II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 975 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 1, 2019 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. WARREN, Ms. SMITH, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. KAINE, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. CORTEZ

MASTO, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BENNET, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Retirement 

5 Protection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Approximately 29 percent of households 

4 headed by individuals aged 55 through 74 have no 

5 defined benefit plan or retirement savings, according 

6 to 2016 data from the Survey of Consumer Fi7 nances. 

8 (2) Just over one-third of the private sector 

9 workforce does not have access to a retirement plan 

10 at the workplace, and only half of the workforce ac11 tually participates in a retirement plan. 

12 (3) Women’s retirement preparedness often lags 

13 significantly behind their male counterparts’, result14 ing in the median retirement income for women in 

15 2016 being just 58 percent of men’s retirement in16 come. 

17 (4) Women are 1.5 times as likely as men to 

18 live in poverty after age 65. 

(5) Women make up 2 19 ⁄3 of low-wage workers, 

20 even though they comprise less than half of all work21 ers, and low-wage workers are less likely than other 

22 workers to participate in a retirement plan at work. 

23 (6) Because of the pay gap, women working 

24 full-time, year-round typically lose $403,440 over a 

25 40-year career thereby requiring the average woman 


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1 to work almost a decade longer than her male coun2 terpart to make up that career wage gap. 

3 (7) Due to the lower lifetime wages stemming 

4 from unequal pay and caregiving duties, the average 

5 Social Security benefit for a woman age 65 or older 

6 is $14,044 a year, while men of the same age receive 

7 $18,173 a year, on average. 

8 (8) Just 1 in 5 part-time workers who work a 

9 full year are eligible for a retirement plan, and 

10 women are almost twice as likely to work part-time 

11 as men. 

12 (9) While traditional defined benefit retirement 

13 plans have spousal protections, defined contribution 

14 retirement plans, which have become increasingly 

15 common, currently provide no similar spousal protec16 tions. 

17 (10) Every year, more than 1,200,000 couples 

18 get divorced in the United States. After the family 

19 home, retirement savings tends to be the largest 

20 asset to be divided in a divorce. 

21 (11) While fees and expenses associated with 

22 retirement plans have been in decline, participants 

23 have seen direct charges for processing qualified do24 mestic relations orders increase significantly. 


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1 SEC. 3. INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE2 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part 2 of subtitle B of title I of 

4 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

5 (29 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

6 section 205 the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 205A. ADDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE8 MENTS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each individual account plan to 

10 which section 205 does not apply shall provide that, except 

11 as provided in subsections (c) and (d), no distribution may 

12 be made under the plan unless the spousal consent re13 quirements of subsection (e) are met. 

14 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH SECTION 205.—Nothing 

15 in this section shall be construed to exempt an individual 

16 account plan from the requirements of paragraph (1)(C) 

17 or (2) of section 205(b) with respect to any participant. 

18 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN DISTRIBUTIONS.— 

19 Subsection (a) shall not apply to— 

20 ‘‘(1) any distribution that is— 

21 ‘‘(A) a minimum required distribution de22 scribed in section 4974(b) of the Internal Rev23 enue Code of 1986; 

24 ‘‘(B) a result of the use of the partici25 pant’s accrued benefit as security for a loan, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S975.IS S975

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1 cluding any distribution required by reason of a 

2 failure to comply with the terms of such loan; 

3 ‘‘(C) made upon hardship of the partici4 pant; or 

5 ‘‘(D) permitted under section 203(e)(1) to 

6 be made without the consent of the participant; 

7 ‘‘(2) any distribution in the form of a qualified 

8 joint and survivor annuity (as defined in section 

9 205(d)(1)), a qualified optional survivor annuity (as 

10 defined in section 205(d)(2)), a qualified preretire11 ment survivor annuity (as defined in section 205(e)), 

12 or a series of substantially equal periodic payments 

13 (not less frequently than annually) made for the 

14 joint lives (or life expectancies) of the participant 

15 and the participant’s spouse; or 

16 ‘‘(3) in the case of a participant who does not 

17 elect a form of benefit described in paragraph (2) 

18 under the plan or who is participating in a plan that 

19 does not provide such a form of benefit, any dis20 tribution of the participant’s entire nonforfeitable 

21 accrued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued benefit 

22 is transferred to an individual retirement plan (as 

23 defined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Rev24 enue Code of 1986) of the spouse of the participant. 


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1 A transfer described in paragraph (3) to an individual re2 tirement plan shall be treated in the same manner as a 

3 transfer under section 408(d)(6) of the Internal Revenue 

4 Code of 1986. 

5 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ROLLOVER CON6 TRIBUTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any dis7 tribution that is an eligible rollover distribution (as de8 fined in section 402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

9 of 1986) made in the form of a direct trustee-to-trustee 

10 transfer within the meaning of section 401(a)(31) of the 

11 Internal Revenue Code of 1986— 

12 ‘‘(1) to a plan to which this section or section 

13 205 applies; or 

14 ‘‘(2) to an individual retirement plan (as de15 fined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 

16 Code of 1986) if— 

17 ‘‘(A) the beneficiary of such plan is the 

18 spouse of the participant, or the spousal con19 sent requirements of subsection (e) are met 

20 with respect to any designation of 1 or more 

21 other beneficiaries; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the beneficiary of such plan (whether 

23 the spouse or other beneficiary designated 

24 under paragraph (1)) may not be changed un25 less— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the spousal consent requirements 

2 of subsection (e) are met with respect to 

3 any such change, or 

4 ‘‘(ii) the spousal consent under sub5 paragraph (A) to the designation of a ben6 eficiary other than the spouse expressly 

7 permits such designation to be changed 

8 without the further consent of the spouse. 

9 ‘‘(e) SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIREMENTS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec11 tion, except as provided in paragraph (2), the spous12 al consent requirements of this subsection are met 

13 with respect to any distribution or any designation 

14 or change of beneficiary if— 

15 ‘‘(A) the plan provides to each participant, 

16 within a reasonable period of time before such 

17 distribution or designation or change of bene18 ficiary is made and consistent with such regula19 tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre20 scribe, a written explanation of the rights of the 

21 participant and the participant’s spouse under 

22 this section; 

23 ‘‘(B) the spouse of the participant consents 

24 in writing to the distribution or designation or 

25 change of beneficiary; 


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1 ‘‘(C) in the case of a distribution, the writ2 ten consent under subparagraph (B) is made 

3 during the consent period; and 

4 ‘‘(D) the written consent under subpara5 graph (B)— 

6 ‘‘(i) acknowledges the effect of such 

7 distribution or designation or change of 

8 beneficiary; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) is witnessed by a plan represent10 ative or a notary public. 

11 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION 205(C)(2)(B)

12 TO APPLY.—The requirements of paragraph (1) 

13 (other than subparagraph (A) thereof) shall not 

14 apply with respect to any distribution or designation 

15 or change of beneficiary if a participant establishes 

16 to the satisfaction of the plan administrator that— 

17 ‘‘(A) there is no spouse; 

18 ‘‘(B) the participant and the participant’s 

19 spouse have not been married throughout the 1- 

20 year period ending on the date of the distribu21 tion or designation or change of beneficiary; or 

22 ‘‘(C) such consent cannot be obtained be23 cause— 

24 ‘‘(i) the spouse cannot be located; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) due to exceptional circumstances, 

2 requiring the participant to seek the 

3 spouse’s consent would be inappropriate; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(iii) of such other circumstances as 

6 the Secretary of the Treasury may by reg7 ulations prescribe. 

8 ‘‘(3) CONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE AND

9 EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 

10 paragraph (1), or the establishment by a participant 

11 that an exception under paragraph (2) applies with 

12 respect to a spouse, shall be effective only with re13 spect to that spouse and to the distribution or des14 ignation or change of beneficiary to which it relates. 

15 ‘‘(4) CONSENT PERIOD.—For purposes of this 

16 subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re17 spect to any distribution— 

18 ‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre19 ceding the date of such distribution; or 

20 ‘‘(B) such other period as the Secretary of 

21 the Treasury may provide. 

22 ‘‘(f) DISCHARGE OF PLAN FROM LIABILITY.—Rules 

23 similar to the rules of section 205(c)(6) shall apply for 

24 purposes of this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

2 of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Retire3 ment Income Security Act of 1974 is amended by insert4 ing after the item relating to section 205 the following 

5 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 205A. Additional spousal consent requirements.’’. 

6 (c) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the Em7 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

8 U.S.C. 1132) is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 

9 paragraph (10), by striking the period at the end of para10 graph (11) and inserting ‘‘; or’’, and by adding at the end 

11 the following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(12) by an individual for appropriate relief in 

13 the case of a violation of the individual’s rights 

14 under section 205A.’’. 

15 (d) PARALLEL AMENDMENT TO SECTION 205.—Sec16 tion 205(c)(2)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Se17 curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1055(c)(2)(B)) is amended 

18 by inserting ‘‘, because due to exceptional circumstances 

19 requiring the participant to seek the spouse’s consent 

20 would be inappropriate’’ after ‘‘located’’. 

21 SEC. 4. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART22 TIME WORKERS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee Re24 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052) 


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1 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM4 PLOYEES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A pension plan that in6 cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange7 ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 

8 Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree9 ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 

10 shall not require, as a condition of participation in 

11 the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 

12 complete a period of service with the employer (or 

13 employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 

14 the close of the earlier of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 

16 (a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara17 graph (B)(i) thereof) and section 410(a)(1) of 

18 such Code (determined without regard to sub19 paragraph (B)(i) thereof); or 

20 ‘‘(B) the first 24-month period— 

21 ‘‘(i) consisting of 2 consecutive 12- 

22 month periods during each of which the 

23 employee has at least 500 hours of service; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em2 ployee has attained the age of 21. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall not 

4 apply to employees who are included in a unit of em5 ployees covered by an agreement which the Secretary 

6 finds to be a collective bargaining agreement be7 tween employee representatives and 1 or more em8 ployers, if there is evidence that retirement benefits 

9 were the subject of good faith bargaining between 

10 such employee representatives and such employer or 

11 employers. 

12 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER RULES.—In 

13 the case of employees who are not highly com14 pensated employees (within the meaning of section 

15 414(q) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and 

16 who are eligible to participate in the arrangement or 

17 agreement solely by reason of paragraph (1)(B): 

18 ‘‘(A) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 

19 elect to exclude such employees from the deter20 mination of whether the plan that includes the 

21 arrangement or agreement satisfies the require22 ments of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), (k)(12), 

23 (k)(13), (m)(2), (m)(11), and (m)(12) of sec24 tion 401 of such Code, section 410(b) of such 

25 Code, and section 416 of such Code. If the emVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S975.IS S975

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1 ployer so excludes such employees with respect 

2 to the requirements of any such provision, such 

3 employees shall be excluded with respect to the 

4 requirements of all such provisions. This sub5 paragraph shall cease to apply to any employee 

6 as of the first plan year beginning after the 

7 plan year in which the employee completes 1 

8 year of service (without regard to paragraph 

9 (1)(B) of this subsection). 

10 ‘‘(B) TIME OF PARTICIPATION.—The rules 

11 of subsection (a)(4) and section 410(a)(4) of 

12 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply 

13 to such employees. 

14 ‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 

15 subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 

16 the same manner as under the last sentence of sub17 section (a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periods be18 ginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 

19 into account.’’. 

20 (b) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee Re21 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

22 1053(a)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

23 paragraph (5) and by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

24 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of de2 termining whether an employee who is eligible to partici3 pate in a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a sal4 ary reduction agreement under a plan solely by reason of 

5 section 202(c)(1)(B) has a nonforfeitable right to em6 ployer contributions— 

7 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), 

8 each 12-month period for which the employee has at 

9 least 500 hours of service shall be treated as a year 

10 of service; and 

11 ‘‘(B) 12-month periods occurring before the 24- 

12 month period described in section 202(c)(1)(B) shall 

13 not be treated as years of service. 

14 For purposes of this paragraph, 12-month periods shall 

15 be determined in the same manner as under the last sen16 tence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 12-month peri17 ods beginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 

18 into account.’’. 

19 (c) PENALTY.—Section 502 of the Employee Retire20 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following new sub22 section: 

23 ‘‘(n) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO PART-TIME EM24 PLOYEES.—In the case of a plan that fails to permit par25 ticipation as required by section 202(c), the Secretary may 


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1 assess a civil penalty against the plan sponsor in an 

2 amount equal to $10,000 per year per employee to whom 

3 such failure relates. The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s 

4 sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under this sub5 section if the Secretary determines that the plan sponsor 

6 acted reasonably and in good faith.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

8 (a) INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE9 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS.—Except as provided in 

10 subsections (c) and (d), the amendments made by section 

11 2 shall apply to distributions and rollover contributions 

12 made in plan years beginning after the date that is 6 

13 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

14 (b) ENSURING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART15 TIME WORKERS.—Except as provided in subsections (c) 

16 and (d), the amendments made by section 3 shall apply 

17 to plan years beginning after December 31, 2019. 

18 (c) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—In the 

19 case of a plan maintained pursuant to one or more collec20 tive bargaining agreements between employee representa21 tives and one or more employers ratified before the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, the amendments made by 

23 sections 2 and 3 shall not apply to distributions or rollover 

24 contributions on behalf of employees covered by any such 

25 agreement for plan years beginning before the earlier of— 


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1 (1) the later of— 

2 (A) the date on which the last of such col3 lective bargaining agreements terminates (de4 termined without regard to any extension there5 of on or after such date of the enactment); or 

6 (B) the day after the date specified in sub7 section (a) or (b), whichever is applicable; or 

8 (2) the date that is 3 years after the applicable 

9 day described in paragraph (1)(B). 

10 (d) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PLAN AMEND11 MENTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—If this paragraph applies to 

13 any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con14 tract shall be treated as being operated in accord15 ance with the terms of the plan during the period 

16 described in paragraph (2)(C). 

17 (2) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1)

18 APPLIES.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 

20 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 

21 contract which is made— 

22 (i) pursuant to the amendments made 

23 by section 2 or 3 or pursuant to any regu24 lation issued under either such section; and 


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1 (ii) on or before the last day of the 

2 first plan year beginning on or after the 

3 date that is 3 years after the applicable 

4 day described in subsection (c)(1)(B). 

5 In the case of a governmental plan (as defined 

6 in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code 

7 of 1986), this subparagraph shall be applied by 

8 substituting ‘‘5 years’’ for ‘‘3 years’’ in clause 

9 (ii). 

10 (B) CONDITIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall 

11 not apply to any amendment unless— 

12 (i) the plan or contract is operated as 

13 if such plan or contract amendment were 

14 in effect for the period described in sub15 paragraph (C); and 

16 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 

17 applies retroactively for such period. 

18 (C) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de19 scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 

20 (i) beginning on the effective date 

21 specified by the plan; and 

22 (ii) ending on the date described in 

23 subparagraph (A)(ii) (or, if earlier, the 

24 date the plan or contract amendment is 

25 adopted). 


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1 SEC. 6. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA2 TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

4 (1) the term ‘‘consumer’’ means any person 

5 who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv6 ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 

7 economic security of the consumer; and 

8 (2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro9 vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi10 ness of providing any retirement financial product or 

11 service to any consumer. 

12 (b) REQUIRED LINK TO CONSUMER AWARENESS IN13 FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 

14 transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 

15 consumer carried out by a financial product or service pro16 vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 

17 with subsection (c), an easily accessible link to the website 

18 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) 

19 at which the consumer may access information, literature, 

20 guides, programs, tools, strategies, or any other resource 

21 produced by the CFPB or other Federal agency relating 

22 to retirement planning or later life economic security. 

23 (c) DETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re24 quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 

25 the Financial Literacy and Education Commission 

26 (FLEC) shall determine and publish on its website the 


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1 appropriate link to the CFPB’s website for access to the 

2 CFPB’s and other Federal agencies’ consumer education 

3 materials, the preferred format of such link, and any ac4 companying description of the CFPB and the consumer 

5 education materials associated with such link. 

6 SEC. 7. GRANTS TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR 

7 WOMEN. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Sec9 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom10 en’s Bureau, shall award grants on a competitive basis to 

11 eligible entities to enable such entities to improve the fi12 nancial literacy of women who are working age or in re13 tirement, to increase the likelihood of the women realizing 

14 a secure and stable retirement. 

15 (b) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec16 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 

17 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv18 ing working-age or retired women. 

19 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

20 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica21 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man22 ner, and accompanied by such information as such Sec23 retary may require. 


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1 (d) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—The Secretary of 

2 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 

3 of not less than $250,000. 

4 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

5 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 

6 develop and implement financial literacy education, and 

7 related activities including outreach, awareness building, 

8 and counseling to increase women’s knowledge of retire9 ment planning and consumer, economic, and personal fi10 nancial concepts. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and each succeeding 

14 fiscal year. 

15 SEC. 8. GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME WOMEN AND SUR16 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN OBTAIN17 ING QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS OR18 DERS. 

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Sec20 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom21 en’s Bureau in conjunction with the Assistant Secretary 

22 of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, shall 

23 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities 

24 to enable such entities to assist low-income women and 

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1 mestic relations orders and ensuring that those women ac2 tually obtain the benefits to which they are entitled 

3 through those orders. 

4 (b) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec5 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 

6 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv7 ing women and the financial and retirement needs of 

8 women. 

9 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires to 

10 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica11 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man12 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec13 retary of Labor may require. 

14 (d) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—The Secretary of 

15 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 

16 of not less than $250,000. 

17 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

18 a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 

19 develop programs to offer help to low-income women or 

20 survivors of domestic violence who need assistance in pre21 paring, obtaining, and effectuating a qualified domestic re22 lations order. 

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

24 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and each succeeding 

2 fiscal year. 

Æ 


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