I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1177 

To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from constraining the range or type 

of investments that may be offered to participants and beneficiaries 

of individual retirement accounts who exercise control over the assets 

in such accounts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. DAVIDSON, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, 

Mr. EMMER, and Mrs. KIM of California) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Secretary of Labor from constraining the 

range or type of investments that may be offered to 

participants and beneficiaries of individual retirement accounts who exercise control over the assets in such accounts. 

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 ‘‘Financial Freedom Act 

5 of 2023’’. 


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•HR 1177 IH

1 SEC. 2. FIDUCIARY DUTIES WITH RESPECT TO PENSION 

2 PLAN INVESTMENTS. 

3 Section 404(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 

4 Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1104(a)) is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(3)(A) In the case of a pension plan that pro7 vides for individual accounts and permits a partici8 pant or beneficiary to exercise control over the as9 sets in the participant’s or beneficiary’s account, 

10 nothing in paragraph (1)— 

11 ‘‘(i) requires a fiduciary to select, or pro12 hibits a fiduciary from selecting, any particular 

13 type of investment alternative, provided that a 

14 fiduciary provides the participant or beneficiary 

15 an opportunity to choose, from a broad range of 

16 investment alternatives, the manner in which 

17 some or all of the assets of the participant’s or 

18 beneficiary’s account are invested, according to 

19 regulations prescribed by the Secretary; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) requires that any particular type of 

21 investment be either favored or disfavored, 

22 other than on the basis of the investment’s risk23 return characteristics, in the context of the plan 

24 fiduciary’s objective of providing investment al25 ternatives suitable for providing benefits for 

26 participants and beneficiaries. 


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•HR 1177 IH

1 ‘‘(B) In the event that a fiduciary selects a self2 directed brokerage window as an investment alter3 native for a plan described in subparagraph (A)— 

4 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall not issue any regu5 lations or subregulatory guidance constraining 

6 or prohibiting the range or type of investments 

7 that may be offered through such brokerage 

8 window; 

9 ‘‘(ii) subsection (c) shall apply to such self10 directed brokerage window; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the diversification requirement of 

12 paragraph (1)(C) and the prudence requirement 

13 of paragraph (1)(B) are not violated by the fi14 duciary’s selection of a self-directed brokerage 

15 window as an investment alternative or as a re16 sult of the exercise of a participant or bene17 ficiary’s control over the assets in such self-di18 rected brokerage window.’’. 

Æ 


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