I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 854 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the qualification 

requirements with respect to certain multiple employer plans with pooled 

plan providers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. BUCHANAN (for himself, Mr. NEAL, Mr. RENACCI, and Mr. KIND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and 

Means, 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 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify 

the qualification requirements with respect to certain 

multiple employer plans with pooled plan providers, 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 ‘‘Retirement Security 

5 for American Workers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MULTIPLE EMPLOYER PLANS WITH POOLED PLAN 

2 PROVIDERS. 

3 (a) QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 413 

4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add5 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION OF QUALIFICATION REQUIRE7 MENTS FOR CERTAIN MULTIPLE EMPLOYER PLANS WITH

8 POOLED PLAN PROVIDERS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), if a defined contribution plan to which 

11 subsection (c) applies— 

12 ‘‘(A) is sponsored by employers that both 

13 have a common interest other than having 

14 adopted the plan and control the plan, or 

15 ‘‘(B) in the case of a plan not described in 

16 subparagraph (A), has a pooled plan provider, 

17 then the plan shall not be treated as failing to meet 

18 the requirements under this title applicable to a plan 

19 described in section 401(a) or to a plan that consists 

20 of individual retirement accounts described in sec21 tion 408 of such Code (including by reason of sub22 section (c) thereof), whichever is applicable, merely 

23 because one or more employers of employees covered 

24 by the plan fail to take such actions as are required 

25 of such employers for the plan to meet such require26 ments. 


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1 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 

3 not apply to any plan unless the terms of the 

4 plan provide that in cases of employers failing 

5 to take the actions described in paragraph 

6 (1)— 

7 ‘‘(i) the assets of the plan attributable 

8 to employees of the employer will be trans9 ferred to a plan maintained only by the 

10 employer (or its successor), to an eligible 

11 retirement plan as defined in section 

12 402(c)(8)(B) for each individual whose ac13 count is transferred, or to any other ar14 rangement that the Secretary determines is 

15 appropriate, unless the Secretary deter16 mines it is in the best interests of such em17 ployees to retain the assets in the plan, 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(ii) the employer described in clause 

20 (i) (and not the plan with respect to which 

21 the failure occurred or any other partici22 pating employer in such plan) shall, except 

23 to the extent provided by the Secretary, be 

24 liable for any liabilities with respect to 


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1 such plan attributable to employees of the 

2 employer. 

3 ‘‘(B) FAILURES BY POOLED PLAN PRO4 VIDERS.—If the pooled plan provider of a plan 

5 described in paragraph (1)(B) does not perform 

6 substantially all of the administrative duties 

7 which are required of the provider under para8 graph (3)(A)(i) for any plan year, the Sec9 retary, in the Secretary’s own discretion, may 

10 provide that the determination as to whether 

11 the plan meets the requirements under this title 

12 applicable to a plan described in section 401(a) 

13 or to a plan that consists of individual retire14 ment accounts described in section 408 of such 

15 Code (including by reason of subsection (c) 

16 thereof), whichever is applicable, shall be made 

17 in the same manner as would be made without 

18 regard to paragraph (1). 

19 ‘‘(3) POOLED PLAN PROVIDER.—For purposes 

20 of this subsection— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘pooled plan 

22 provider’ means, with respect to any plan, a 

23 person who— 

24 ‘‘(i) is designated by the terms of the 

25 plan as a named fiduciary (as defined in 


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1 section 402(a)(2) of the Employee Retire2 ment Income Security Act of 1974), as the 

3 plan administrator, and as the person re4 sponsible to perform all administrative du5 ties (including conducting proper testing 

6 with respect to the plan and employees of 

7 each participating employer) which are 

8 reasonably necessary to ensure that— 

9 ‘‘(I) the plan meets the require10 ments of the Employee Retirement In11 come Security Act of 1974 and any 

12 requirement applicable under this title 

13 to a plan described in section 401(a) 

14 or to a plan that consists of individual 

15 retirement accounts described in sec16 tion 408 of such Code (including by 

17 reason of subsection (c) thereof), 

18 whichever is applicable, and 

19 ‘‘(II) each participating employer 

20 takes such actions as the Secretary or 

21 such person determines necessary for 

22 the plan to meet the requirements de23 scribed in subclause (I), including pro24 viding to such person any disclosures 

25 or other information which the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H854.IH H854

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1 retary may require or which such per2 son otherwise determines is necessary 

3 to administer the plan or to allow the 

4 plan to meet such requirements, 

5 ‘‘(ii) registers as a pooled plan pro6 vider with the Secretary, and provides such 

7 other information to the Secretary as the 

8 Secretary may require, before beginning 

9 operations as a pooled plan provider, 

10 ‘‘(iii) acknowledges in writing that 

11 such person is a named fiduciary (within 

12 the meaning of section 402(a)(2) of the 

13 Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

14 of 1974), and the plan administrator, with 

15 respect to the plan, and 

16 ‘‘(iv) is responsible for ensuring that 

17 all persons who handle assets of, or who 

18 are fiduciaries of, the plan are bonded in 

19 accordance with section 412 of the Em20 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 

21 1974. 

22 ‘‘(B) AUDITS, EXAMINATIONS AND INVES23 TIGATIONS.—The Secretary may perform au24 dits, examinations, and investigations of pooled 


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1 plan providers as may be necessary to enforce 

2 and carry out the purposes of this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(4) GUIDANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

5 issue such guidance as the Secretary determines 

6 appropriate to carry out this subsection, includ7 ing guidance— 

8 ‘‘(i) to identify the administrative du9 ties and other actions required to be per10 formed by a pooled plan provider under 

11 this subsection, 

12 ‘‘(ii) which describes the procedures to 

13 be taken to terminate a plan which fails to 

14 meet the requirements to be a plan de15 scribed in paragraph (1), including the 

16 proper treatment of, and actions needed to 

17 be taken by, any participating employer of 

18 the plan and the assets and liabilities of 

19 the plan with respect to employees of that 

20 employer, and 

21 ‘‘(iii) identifying appropriate cases to 

22 which the rules of paragraph (2)(A) will 

23 apply to employers failing to take the ac24 tions described in paragraph (1). 


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1 The Secretary shall take into account under 

2 subparagraph (C) whether the failure of an em3 ployer or pooled plan provider to provide any 

4 disclosures or other information, or to take any 

5 other action, necessary to administer a plan or 

6 to allow a plan to meet requirements applicable 

7 to the plan under section 401(a) has continued 

8 over a period of time that clearly demonstrates 

9 a lack of commitment to compliance. 

10 ‘‘(B) PROSPECTIVE APPLICATION.—Any 

11 guidance issued by the Secretary under this 

12 paragraph shall not apply to any action or fail13 ure occurring before the issuance of such guid14 ance. 

15 ‘‘(5) MODEL PLAN.—The Secretary shall, in 

16 consultation with the Secretary of Labor when ap17 propriate, publish model plan language which meets 

18 the requirements of this subsection and of para19 graphs (43) and (44) of section 3 of the Employee 

20 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and which 

21 may be adopted to be treated as a pooled employer 

22 plan.’’. 

23 (b) NO COMMON INTEREST REQUIRED FOR POOLED

24 EMPLOYER PLANS.—Section 3(2) of the Employee RetireVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H854.IH H854

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1 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(2)) 

2 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) A pooled employer plan shall be treat4 ed as— 

5 ‘‘(i) a single employee pension benefit 

6 plan or single pension plan; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) a plan to which section 210(a) 

8 applies.’’. 

9 (c) POOLED EMPLOYER PLAN AND PROVIDER DE10 FINED.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Employee 

12 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

13 1002) is amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(43) POOLED EMPLOYER PLAN.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘pooled em17 ployer plan’ means a plan— 

18 ‘‘(i) which is an individual account 

19 plan established or maintained for the pur20 pose of providing benefits to the employees 

21 of two or more employers; 

22 ‘‘(ii) which is a plan described in sec23 tion 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 

24 of 1986 which includes a trust exempt 

25 from tax under section 501(a) of such 


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1 Code or a plan that consists of individual 

2 retirement accounts described in section 

3 408 of such Code (including by reason of 

4 subsection (c) thereof); and 

5 ‘‘(iii) the terms of which meet the re6 quirements of subparagraph (B). 

7 Such term shall not include a plan with respect 

8 to which the participating employers both share 

9 a common interest other than participation in 

10 the plan and control the plan. 

11 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAN TERMS.— 

12 The requirements of this subparagraph are met 

13 with respect to any plan if the terms of the 

14 plan— 

15 ‘‘(i) designate a pooled plan provider 

16 and provide that the pooled plan provider 

17 is a named fiduciary of the plan; 

18 ‘‘(ii) designate one or more trustees 

19 meeting the requirements of section 

20 408(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986 (other than a participating employer) 

22 to be responsible for collecting contribu23 tions to, and holding the assets of, the 

24 plan and require such trustees to imple25 ment written contribution collection proceVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Feb 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H854.IH H854

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1 dures that are reasonable, diligent, and 

2 systematic; 

3 ‘‘(iii) provide that each participating 

4 employer retains fiduciary responsibility 

5 for— 

6 ‘‘(I) the selection and monitoring 

7 in accordance with section 404(a) of 

8 the person designated as the pooled 

9 plan provider and any other person 

10 who, in addition to the pooled plan 

11 provider, is designated as a named fi12 duciary of the plan; and 

13 ‘‘(II) to the extent not otherwise 

14 delegated to another fiduciary by the 

15 pooled plan provider and subject to 

16 the provisions of section 404(c), the 

17 investment and management of that 

18 portion of the plan’s assets attrib19 utable to the employees of that par20 ticipating employer; 

21 ‘‘(iv) provide that a participating em22 ployer, or a participant or beneficiary, is 

23 not subject to unreasonable restrictions, 

24 fees, or penalties with regard to ceasing 

25 participation, receipt of distributions, or 


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1 otherwise transferring assets of the plan in 

2 accordance with section 208; 

3 ‘‘(v) require— 

4 ‘‘(I) the pooled plan provider to 

5 provide to participating employers any 

6 disclosures or other information which 

7 the Secretary may require, including 

8 any disclosures or other information 

9 to facilitate the selection or any moni10 toring of the pooled plan provider by 

11 participating employers; and 

12 ‘‘(II) each participating employer 

13 to take such actions as the Secretary 

14 or the pooled plan provider determines 

15 necessary to administer the plan or 

16 for the plan to meet the requirements 

17 of this Act or any requirement appli18 cable under the Internal Revenue 

19 Code of 1986 to a plan described in 

20 section 401(a) of such Code or to a 

21 plan that consists of individual retire22 ment accounts described in section 

23 408 of such Code (including by reason 

24 of subsection (c) thereof), whichever is 

25 applicable, including providing any 


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1 disclosures or other information which 

2 the Secretary may require or which 

3 the pooled plan provider otherwise de4 termines is necessary to administer 

5 the plan or to allow the plan to meet 

6 such requirements; and 

7 ‘‘(vi) provide that any disclosure or 

8 other information required to be provided 

9 under clause (v) may be provided in elec10 tronic form and will be designed to ensure 

11 only reasonable costs are imposed on 

12 pooled plan providers and participating 

13 employers. 

14 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘pooled em15 ployer plan’ does not include— 

16 ‘‘(i) a multiemployer plan; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) a plan established before Janu18 ary 1, 2016, unless the plan administrator 

19 elects that the plan will be treated as a 

20 pooled employer plan and the plan meets 

21 the requirements of this title applicable to 

22 a pooled employer plan established on or 

23 after such date. 

24 ‘‘(44) POOLED PLAN PROVIDER.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘pooled plan 

2 provider’ means a person who— 

3 ‘‘(i) is designated by the terms of a 

4 pooled employer plan as the plan adminis5 trator and as the person responsible for 

6 the performance of all administrative du7 ties (including conducting proper testing 

8 with respect to the plan and employees of 

9 each participating employer) which are 

10 reasonably necessary to ensure that— 

11 ‘‘(I) the plan meets the require12 ments of this Act and any require13 ment applicable under the Internal 

14 Revenue Code of 1986 to a plan de15 scribed in section 401(a) of such Code 

16 or to a plan that consists of individual 

17 retirement accounts described in sec18 tion 408 of such Code (including by 

19 reason of subsection (c) thereof), 

20 whichever is applicable; and 

21 ‘‘(II) each participating employer 

22 takes such actions as the Secretary or 

23 pooled plan provider determines nec24 essary for the plan to meet the re25 quirements described in subclause (I), 


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1 including providing the disclosures 

2 and information described in para3 graph (43)(B)(v)(II); 

4 ‘‘(ii) registers as a pooled plan pro5 vider with the Secretary, and provides to 

6 the Secretary such other information as 

7 the Secretary may require, before begin8 ning operations as a pooled plan provider; 

9 ‘‘(iii) acknowledges in writing that 

10 such person is a named fiduciary, and the 

11 plan administrator, with respect to the 

12 pooled employer plan; and 

13 ‘‘(iv) is responsible for ensuring that 

14 all persons who handle assets of, or who 

15 are fiduciaries of, the pooled employer plan 

16 are bonded in accordance with section 412. 

17 ‘‘(B) AUDITS, EXAMINATIONS AND INVES18 TIGATIONS.—The Secretary may perform au19 dits, examinations, and investigations of pooled 

20 plan providers as may be necessary to enforce 

21 and carry out the purposes of this paragraph 

22 and paragraph (43). 

23 ‘‘(C) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary shall 

24 issue such guidance as the Secretary determines 


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1 appropriate to carry out this paragraph and 

2 paragraph (43), including guidance— 

3 ‘‘(i) to identify the administrative du4 ties and other actions required to be per5 formed by a pooled plan provider under ei6 ther such paragraph; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) which requires in appropriate 

8 cases that if a participating employer fails 

9 to take the actions required under sub10 paragraph (A)(i)(II)— 

11 ‘‘(I) the assets of the plan attrib12 utable to employees of the partici13 pating employer are transferred to a 

14 plan maintained only by the partici15 pating employer (or its successor), to 

16 an eligible retirement plan as defined 

17 in section 402(c)(8)(B) of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986 for each indi19 vidual whose account is transferred, 

20 or to any other arrangement that the 

21 Secretary determines is appropriate in 

22 such guidance; and 

23 ‘‘(II) the participating employer 

24 described in subclause (I) (and not 

25 the plan with respect to which the 


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1 failure occurred or any other partici2 pating employer in such plan) shall, 

3 except to the extent provided in such 

4 guidance, be liable for any liabilities 

5 with respect to such plan attributable 

6 to employees of the participating em7 ployer. 

8 The Secretary shall take into account under 

9 clause (ii) whether the failure of an employer or 

10 pooled plan provider to provide any disclosures 

11 or other information, or to take any other ac12 tion, necessary to administer a plan or to allow 

13 a plan to meet requirements described in sub14 paragraph (A)(i)(II) has continued over a pe15 riod of time that clearly demonstrates a lack of 

16 commitment to compliance. The Secretary may 

17 waive the requirements of clause (ii)(I) in ap18 propriate circumstances if the Secretary deter19 mines it is in the best interests of the employ20 ees of the participating employer described in 

21 such clause to retain the assets in the plan with 

22 respect to which the employer’s failure oc23 curred. 

24 ‘‘(D) AGGREGATION RULES.—For purposes 

25 of this paragraph— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In determining 

2 whether a person meets the requirements 

3 of this paragraph to be a pooled plan pro4 vider with respect to any plan, all persons 

5 who are members of the same controlled 

6 group and who perform services for the 

7 plan shall be treated as one person. 

8 ‘‘(ii) MEMBERS OF COMMON GROUP.— 

9 Persons shall be treated as members of the 

10 same controlled group if such persons are 

11 treated as a single employer under sub12 section (c) or (d) of section 210.’’. 

13 (2) EMPLOYEE TREATED AS EXERCISING CON14 TROL OVER ASSETS.—Section 404(c) of the Em15 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

16 U.S.C. 1104(c)) is amended by adding at the end 

17 the following new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(6) In the case of a pooled employer plan that 

19 consists of individual retirement accounts described 

20 in section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

21 (including by reason of subsection (c) thereof) and 

22 that includes an automatic contribution arrangement 

23 meeting the requirements of section 514(e) (deter24 mined without regard to paragraph (2)(C) thereof), 

25 a participant or beneficiary shall, for purposes of 


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1 paragraph (1), be treated as exercising control over 

2 the assets in the account upon the earliest of— 

3 ‘‘(A) an affirmative election among invest4 ment options with respect to the initial invest5 ment of any contribution, 

6 ‘‘(B) a rollover to any other individual re7 tirement account, or 

8 ‘‘(C) one year after the individual retire9 ment account is established.’’. 

10 (3) BONDING REQUIREMENTS FOR POOLED EM11 PLOYER PLANS.—The last sentence of section 412(a) 

12 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 

13 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1112(a)) is amended by inserting 

14 ‘‘or in the case of a pooled employer plan’’ after 

15 ‘‘section 407(d)(1))’’. 

16 (4) CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMEND17 MENTS.—Section 3 of the Employee Retirement In18 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002) is 

19 amended— 

20 (A) in paragraph (16)(B)— 

21 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 

22 clause (ii), and 

23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

24 and inserting ‘‘, or (iv) in the case of a 


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1 pooled employer plan, the pooled plan pro2 vider.’’; and 

3 (B) by striking the second paragraph (41). 

4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

6 this section shall apply to years beginning after De7 cember 31, 2016. 

8 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 

9 amendment made by subsection (c) shall be con10 strued as limiting the authority of the Secretary of 

11 the Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate (determined 

12 without regard to such amendment) to provide for 

13 the proper treatment of a failure to meet any re14 quirement applicable under the Internal Revenue 

15 Code of 1986 with respect to one employer (and its 

16 employees) in a multiple employer plan. 

17 SEC. 3. POOLED EMPLOYER AND MULTIPLE EMPLOYER 

18 PLAN REPORTING. 

19 (a) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Section 103 of the 

20 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

21 U.S.C. 1023) is amended— 

22 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘appli23 cable subsections (d), (e), and (f)’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘applicable subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g)’’; and 


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1 (2) by amending subsection (g) to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(g) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO

4 POOLED EMPLOYER AND MULTIPLE EMPLOYER

5 PLANS.—An annual report under this section for a plan 

6 year shall include— 

7 ‘‘(1) with respect to any plan to which section 

8 210(a) applies (including a pooled employer plan), a 

9 list of participating employers and a good faith esti10 mate of the percentage of total contributions made 

11 by such participating employers during the plan 

12 year; and 

13 ‘‘(2) with respect to a pooled employer plan, the 

14 identifying information for the person designated 

15 under the terms of the plan as the pooled plan pro16 vider.’’. 

17 (b) SIMPLIFIED ANNUAL REPORTS.—Section 104(a) 

18 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

19 (29 U.S.C. 1024(a)) is amended by striking paragraph 

20 (2)(A) and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(2)(A) With respect to annual reports required 

22 to be filed with the Secretary under this part, the 

23 Secretary may by regulation prescribe simplified an24 nual reports for any pension plan that— 

25 ‘‘(i) covers fewer than 100 participants; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is a plan described in section 210(a) 

2 that covers fewer than 1,000 participants, but 

3 only if no single participating employer has 

4 more than 100 participants covered by the 

5 plan.’’. 

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to annual reports for plan years 

8 beginning after December 31, 2016. 

Æ 


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