Government Affairs

It’s hard to believe, but the Pension Protection Act of 2006 will be a decade old next month. And it’s probably done more good for the nation’s retirement security than most realize.The PPA drew its name from the portions targeted at shoring up defined benefit plans (and PBGC funding, I suppose),... READ MORE

We’ve just posted the latest issue of Plan Consultant magazine on ASPPA Net. The Summer issue features a cover story on the rise of robo record keeping and addresses whether today’s tech-based start-ups constitute an opportunity or a threat to traditional players.In addition, an excerpt from... READ MORE

A House appropriations bill takes another shot at the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule, while a litigant’s suit has now jumped to the front of the hearing queue.Under the heading of “Reducing Harmful Red Tape,” the House Committee on Appropriations said, “the legislation includes several... READ MORE

U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) have teamed up to introduce legislation that would create a federal lost and found designed to help stem leakage from retirement accounts.According to its sponsors, the bill uses the data employers are already required to report to... READ MORE

The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on June 15 to examine ways to leverage prizes and technology to influence savings behavior.The hearing featured testimony from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies President Catherine Collinson that focused on a new research report... READ MORE

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on June 14 that her agency is indeed working on a fiduciary rule of its own, but will not be issuing it anytime soon. She made her remarks in testimony to the committee as part of... READ MORE

Last week, House Republicans released the first of six documents detailing their policy agenda, a portion of which included recommendations to “build retirement security through the private retirement system.” The most notable aspect of the report, however — a blueprint from the Task Force on... READ MORE

As expected (and promised), President Obama has vetoed Congress’ resolution that would have nullified the Labor Department’s fiduciary regulation.“The outdated regulations in place before this rulemaking did not ensure that financial advisers act in their clients’ best interests when giving... READ MORE

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has released an annual update of its Data Book. The Data Book provides information pension plans and the PBGC have reported on single-employer and multiemployer plans and compares it to data from previous years. This update provides data from the... READ MORE