Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2023 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2023
55 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide
66 for greater spousal protection under defined contribution plans, and
77 for other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 MARCH11, 2025
1010 Ms. U
1111 NDERWOOD (for herself, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. NOR-
1212 CROSS, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Ms.
1313 P
1414 INGREE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
1515 mittee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committees
1616 on Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subse-
1717 quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
1818 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
1919 A BILL
2020 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
2121 of 1974 to provide for greater spousal protection under
2222 defined contribution plans, and for other purposes.
2323 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2424 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2525 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2626 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Retirement 4
2727 Protection Act’’. 5
2828 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
2929 Congress finds the following: 7
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3333 (1) Approximately 28 percent of non-retired 1
3434 adults have no defined benefit plan or retirement 2
3535 savings, according to 2023 data from the Board of 3
3636 Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 4
3737 (2) In 2023, approximately one-third of the pri-5
3838 vate sector workforce did not have access to a retire-6
3939 ment plan at the workplace, and only half of the 7
4040 workforce actually participated in a retirement plan. 8
4141 (3) Women’s retirement preparedness often lags 9
4242 significantly behind their male counterparts’, result-10
4343 ing in the median income for women aged 65 and 11
4444 older in 2022 being just 83 percent of the median 12
4545 income of men aged 65 and older, including income 13
4646 from social security, pension plans, investments, and 14
4747 earnings. 15
4848 (4) Women aged 80 and older had the highest 16
4949 poverty rate among older persons in all age groups, 17
5050 with 14.7 percent of women aged 80 and older living 18
5151 in poverty while 10.3 percent of men in the same 19
5252 age group live in poverty. 20
5353 (5) Women make up two-thirds of low-wage 21
5454 workers, even though they comprise less than half of 22
5555 all workers, and low-wage workers are less likely 23
5656 than other workers to participate in a retirement 24
5757 plan at work. 25
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6161 (6) Because of the pay gap, women working 1
6262 full-time, year-round typically lose $398,160 over a 2
6363 40-year career thereby requiring the average woman 3
6464 to work almost a decade longer than her male coun-4
6565 terpart to make up that career wage gap. 5
6666 (7) Due to the lower lifetime wages stemming 6
6767 from unequal pay and caregiving duties, the average 7
6868 Social Security benefit in 2023 for a woman was 8
6969 $1,638 a month, while for men such average month-9
7070 ly benefit was $2,020. 10
7171 (8) While the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Pub-11
7272 lic Law 117–328) goes a long way to address this 12
7373 coverage gap, just 1 in 5 part-time workers who 13
7474 work a full year are eligible for a retirement plan, 14
7575 and women are almost twice as likely to work part- 15
7676 time as men. 16
7777 (9) While traditional defined benefit retirement 17
7878 plans have spousal protections, defined contribution 18
7979 retirement plans, which have become increasingly 19
8080 common, currently provide no similar spousal protec-20
8181 tions. 21
8282 (10) The Thrift Savings Plan of the Federal 22
8383 Government, the largest defined contribution plan in 23
8484 the world with approximately 6,500,000 partici-24
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8888 pants, requires its married participants to have their 1
8989 spouses’ consent for withdrawals and loans. 2
9090 (11) There were almost 990,000 divorces in the 3
9191 United States between 2020 and 2021. After the 4
9292 family home, retirement savings tends to be the larg-5
9393 est asset to be divided in a divorce. 6
9494 (12) While fees and expenses associated with 7
9595 retirement plans have been in decline, participants 8
9696 have seen direct charges for processing qualified do-9
9797 mestic relations orders increase significantly. 10
9898 SEC. 3. INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE-11
9999 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS. 12
100100 (a) A
101101 MENDMENT OF EMPLOYEERETIREMENTIN-13
102102 COMESECURITYACT OF1974.— 14
103103 (1) I
104104 N GENERAL.—Part 2 of subtitle B of title 15
105105 I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 16
106106 of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is amended by in-17
107107 serting after section 205 the following new section: 18
108108 ‘‘SEC. 205A. ADDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE-19
109109 MENTS. 20
110110 ‘‘(a) I
111111 NGENERAL.—Each individual account plan to 21
112112 which section 205 does not apply shall provide that, except 22
113113 as provided in subsections (c) and (d), no distribution may 23
114114 be made under the plan unless the spousal consent re-24
115115 quirements of subsection (e) are met. 25
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119119 ‘‘(b) COORDINATIONWITHSECTION205.—Nothing 1
120120 in this section shall be construed to exempt an individual 2
121121 account plan from the requirements of section 205 with 3
122122 respect to any participant. 4
123123 ‘‘(c) E
124124 XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAINDISTRIBUTIONS.— 5
125125 Subsection (a) shall not apply to— 6
126126 ‘‘(1) any distribution that is— 7
127127 ‘‘(A) a minimum required distribution de-8
128128 scribed in section 4974(b) of the Internal Rev-9
129129 enue Code of 1986; 10
130130 ‘‘(B) permitted under section 203(e)(1) to 11
131131 be made without the consent of the participant; 12
132132 or 13
133133 ‘‘(C) in an amount that is less than 25 14
134134 percent of the account balance, but not more 15
135135 than once per account; 16
136136 ‘‘(2) any distribution in the form of a qualified 17
137137 joint and survivor annuity (as defined in section 18
138138 205(d)(1)), a qualified optional survivor annuity (as 19
139139 defined in section 205(d)(2)), a qualified preretire-20
140140 ment survivor annuity (as defined in section 205(e)), 21
141141 or a series of substantially equal periodic payments 22
142142 (not less frequently than annually) made for the 23
143143 joint lives (or life expectancies) of the participant 24
144144 and the participant’s spouse; or 25
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148148 ‘‘(3) in the case of a participant who does not 1
149149 elect a form of benefit described in paragraph (2) 2
150150 under the plan or who is participating in a plan that 3
151151 does not provide such a form of benefit, any dis-4
152152 tribution of the participant’s entire nonforfeitable 5
153153 accrued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued benefit 6
154154 is transferred to an individual retirement plan (as 7
155155 defined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Rev-8
156156 enue Code of 1986) of the spouse of the participant. 9
157157 A transfer described in paragraph (3) to an individual re-10
158158 tirement plan shall be treated in the same manner as a 11
159159 transfer under section 408(d)(6) of the Internal Revenue 12
160160 Code of 1986. 13
161161 ‘‘(d) E
162162 XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAINROLLOVERCON-14
163163 TRIBUTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any dis-15
164164 tribution, involving a participant who has a spouse, that 16
165165 is an eligible rollover distribution (as defined in section 17
166166 402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) made 18
167167 in the form of a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer within 19
168168 the meaning of section 401(a)(31) of the Internal Revenue 20
169169 Code of 1986— 21
170170 ‘‘(1) to a plan to which this section or section 22
171171 205 applies; or 23
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175175 ‘‘(2) to an individual retirement plan (as de-1
176176 fined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 2
177177 Code of 1986) if— 3
178178 ‘‘(A) the beneficiary of such plan is the 4
179179 spouse of the participant, or the spousal con-5
180180 sent requirements of subsection (e) are met 6
181181 with respect to any designation of 1 or more 7
182182 other beneficiaries; and 8
183183 ‘‘(B) under the terms of the individual re-9
184184 tirement plan, the beneficiary of such plan 10
185185 (whether the spouse or other beneficiary des-11
186186 ignated under paragraph (1)) may not be 12
187187 changed unless— 13
188188 ‘‘(i) the spousal consent requirements 14
189189 of subsection (e) are met with respect to 15
190190 any such change, or 16
191191 ‘‘(ii) the spousal consent under sub-17
192192 paragraph (A) to the designation of a ben-18
193193 eficiary other than the spouse expressly 19
194194 permits such designation to be changed 20
195195 without the further consent of the spouse. 21
196196 ‘‘(e) S
197197 POUSALCONSENTREQUIREMENTS.— 22
198198 ‘‘(1) I
199199 N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-23
200200 tion, except as provided in paragraph (2), the spous-24
201201 al consent requirements of this subsection are met 25
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205205 with respect to any distribution or any designation 1
206206 or change of beneficiary if— 2
207207 ‘‘(A) the plan provides to each participant, 3
208208 within a reasonable period of time before such 4
209209 distribution or designation or change of bene-5
210210 ficiary is made and consistent with such regula-6
211211 tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre-7
212212 scribe, a written explanation of the rights of the 8
213213 participant and the participant’s spouse under 9
214214 this section; 10
215215 ‘‘(B) the spouse of the participant consents 11
216216 in writing to the distribution or designation or 12
217217 change of beneficiary; 13
218218 ‘‘(C) in the case of a distribution, the writ-14
219219 ten consent under subparagraph (B) is made 15
220220 during the consent period; and 16
221221 ‘‘(D) the written consent under subpara-17
222222 graph (B)— 18
223223 ‘‘(i) acknowledges the effect of such 19
224224 distribution or designation or change of 20
225225 beneficiary; and 21
226226 ‘‘(ii) is witnessed by a plan represent-22
227227 ative or a notary public. 23
228228 ‘‘(2) E
229229 XCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION 205 TO 24
230230 APPLY.—The requirements of paragraph (1) (other 25
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234234 than subparagraph (A) thereof) shall not apply with 1
235235 respect to any distribution or designation or change 2
236236 of beneficiary if a participant establishes to the sat-3
237237 isfaction of the plan administrator that— 4
238238 ‘‘(A) there is no spouse; 5
239239 ‘‘(B) the participant and the participant’s 6
240240 spouse have not been married for at least 1 7
241241 year as of the date of the distribution or des-8
242242 ignation or change of beneficiary; or 9
243243 ‘‘(C) such consent cannot be obtained be-10
244244 cause— 11
245245 ‘‘(i) the spouse cannot be located; or 12
246246 ‘‘(ii) of such other circumstances as 13
247247 the Secretary of the Treasury, in consulta-14
248248 tion with the Secretary of Labor, may by 15
249249 regulations prescribe. 16
250250 ‘‘(3) C
251251 ONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE AND 17
252252 EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 18
253253 paragraph (1), or the establishment by a participant 19
254254 that an exception under paragraph (2) (other than 20
255255 subparagraph (A) thereof) applies with respect to a 21
256256 spouse, shall be effective only with respect to that 22
257257 spouse and to the distribution or designation or 23
258258 change of beneficiary to which it relates. 24
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262262 ‘‘(4) CONSENT PERIOD.—For purposes of this 1
263263 subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re-2
264264 spect to any distribution— 3
265265 ‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre-4
266266 ceding the date of such distribution; or 5
267267 ‘‘(B) such other period as the Secretary of 6
268268 the Treasury may provide. 7
269269 ‘‘(f) D
270270 ISCHARGE OFPLANFROMLIABILITY.—Rules 8
271271 similar to the rules of section 205(c)(6) shall apply for 9
272272 purposes of this section.’’. 10
273273 (2) C
274274 LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The table of sec-11
275275 tions of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Em-12
276276 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 is 13
277277 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec-14
278278 tion 205 the following new item: 15
279279 ‘‘Sec. 205A. Additional spousal consent requirements.’’.
280280 (3) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the 16
281281 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 17
282282 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended— 18
283283 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para-19
284284 graph (10); 20
285285 (B) by striking the period at the end of 21
286286 paragraph (11) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 22
287287 (C) by adding at the end the following new 23
288288 paragraph: 24
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292292 ‘‘(12) by an individual for appropriate relief in 1
293293 the case of a violation of the individual’s rights 2
294294 under section 205A.’’. 3
295295 (b) C
296296 ONFORMINGAMENDMENT TO INTERNALREV-4
297297 ENUECODE OF1986.—Section 401(a) of the Internal 5
298298 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after para-6
299299 graph (17) the following new paragraph: 7
300300 ‘‘(18) A
301301 DDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT RE -8
302302 QUIREMENTS.— 9
303303 ‘‘(A) I
304304 N GENERAL.—In the case of a de-10
305305 fined contribution plan to which paragraph (11) 11
306306 does not apply, except as provided in sub-12
307307 sections (c) and (d), a trust forming part of 13
308308 such plan shall not constitute a qualified trust 14
309309 under this section unless no distribution may be 15
310310 made under the plan unless the spousal consent 16
311311 requirements of subparagraph (E) are met. 17
312312 ‘‘(B) C
313313 OORDINATION WITH PARAGRAPH 18
314314 (11).—Nothing in this paragraph shall be con-19
315315 strued to exempt a defined contribution plan 20
316316 from the requirements of paragraph (11) with 21
317317 respect to any participant. 22
318318 ‘‘(C) E
319319 XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN DISTRIBU -23
320320 TIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to— 24
321321 ‘‘(i) any distribution that is— 25
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325325 ‘‘(I) a minimum required dis-1
326326 tribution described in section 4974(b), 2
327327 ‘‘(II) permitted under section 3
328328 411(a)(11) to be made without the 4
329329 consent of the participant, or 5
330330 ‘‘(III) in an amount that is less 6
331331 than 25 percent of the account bal-7
332332 ance, 8
333333 ‘‘(ii) any distribution in the form of a 9
334334 qualified joint and survivor annuity (as de-10
335335 fined in section 417(b)), a qualified op-11
336336 tional survivor annuity (as defined in sec-12
337337 tion 417(g)), a qualified preretirement sur-13
338338 vivor annuity (as defined in section 14
339339 417(c)), or a series of substantially equal 15
340340 periodic payments (not less frequently than 16
341341 annually) made for the joint lives (or life 17
342342 expectancies) of the participant and the 18
343343 participant’s spouse, or 19
344344 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a participant who 20
345345 does not elect a form of benefit described 21
346346 in clause (ii) under the plan or who is par-22
347347 ticipating in a plan that does not provide 23
348348 such a form of benefit, any distribution of 24
349349 the participant’s entire nonforfeitable ac-25
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353353 crued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued 1
354354 benefit is transferred to an individual re-2
355355 tirement plan of the spouse of the partici-3
356356 pant. 4
357357 A transfer described in clause (iii) to an indi-5
358358 vidual retirement plan shall be treated in the 6
359359 same manner as a transfer under section 7
360360 408(d)(6). 8
361361 ‘‘(D) E
362362 XCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ROLL -9
363363 OVER CONTRIBUTIONS .—Subparagraph (A) 10
364364 shall not apply to any distribution, involving a 11
365365 participant who has a spouse, that is an eligible 12
366366 rollover distribution (as defined in section 13
367367 402(f)(2)(A)) made in the form of a direct 14
368368 trustee-to-trustee transfer within the meaning 15
369369 of paragraph (31)— 16
370370 ‘‘(i) to a plan to which this paragraph 17
371371 or paragraph (11) applies, or 18
372372 ‘‘(ii) to an individual retirement plan 19
373373 if— 20
374374 ‘‘(I) the beneficiary of such plan 21
375375 is the spouse of the participant, or the 22
376376 spousal consent requirements of sub-23
377377 paragraph (E) are met with respect to 24
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381381 any designation of 1 or more other 1
382382 beneficiaries, and 2
383383 ‘‘(II) under the terms of the indi-3
384384 vidual retirement plan, the beneficiary 4
385385 of such plan (whether the spouse or 5
386386 other beneficiary designated under 6
387387 subclause (I)) may not be changed un-7
388388 less— 8
389389 ‘‘(aa) the spousal consent 9
390390 requirements of subparagraph 10
391391 (E) are met with respect to any 11
392392 such change, or 12
393393 ‘‘(bb) the spousal consent 13
394394 under subclause (I) to the des-14
395395 ignation of a beneficiary other 15
396396 than the spouse expressly permits 16
397397 such designation to be changed 17
398398 without the further consent of 18
399399 the spouse. 19
400400 ‘‘(E) S
401401 POUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE -20
402402 MENTS.— 21
403403 ‘‘(i) I
404404 N GENERAL.—For purposes of 22
405405 this paragraph, except as provided in 23
406406 clause (ii), the spousal consent require-24
407407 ments of this subparagraph are met with 25
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411411 respect to any distribution or any designa-1
412412 tion or change of beneficiary if— 2
413413 ‘‘(I) the plan provides to each 3
414414 participant, within a reasonable period 4
415415 of time before such distribution or 5
416416 designation or change of beneficiary is 6
417417 made and consistent with such regula-7
418418 tions as the Secretary may prescribe, 8
419419 a written explanation of the rights of 9
420420 the participant and the participant’s 10
421421 spouse under this paragraph, 11
422422 ‘‘(II) the spouse of the partici-12
423423 pant consents in writing to the dis-13
424424 tribution or designation or change of 14
425425 beneficiary, 15
426426 ‘‘(III) in the case of a distribu-16
427427 tion, the written consent under sub-17
428428 clause (II) is made during the consent 18
429429 period, and 19
430430 ‘‘(IV) the written consent under 20
431431 subclause (II)— 21
432432 ‘‘(aa) acknowledges the ef-22
433433 fect of such distribution or des-23
434434 ignation or change of beneficiary, 24
435435 and 25
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439439 ‘‘(bb) is witnessed by a plan 1
440440 representative or a notary public. 2
441441 ‘‘(ii) E
442442 XCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION 3
443443 417 TO APPLY .—The requirements of 4
444444 clause (i) (other than subclause (I) there-5
445445 of) shall not apply with respect to any dis-6
446446 tribution or designation or change of bene-7
447447 ficiary if a participant establishes to the 8
448448 satisfaction of the plan administrator 9
449449 that— 10
450450 ‘‘(I) there is no spouse, 11
451451 ‘‘(II) the participant and the par-12
452452 ticipant’s spouse have not been mar-13
453453 ried for at least 1 year as of the date 14
454454 of the distribution or designation or 15
455455 change of beneficiary, or 16
456456 ‘‘(III) such consent cannot be ob-17
457457 tained because— 18
458458 ‘‘(aa) the spouse cannot be 19
459459 located, or 20
460460 ‘‘(bb) of such other cir-21
461461 cumstances as the Secretary, in 22
462462 consultation with the Secretary 23
463463 of Labor, may by regulations pre-24
464464 scribe. 25
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468468 ‘‘(iii) CONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE 1
469469 AND EVENT.—Any written consent by a 2
470470 spouse under clause (i), or the establish-3
471471 ment by a participant that an exception 4
472472 under clause (ii) (other than subclause (I) 5
473473 thereof) applies with respect to a spouse, 6
474474 shall be effective only with respect to that 7
475475 spouse and to the distribution or designa-8
476476 tion or change of beneficiary to which it 9
477477 relates. 10
478478 ‘‘(iv) C
479479 ONSENT PERIOD .—For pur-11
480480 poses of this subparagraph, the term ‘con-12
481481 sent period’ means, with respect to any 13
482482 distribution— 14
483483 ‘‘(I) the 90-day period imme-15
484484 diately preceding the date of such dis-16
485485 tribution, or 17
486486 ‘‘(II) such other period as the 18
487487 Secretary may provide.’’. 19
488488 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATES. 20
489489 (a) I
490490 NCREASINGSPOUSALPROTECTIONUNDERDE-21
491491 FINEDCONTRIBUTIONPLANS.—Except as provided in 22
492492 subsection (b), the amendments made by section 3 shall 23
493493 apply to distributions and rollover contributions made in 24
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497497 plan years beginning after the date that is 1 year after 1
498498 the date of the enactment of this Act. 2
499499 (b) P
500500 ROVISIONSRELATING TO PLANAMEND-3
501501 MENTS.— 4
502502 (1) I
503503 N GENERAL.—If this paragraph applies to 5
504504 any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con-6
505505 tract shall be treated as being operated in accord-7
506506 ance with the terms of the plan during the period 8
507507 described in paragraph (2)(C). 9
508508 (2) A
509509 MENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1) 10
510510 APPLIES.— 11
511511 (A) I
512512 N GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 12
513513 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 13
514514 contract which is made— 14
515515 (i) pursuant to the amendments made 15
516516 by section 3 or pursuant to any regulation 16
517517 issued under section 205A of the Employee 17
518518 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 18
519519 or section 401(a)(18) of the Internal Rev-19
520520 enue Code of 1986, as added by section 3; 20
521521 and 21
522522 (ii) on or before the last day of the 22
523523 first plan year beginning on or after the 23
524524 date that is 3 years after the date de-24
525525 scribed in subsection (a). 25
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528528 •HR 2023 IH
529529 In the case of a governmental plan (as defined 1
530530 in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code 2
531531 of 1986), this subparagraph shall be applied by 3
532532 substituting ‘‘5 years’’ for ‘‘3 years’’ in clause 4
533533 (ii). 5
534534 (B) C
535535 ONDITIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall 6
536536 not apply to any amendment unless— 7
537537 (i) the plan or contract is operated as 8
538538 if such plan or contract amendment were 9
539539 in effect for the period described in sub-10
540540 paragraph (C); and 11
541541 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 12
542542 applies retroactively for such period. 13
543543 (C) P
544544 ERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de-14
545545 scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 15
546546 (i) beginning on the effective date 16
547547 specified by the plan; and 17
548548 (ii) ending on the date described in 18
549549 subparagraph (A)(ii) (or, if earlier, the 19
550550 date the plan or contract amendment is 20
551551 adopted). 21
552552 SEC. 5. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA-22
553553 TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 23
554554 (a) D
555555 EFINITIONS.—In this section— 24
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558558 •HR 2023 IH
559559 (1) the term ‘‘consumer’’ means any person 1
560560 who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv-2
561561 ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 3
562562 economic security of the consumer; and 4
563563 (2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro-5
564564 vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi-6
565565 ness of providing any retirement financial product or 7
566566 service to any consumer. 8
567567 (b) R
568568 EQUIREDLINK TOCONSUMERAWARENESSIN-9
569569 FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 10
570570 transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 11
571571 consumer carried out by a financial product or service pro-12
572572 vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 13
573573 with subsection (c), an easily accessible link to the website 14
574574 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (referred 15
575575 to in this section as the ‘‘CFPB’’) at which the consumer 16
576576 may access information, literature, guides, programs, 17
577577 tools, strategies, or any other resource produced by the 18
578578 CFPB or other Federal agency relating to retirement 19
579579 planning or later life economic security. 20
580580 (c) D
581581 ETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re-21
582582 quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 22
583583 the Financial Literacy and Education Commission shall 23
584584 determine and publish on its website the appropriate link 24
585585 to the CFPB’s website for access to the CFPB’s and other 25
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588588 •HR 2023 IH
589589 Federal agencies’ consumer education materials, the pre-1
590590 ferred format of such link, and any accompanying descrip-2
591591 tion of the CFPB and the consumer education materials 3
592592 associated with such link. 4
593593 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR 5
594594 WOMEN. 6
595595 (a) A
596596 UTHORIZATION OF GRANTAWARDS.—The Sec-7
597597 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom-8
598598 en’s Bureau, shall award grants on a competitive basis to 9
599599 eligible entities to enable such entities to improve the fi-10
600600 nancial literacy of women who are working age or in re-11
601601 tirement, to increase the likelihood of the women realizing 12
602602 a secure and stable retirement. 13
603603 (b) D
604604 EFINITION OFELIGIBLEENTITY.—In this sec-14
605605 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 15
606606 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv-16
607607 ing working-age or retired women. 17
608608 (c) A
609609 PPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 18
610610 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica-19
611611 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man-20
612612 ner, and accompanied by such information as such Sec-21
613613 retary may require. 22
614614 (d) M
615615 INIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.—The Secretary of 23
616616 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 24
617617 of not less than $250,000. 25
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620620 •HR 2023 IH
621621 (e) USE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 1
622622 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 2
623623 develop and implement financial literacy education, and 3
624624 related activities including outreach, awareness building, 4
625625 and counseling to increase women’s knowledge of retire-5
626626 ment planning and consumer, economic, and personal fi-6
627627 nancial concepts. 7
628628 (f) A
629629 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 8
630630 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 9
631631 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each succeeding 10
632632 fiscal year. 11
633633 SEC. 7. GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME WOMEN AND SUR-12
634634 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN OBTAIN-13
635635 ING QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS OR-14
636636 DERS. 15
637637 (a) A
638638 UTHORIZATION OF GRANTAWARDS.—The Sec-16
639639 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom-17
640640 en’s Bureau and in conjunction with the Assistant Sec-18
641641 retary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, 19
642642 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible enti-20
643643 ties to enable such entities to assist low-income women 21
644644 and survivors of domestic violence in obtaining qualified 22
645645 domestic relations orders and ensuring that those women 23
646646 actually obtain the benefits to which they are entitled 24
647647 through those orders. 25
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650650 •HR 2023 IH
651651 (b) DEFINITION OFELIGIBLEENTITY.—In this sec-1
652652 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 2
653653 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv-3
654654 ing women and the financial and retirement needs of 4
655655 women. 5
656656 (c) A
657657 PPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 6
658658 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica-7
659659 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man-8
660660 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec-9
661661 retary of Labor may require. 10
662662 (d) M
663663 INIMUMGRANTAMOUNT.—The Secretary of 11
664664 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 12
665665 of not less than $250,000. 13
666666 (e) U
667667 SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 14
668668 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 15
669669 develop programs to offer help to low-income women or 16
670670 survivors of domestic violence who need assistance in pre-17
671671 paring, obtaining, and effectuating a qualified domestic re-18
672672 lations order. 19
673673 (f) A
674674 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 20
675675 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 21
676676 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each succeeding 22
677677 fiscal year. 23
678678 Æ
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