I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4235 

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 

DECEMBER 10, 2015 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of 

New York, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GUTIE ́RREZ, 

Ms. NORTON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ELLISON, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Financial 

Services, for a period to be subsequently 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. 

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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Women’s Pension Protection Act of 2015’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Approximately 45.9 percent of private sec2 tor workers do not participate in a workplace retire3 ment savings program and, of those who do not par4 ticipate, 84 percent have reported that they do not 

5 have access to a workplace retirement program, ac6 cording to a September 2015 report on retirement 

7 coverage by the Government Accountability Office. 

8 (2) Women’s retirement preparedness often lags 

9 significantly behind their male counterparts, result10 ing in the median retirement income for women in 

11 2010 being just 59 percent of men’s retirement in12 come. 

13 (3) Women are almost twice as likely as men to 

14 live in poverty after age 65. 

(4) Women make up 2 15 ⁄3 of low-wage workers, 

16 even though they comprise less than half of all work17 ers, and low-wage workers are less likely than other 

18 workers to participate in a retirement plan at work. 

19 (5) The cost impact on women who leave the 

20 workforce early to become caregivers, in terms of 

21 lost wages and Social Security benefits, equals 

22 $324,044 in lost retirement savings. 

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

24 full year are eligible for a retirement plan, and 


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

2 as men. 

3 (7) While traditional defined benefit retirement 

4 plans have spousal protections, defined contribution 

5 retirement plans, which have become increasingly 

6 common, currently provide no similar spousal protec7 tions. 

8 TITLE I—IMPROVING PENSION 

9 PLAN COVERAGE 

10 SEC. 101. INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE11 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS. 

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

13 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

14 (29 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

15 section 205 the following new section: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 205A. ADDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE17 MENTS. 

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

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

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

21 be made under the plan unless the spousal consent re22 quirements of subsection (e) are met. 

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

24 in this section shall be construed to exempt an individual 


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

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

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

4 Subsection (a) shall not apply to— 

5 ‘‘(1) any distribution that is— 

6 ‘‘(A) a minimum required distribution de7 scribed in section 4974(b) of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986; 

9 ‘‘(B) a result of the use of the partici10 pant’s accrued benefit as security for a loan, in11 cluding any distribution required by reason of a 

12 failure to comply with the terms of such loan; 

13 ‘‘(C) made upon hardship of the partici14 pant; or 

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

16 be made without the consent of the participant; 

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

18 joint and survivor annuity (as defined in section 

19 205(d)(1)), a qualified optional survivor annuity (as 

20 defined in section 205(d)(2)), a qualified preretire21 ment survivor annuity (as defined in section 205(e)), 

22 or a series of substantially equal periodic payments 

23 (not less frequently than annually) made for the 

24 joint lives (or life expectancies) of the participant 

25 and the participant’s spouse; or 


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

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

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

4 does not provide such a form of benefit, any dis5 tribution of the participant’s entire nonforfeitable 

6 accrued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued benefit 

7 is transferred to an individual retirement plan (as 

8 defined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986) of the spouse of the participant. 

10 A transfer described in paragraph (3) to an individual re11 tirement plan shall be treated in the same manner as a 

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

13 Code of 1986. 

14 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ROLLOVER CON15 TRIBUTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any dis16 tribution that is an eligible rollover distribution (as de17 fined in section 402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

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

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

20 Internal Revenue Code of 1986— 

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

22 205 applies; or 

23 ‘‘(2) to an individual retirement plan (as de24 fined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 

25 Code of 1986) if— 


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

2 spouse of the participant, or the spousal con3 sent requirements of subsection (e) are met 

4 with respect to any designation of 1 or more 

5 other beneficiaries; and 

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

7 the spouse or other beneficiary designated 

8 under paragraph (1)) may not be changed un9 less— 

10 ‘‘(i) the spousal consent requirements 

11 of subsection (e) are met with respect to 

12 any such change, or 

13 ‘‘(ii) the spousal consent under sub14 paragraph (A) to the designation of a ben15 eficiary other than the spouse expressly 

16 permits such designation to be changed 

17 without the further consent of the spouse. 

18 ‘‘(e) SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIREMENTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec20 tion, except as provided in paragraph (2), the spous21 al consent requirements of this subsection are met 

22 with respect to any distribution or any designation 

23 or change of beneficiary if— 

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

25 within a reasonable period of time before such 


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1 distribution or designation or change of bene2 ficiary is made and consistent with such regula3 tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre4 scribe, a written explanation of the rights of the 

5 participant and the participant’s spouse under 

6 this section; 

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

8 in writing to the distribution or designation or 

9 change of beneficiary; 

10 ‘‘(C) in the case of a distribution, the writ11 ten consent under subparagraph (B) is made 

12 during the consent period; and 

13 ‘‘(D) the written consent under subpara14 graph (B)— 

15 ‘‘(i) acknowledges the effect of such 

16 distribution or designation or change of 

17 beneficiary; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) is witnessed by a plan represent19 ative or a notary public. 

20 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION

21 205(c)(2)(B) TO APPLY.—The requirements of para22 graph (1) (other than subparagraph (A) thereof) 

23 shall not apply with respect to any distribution or 

24 designation or change of beneficiary if a participant 


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1 establishes to the satisfaction of the plan adminis2 trator that— 

3 ‘‘(A) there is no spouse; 

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

5 spouse have not been married throughout the 1- 

6 year period ending on the date of the distribu7 tion or designation or change of beneficiary; or 

8 ‘‘(C) such consent cannot be obtained be9 cause— 

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

11 ‘‘(ii) due to exceptional circumstances, 

12 requiring the participant to seek the 

13 spouse’s consent would be inappropriate; 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(iii) of such other circumstances as 

16 the Secretary of the Treasury may by reg17 ulations prescribe. 

18 ‘‘(3) CONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE AND

19 EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 

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

21 that an exception under paragraph (2) applies with 

22 respect to a spouse, shall be effective only with re23 spect to that spouse and to the distribution or des24 ignation or change of beneficiary to which it relates. 


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

2 subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re3 spect to any distribution— 

4 ‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre5 ceding the date of such distribution; or 

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

7 the Treasury may provide. 

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

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

10 purposes of this section.’’. 

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

12 of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Retire13 ment Income Security Act of 1974 is amended by insert14 ing after the item relating to section 205 the following 

15 new item: 

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

16 (c) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the Em17 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

18 U.S.C. 1132), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension 

19 Reform Act of 2014, is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

20 end of paragraph (10), by striking the period at the end 

21 of paragraph (11) and inserting ‘‘; or’’, and by adding at 

22 the end the following new paragraph: 

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

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

25 under section 205A.’’. 


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1 (d) PARALLEL AMENDMENT TO SECTION 205.—Sec2 tion 205(c)(2)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Se3 curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1055(c)(2)(B)) is amended 

4 by inserting ‘‘, because due to exceptional circumstances 

5 requiring the participant to seek the spouse’s consent 

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

7 SEC. 102. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART8 TIME WORKERS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee Re10 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052) 

11 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub12 section: 

13 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM14 PLOYEES.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A pension plan that in16 cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange17 ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree19 ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 

20 shall not require, as a condition of participation in 

21 the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 

22 complete a period of service with the employer (or 

23 employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 

24 the close of the earlier of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 

2 (a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara3 graph (B)(i) thereof) and section 410(a)(1) of 

4 such Code (determined without regard to sub5 paragraph (B)(i) thereof); or 

6 ‘‘(B) the first 36-month period— 

7 ‘‘(i) consisting of 3 consecutive 12- 

8 month periods during each of which the 

9 employee has at least 500 hours of service; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em12 ployee has attained the age of 21. 

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

14 apply to employees who are included in a unit of em15 ployees covered by an agreement which the Secretary 

16 finds to be a collective bargaining agreement be17 tween employee representatives and 1 or more em18 ployers, if there is evidence that retirement benefits 

19 were the subject of good faith bargaining between 

20 such employee representatives and such employer or 

21 employers. 

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

23 the case of employees who are not highly com24 pensated employees (within the meaning of section 

25 414(q) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and 


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1 who are eligible to participate in the arrangement or 

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

3 ‘‘(A) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 

4 elect to exclude such employees from the deter5 mination of whether the plan that includes the 

6 arrangement or agreement satisfies the require7 ments of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), (k)(12), 

8 (k)(13), (m)(2), (m)(11), and (m)(12) of sec9 tion 401 of such Code, section 410(b) of such 

10 Code, and section 416 of such Code. If the em11 ployer so excludes such employees with respect 

12 to the requirements of any such provision, such 

13 employees shall be excluded with respect to the 

14 requirements of all such provisions. This sub15 paragraph shall cease to apply to any employee 

16 as of the first plan year beginning after the 

17 plan year in which the employee completes 1 

18 year of service (without regard to paragraph 

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

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

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

22 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply 

23 to such employees. 

24 ‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 

25 subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 


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1 the same manner as under the last sentence of sub2 section (a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periods be3 ginning before January 1, 2014, shall not be taken 

4 into account.’’. 

5 (b) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee Re6 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

7 1053(a)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

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

9 following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of de11 termining whether an employee who is eligible to partici12 pate in a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a sal13 ary reduction agreement under a plan solely by reason of 

14 section 202(c)(1)(B) has a nonforfeitable right to em15 ployer contributions— 

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

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

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

19 of service; and 

20 ‘‘(B) 12-month periods occurring before the 36- 

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

22 not be treated as years of service. 

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

24 be determined in the same manner as under the last sen25 tence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 15, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4235.IH H4235

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1 ods beginning before January 1, 2014, shall not be taken 

2 into account.’’. 

3 (c) PENALTY.—Section 502 of the Employee Retire4 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 section: 

7 ‘‘(n) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO PART-TIME EM8 PLOYEES.—In the case of a plan that fails to permit par9 ticipation as required by section 202(c), the Secretary may 

10 assess a civil penalty against the plan sponsor in an 

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

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

13 sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under this sub14 section if the Secretary determines that the plan sponsor 

15 acted reasonably and in good faith.’’. 

16 SEC. 103. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

17 (a) INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE18 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS.—Except as provided in 

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

20 101 shall apply to distributions and rollover contributions 

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

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

23 (b) ENSURING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART24 TIME WORKERS.—Except as provided in subsections (c) 


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1 and (d), the amendments made by section 102 shall apply 

2 to plan years beginning after December 31, 2016. 

3 (c) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—In the 

4 case of a plan maintained pursuant to one or more collec5 tive bargaining agreements between employee representa6 tives and one or more employers ratified before the date 

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

8 this title shall not apply to distributions or rollover con9 tributions on behalf of employees covered by any such 

10 agreement for plan years beginning before the earlier of— 

11 (1) the later of— 

12 (A) the date on which the last of such col13 lective bargaining agreements terminates (de14 termined without regard to any extension there15 of on or after such date of the enactment); or 

16 (B) the day after the date specified in sub17 section (a) or (b), whichever is applicable; or 

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

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

20 (d) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PLAN AMEND21 MENTS.— 

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

23 any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con24 tract shall be treated as being operated in accordVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 15, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4235.IH H4235

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1 ance with the terms of the plan during the period 

2 described in paragraph (2)(C). 

3 (2) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1)

4 APPLIES.— 

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

6 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 

7 contract which is made— 

8 (i) pursuant to the amendments made 

9 by this title or pursuant to any regulation 

10 issued under the Employee Retirement In11 come Security Act of 1974 as amended by 

12 this title; and 

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

14 first plan year beginning on or after the 

15 date that is 3 years after the applicable 

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

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

18 not apply to any amendment unless— 

19 (i) the plan or contract is operated as 

20 if such plan or contract amendment were 

21 in effect for the period described in sub22 paragraph (C); and 

23 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 

24 applies retroactively for such period. 


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1 (C) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de2 scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 

3 (i) beginning on the effective date 

4 specified by the plan; and 

5 (ii) ending on the date described in 

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

7 date the plan or contract amendment is 

8 adopted). 

9 TITLE II—IMPROVING 

10 FINANCIAL LITERACY 

11 SEC. 201. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA12 TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 

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

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

15 who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv16 ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 

17 economic security of the consumer; and 

18 (2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro19 vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi20 ness of providing any retirement financial product or 

21 service to any consumer. 

22 (b) REQUIRED LINK TO CONSUMER AWARENESS IN23 FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 

24 transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 

25 consumer carried out by a financial product or service proVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 15, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4235.IH H4235

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1 vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 

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

3 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) 

4 at which the consumer may access information, literature, 

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

6 produced by the CFPB or other Federal agency relating 

7 to retirement planning or later life economic security. 

8 (c) DETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re9 quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 

10 the Financial Literacy and Education Commission 

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

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

13 CFPB’s and other Federal agencies’ consumer education 

14 materials, the preferred format of such link, and any ac15 companying description of the CFPB and the consumer 

16 education materials associated with such link. 

17 SEC. 202. GRANTS TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR 

18 WOMEN. 

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Sec20 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom21 en’s Bureau, Department of Labor, shall award grants on 

22 a competitive basis to eligible entities to enable such enti23 ties to improve the financial literacy of women who are 

24 working age or in retirement, to increase the likelihood 

25 of their realizing a secure and stable retirement. 


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1 (b) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec2 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 

3 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv4 ing working-age or retired women. 

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

6 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica7 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man8 ner, and accompanied by such information as such Sec9 retary may require. 

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

11 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 

12 of not less than $250,000. 

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

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

15 develop and implement financial literacy education, and 

16 related activities including outreach, awareness building, 

17 and counseling to increase women’s knowledge of retire18 ment planning and consumer, economic, and personal fi19 nancial concepts. 

20 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 

22 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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