after para-13 graph (17) the following new paragraph: 14 ‘‘(18) A DDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT RE -15 QUIREMENTS.— 16 ‘‘(A) I N GENERAL.—In the case of a de-17 fined contribution plan to which paragraph (11) 18 does not apply, except as provided in sub-19 sections (c) and (d), a trust forming part of 20 such plan shall not constitute a qualified trust 21 under this section unless no distribution may be 22 made under the plan unless the spousal consent 23 requirements of subparagraph (E) are met. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(B) COORDINATION WITH PARAGRAPH 1 (11).—Nothing in this paragraph shall be con-2 strued to exempt a defined contribution plan 3 from the requirements of subparagraph (B)(ii), 4 (B)(iii), or (C) of paragraph (11) with respect 5 to any participant. 6 ‘‘(C) E XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN DISTRIBU -7 TIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 8 ‘‘(i) any distribution that is— 9 ‘‘(I) a minimum required dis-10 tribution described in section 4974(b), 11 ‘‘(II) permitted under section 12 411(a)(11) to be made without the 13 consent of the participant, or 14 ‘‘(III) in an amount that is less 15 than 25 percent of the account bal-16 ance, 17 ‘‘(ii) any distribution in the form of a 18 qualified joint and survivor annuity (as de-19 fined in section 417(b)), a qualified op-20 tional survivor annuity (as defined in sec-21 tion 417(g)), a qualified preretirement sur-22 vivor annuity (as defined in section 23 417(c)), or a series of substantially equal 24 periodic payments (not less frequently than 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 5060 IH annually) made for the joint lives (or life 1 expectancies) of the participant and the 2 participant’s spouse, or 3 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a participant who 4 does not elect a form of benefit described 5 in clause (ii) under the plan or who is par-6 ticipating in a plan that does not provide 7 such a form of benefit, any distribution of 8 the participant’s entire nonforfeitable ac-9 crued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued 10 benefit is transferred to an individual re-11 tirement plan of the spouse of the partici-12 pant. 13 A transfer described in clause (iii) to an indi-14 vidual retirement plan shall be treated in the 15 same manner as a transfer under section 16 408(d)(6). 17 ‘‘(D) E XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ROLL -18 OVER CONTRIBUTIONS .—Subparagraph (A) 19 shall not apply to any distribution, involving a 20 participant who has a spouse, that is an eligible 21 rollover distribution (as defined in section 22 402(f)(2)(A)) made in the form of a direct 23 trustee-to-trustee transfer within the meaning 24 of paragraph (31)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(i) to a plan to which this paragraph 1 or paragraph (11) applies; or 2 ‘‘(ii) to an individual retirement plan 3 if— 4 ‘‘(I) the beneficiary of such plan 5 is the spouse of the participant, or the 6 spousal consent requirements of sub-7 paragraph (E) are met with respect to 8 any designation of 1 or more other 9 beneficiaries; and 10 ‘‘(II) under the terms of the indi-11 vidual retirement plan, the beneficiary 12 of such plan (whether the spouse or 13 other beneficiary designated under 14 clause (i)) may not be changed un-15 less— 16 ‘‘(aa) the spousal consent 17 requirements of subparagraph 18 (E) are met with respect to any 19 such change, or 20 ‘‘(bb) the spousal consent 21 under subclause (I) to the des-22 ignation of a beneficiary other 23 than the spouse expressly permits 24 such designation to be changed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 15 •HR 5060 IH without the further consent of 1 the spouse. 2 ‘‘(E) S POUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE -3 MENTS.— 4 ‘‘(i) I N GENERAL.—For purposes of 5 this paragraph, except as provided in 6 clause (ii), the spousal consent require-7 ments of this subparagraph are met with 8 respect to any distribution or any designa-9 tion or change of beneficiary if— 10 ‘‘(I) the plan provides to each 11 participant, within a reasonable period 12 of time before such distribution or 13 designation or change of beneficiary is 14 made and consistent with such regula-15 tions as the Secretary may prescribe, 16 a written explanation of the rights of 17 the participant and the participant’s 18 spouse under this paragraph, 19 ‘‘(II) the spouse of the partici-20 pant consents in writing to the dis-21 tribution or designation or change of 22 beneficiary, 23 ‘‘(III) in the case of a distribu-24 tion, the written consent under sub-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 16 •HR 5060 IH clause (II) is made during the consent 1 period, and 2 ‘‘(IV) the written consent under 3 subclause (ii)— 4 ‘‘(aa) acknowledges the ef-5 fect of such distribution or des-6 ignation or change of beneficiary, 7 and 8 ‘‘(bb) is witnessed by a plan 9 representative or a notary public. 10 ‘‘(ii) E XCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION 11 417(A)(2)(B) TO APPLY.—The requirements 12 of clause (i) (other than subclause (I) 13 thereof) shall not apply with respect to any 14 distribution or designation or change of 15 beneficiary if a participant establishes to 16 the satisfaction of the plan administrator 17 that— 18 ‘‘(I) there is no spouse, 19 ‘‘(II) the participant and the par-20 ticipant’s spouse have not been mar-21 ried for at least 1 year as of the date 22 of the distribution or designation or 23 change of beneficiary, or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 17 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(III) such consent cannot be ob-1 tained because— 2 ‘‘(aa) the spouse cannot be 3 located, or 4 ‘‘(bb) of such other cir-5 cumstances as the Secretary, in 6 consultation with the Secretary 7 of Labor, may by regulations pre-8 scribe. 9 ‘‘(iii) C ONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE 10 AND EVENT.—Any written consent by a 11 spouse under clause (i), or the establish-12 ment by a participant that an exception 13 under clause (ii) applies with respect to a 14 spouse, shall be effective only with respect 15 to that spouse and to the distribution or 16 designation or change of beneficiary to 17 which it relates. 18 ‘‘(iv) C ONSENT PERIOD .—For pur-19 poses of this subparagraph, the term ‘con-20 sent period’ means, with respect to any 21 distribution— 22 ‘‘(I) the 90-day period imme-23 diately preceding the date of such dis-24 tribution, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 18 •HR 5060 IH ‘‘(II) such other period as the 1 Secretary may provide.’’. 2 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES. 3 (a) I NCREASINGSPOUSALPROTECTIONUNDERDE-4 FINEDCONTRIBUTIONPLANS.—Except as provided in 5 subsection (b), the amendments made by section 3 shall 6 apply to distributions and rollover contributions made in 7 plan years beginning after the date that is 1 year after 8 the date of the enactment of this Act. 9 (b) P ROVISIONSRELATING TO PLANAMEND-10 MENTS.— 11 (1) I N GENERAL.—If this paragraph applies to 12 any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con-13 tract shall be treated as being operated in accord-14 ance with the terms of the plan during the period 15 described in paragraph (2)(C). 16 (2) A MENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1) 17 APPLIES.— 18 (A) I N GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 19 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 20 contract which is made— 21 (i) pursuant to the amendments made 22 by section 3 or pursuant to any regulation 23 issued under either such section; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 19 •HR 5060 IH (ii) on or before the last day of the 1 first plan year beginning on or after the 2 date that is 3 years after the applicable 3 day described in subsection (c)(1)(B). 4 In the case of a governmental plan (as defined 5 in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code 6 of 1986), this subparagraph shall be applied by 7 substituting ‘‘5 years’’ for ‘‘3 years’’ in clause 8 (ii). 9 (B) C ONDITIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall 10 not apply to any amendment unless— 11 (i) the plan or contract is operated as 12 if such plan or contract amendment were 13 in effect for the period described in sub-14 paragraph (C); and 15 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 16 applies retroactively for such period. 17 (C) P ERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de-18 scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 19 (i) beginning on the effective date 20 specified by the plan; and 21 (ii) ending on the date described in 22 subparagraph (A)(ii) (or, if earlier, the 23 date the plan or contract amendment is 24 adopted). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 20 •HR 5060 IH SEC. 5. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA-1 TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 2 (a) D EFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 (1) the term ‘‘consumer’’ means any person 4 who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv-5 ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 6 economic security of the consumer; and 7 (2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro-8 vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi-9 ness of providing any retirement financial product or 10 service to any consumer. 11 (b) R EQUIREDLINK TOCONSUMERAWARENESSIN-12 FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 13 transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 14 consumer carried out by a financial product or service pro-15 vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 16 with subsection (c), an easily accessible link to the website 17 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (referred 18 to in this section as the ‘‘CFPB’’) at which the consumer 19 may access information, literature, guides, programs, 20 tools, strategies, or any other resource produced by the 21 CFPB or other Federal agency relating to retirement 22 planning or later life economic security. 23 (c) D ETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re-24 quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 25 the Financial Literacy and Education Commission shall 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 21 •HR 5060 IH determine and publish on its website the appropriate link 1 to the CFPB’s website for access to the CFPB’s and other 2 Federal agencies’ consumer education materials, the pre-3 ferred format of such link, and any accompanying descrip-4 tion of the CFPB and the consumer education materials 5 associated with such link. 6 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR 7 WOMEN. 8 (a) A UTHORIZATION OF GRANTAWARDS.—The Sec-9 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom-10 en’s Bureau, shall award grants on a competitive basis to 11 eligible entities to enable such entities to improve the fi-12 nancial literacy of women who are working age or in re-13 tirement, to increase the likelihood of the women realizing 14 a secure and stable retirement. 15 (b) D EFINITION OFELIGIBLEENTITY.—In this sec-16 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 17 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv-18 ing working-age or retired women. 19 (c) A PPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 20 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica-21 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man-22 ner, and accompanied by such information as such Sec-23 retary may require. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 22 •HR 5060 IH (d) MINIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.—The Secretary of 1 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 2 of not less than $250,000. 3 (e) U SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 4 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 5 develop and implement financial literacy education, and 6 related activities including outreach, awareness building, 7 and counseling to increase women’s knowledge of retire-8 ment planning and consumer, economic, and personal fi-9 nancial concepts. 10 (f) A UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 11 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 12 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and each succeeding 13 fiscal year. 14 SEC. 7. GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME WOMEN AND SUR-15 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN OBTAIN-16 ING QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS OR-17 DERS. 18 (a) A UTHORIZATION OF GRANTAWARDS.—The Sec-19 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom-20 en’s Bureau and in conjunction with the Assistant Sec-21 retary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, 22 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible enti-23 ties to enable such entities to assist low-income women 24 and survivors of domestic violence in obtaining qualified 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 23 •HR 5060 IH domestic relations orders and ensuring that those women 1 actually obtain the benefits to which they are entitled 2 through those orders. 3 (b) D EFINITION OFELIGIBLEENTITY.—In this sec-4 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 5 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv-6 ing women and the financial and retirement needs of 7 women. 8 (c) A PPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 9 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica-10 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man-11 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec-12 retary of Labor may require. 13 (d) M INIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.—The Secretary of 14 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 15 of not less than $250,000. 16 (e) U SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 17 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 18 develop programs to offer help to low-income women or 19 survivors of domestic violence who need assistance in pre-20 paring, obtaining, and effectuating a qualified domestic re-21 lations order. 22 (f) A UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 24 •HR 5060 IH $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and each succeeding 1 fiscal year. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Aug 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5060.IH H5060 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS