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Government Affairs
Sometimes whether news is good or bad depends on one’s perspective. Case in point: the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has updated its 2015 report on retirement security and savings in households headed by people approaching retirement age. The updated report contains fodder for optimists...
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Testifying at a March 27 Capitol Hill hearing on behalf of the American Retirement Association, ASPPA member Martella A. Turner-Joseph encouraged members of Congress to enact comprehensive legislation to expand American workers’ access to workplace retirement plans.
Turner-Joseph, an enrolled...
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering amendments to cybersecurity rules that could have an impact on retirement plan professionals.
The FTC voted 3-2 to propose amendments to the Standards for Safeguarding Customer Information, which became effective on 2003 and requires that financial...
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Despite political affiliation, large majorities of Americans believe the nation faces a retirement crisis and are largely supportive of state efforts to expand coverage, recent survey results show.
Findings contained in the National Institute on Retirement Security’s “Retirement Insecurity 2019:...
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Nevada may be gambling with access to brokerage services for residents, based on the reactions of a number of brokerages to the Silver State’s proposed fiduciary regulation.
According to published reports, Morgan Stanley says it would halt its brokerage services in Nevada entirely if the state...
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Baby boomers, a generation spanning the better part of two decades, has members who are retired, but plenty of members who are in the workforce and will be for years to come. And a recently released report on financial security and aging suggests that may be a good thing.
In “Seeing Our Way to...
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Calls for bipartisan action to address the problems facing multiemployer pension plans highlighted a March 7 hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The crisis facing multiemployer pension plans “Is not years away, it is happening...
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In recent weeks, the headlines have been full of stories about tax refunds – or, perhaps more accurately, the lack of tax refunds.
It’s the kind of thing that might not normally find its way into the headlines, but this particular situation has struck a chord – both because it includes people who...
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The ratification of the 22nd amendment in 1951 may limit U.S. Presidents’ tenure, but that doesn’t mean their influence over a host of areas ends when their terms of office do. And that includes retirement readiness.
In “How 5 U.S. Presidents Continue to Influence Your Retirement Readiness Today...
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Two key members of Congress are interested in learning more about potential threats cyberattacks pose to the U.S. retirement system and what industry stakeholders are doing to address them.
In a Feb. 12 letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking...
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In his First Quarter 2019 Washington Update, Robert Kaplan, the American Retirement Association’s Director of Technical Education, provided an overview of the new climate on Capitol Hill as well as recent regulatory developments affecting retirement plans.
On the Hill
With the changes that took...
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) on Feb. 4 submitted a comment letter to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on the agency’s proposed form and instructions that would enable it to obtain information it needs in order to make coverage determinations.
The PBGC had announced Dec...
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Another state has moved to impose its own fiduciary standard with no ERISA exemption.
The Maryland legislature aims to implement a state level fiduciary standard through a comprehensive consumer protection bill introduced this week by State Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Prince George’s).
The bill grants...
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Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the new chair of the House Financial Services Committee, recently outlined a full-bodied agenda that seeks to protect consumers, safeguard investors and prevent another financial crisis.
In terms of setting the committee’s agenda, Waters, who has served on the committee...
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With retirement issues looming large in the 116th Congress, the American Retirement Association (ARA) has revamped its government affairs leadership team with two key additions.
Will Hansen joins in the new role of Chief Government Affairs Officer, effective Jan. 7, and Allison Wielobob has been...
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While much of Washington has been focused on the government shutdown, House Democrats kicked off the 116th Congress by implementing a series of changes to the standing rules that will will make it harder for Congress and President Trump to agree on major legislation.
Perhaps one of the more...
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The Garden State is one step closer to becoming the latest to create a state-run employment plan for private-sector employees whose employers do not offer a retirement plan. The New Jersey Assembly on Dec. 17 passed a bill that would establish such a system.
In a 52-24 vote, the Assembly approved...
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) in a Dec. 11 letter to Acting IRS Commissioner David Horton has made suggestions regarding the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). Namely, the ARA has suggested that the IRS provide additional examples of “significant” and “insignificant”...
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Nov. 29 voted in favor of Gordon Hartogensis to serve as Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
The HELP Committee’s nod follows on the heels of that by the Senate Finance Committee, which on Nov. 15...
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With time running out for the 115th Congress, a controversial solution to a looming pension crisis has emerged.
The crisis involves the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Multiemployer Program, which currently has a deficit of $53.9 billion, and while that is down from $65.0 billion at...
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