Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Presidential Documents 45321 

Executive Order 13847 of August 31, 2018 

Strengthening Retirement Security in America 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: 

Section 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of the Federal Government to expand 

access to workplace retirement plans for American workers. According to 

the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23 percent of all private-sector, full-time 

workers lack access to a workplace retirement plan. That percentage increases 

to 34 percent when part-time workers are taken into account. Small businesses are less likely to offer retirement benefits. In 2017, approximately 

89 percent of workers at private-sector establishments with 500 or more 

workers were offered a retirement plan compared to only 53 percent for 

workers at private-sector establishments with fewer than 100 workers. Enhancing workplace retirement plan coverage is critical to ensuring that American workers will be financially prepared to retire. 

Regulatory burdens and complexity can be costly and discourage employers, 

especially small businesses, from offering workplace retirement plans to 

their employees. Businesses are sensitive to the overall expense of setting 

up such plans. A recent survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 

71 percent of small- and medium-sized businesses that do not offer retirement 

plans were deterred from doing so by high costs; 37 percent cited high 

costs as their main reason for not offering such a plan. Federal agencies 

should revise or eliminate rules and regulations that impose unnecessary 

costs and burdens on businesses, especially small businesses, and that hinder 

formation of workplace retirement plans. 

Expanding access to multiple employer plans (MEPs), under which employees of different private-sector employers may participate in a single retirement 

plan, is an efficient way to reduce administrative costs of retirement plan 

establishment and maintenance and would encourage more plan formation 

and broader availability of workplace retirement plans, especially among 

small employers. 

Similarly, reducing the number and complexity of employee benefit plan 

notices and disclosures currently required would ease regulatory burdens. 

The costs and potential liabilities for employers and plan fiduciaries of 

complying with existing disclosure requirements may discourage plan formation or maintenance. Improving the effectiveness of required notices and 

disclosures and reducing their cost to employers promote retirement security 

by expanding access to workplace retirement plans. 

Outdated distribution mandates may also reduce plan effectiveness by forcing 

retirees to make excessively large withdrawals from their accounts—potentially leaving them with insufficient savings in their later years. 

In light of the foregoing it shall, therefore, be the policy of the Federal 

Government to address these problems and promote retirement security for 

America’s workers. 

Sec. 2. Improving Retirement Security. (a) Expanding access to Multiple 

Employer Plans and Other Retirement Plan Options. 

(i) The Secretary of Labor shall examine policies that would: 

(1) clarify and expand the circumstances under which United States 

employers, especially small and mid-sized businesses, may sponsor or 


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45322 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / Presidential Documents 

adopt a MEP as a workplace retirement option for their employees, subject 

to appropriate safeguards; and 

(2) increase retirement security for part-time workers, sole proprietors, 

working owners, and other entrepreneurial workers with non-traditional 

employer-employee relationships by expanding their access to workplace 

retirement plans, including MEPs. 

(ii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor 

shall consider, consistent with applicable law and the policy set forth 

in section 1 of this order, whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, 

other guidance, or both, that would clarify when a group or association 

of employers or other appropriate business or organization could be an 

‘‘employer’’ within the meaning of section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement 

Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1002(5). 

(b) Qualification Requirements for Multiple Employer Plans. Within 180 

days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider 

proposing amendments to regulations or other guidance, consistent with 

applicable law and the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, regarding 

the circumstances under which a MEP may satisfy the tax qualification 

requirements set forth in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including 

the consequences if one or more employers that sponsored or adopted the 

plan fails to take one or more actions necessary to meet those requirements. 

The Secretary of the Treasury shall consult with the Secretary of Labor 

in advance of issuing any such proposed guidance, and the Secretary of 

Labor shall take steps to facilitate the implementation of any guidance, 

as appropriate and consistent with applicable law. 

(c) Improving the Effectiveness of and Reducing the Cost of Furnishing 

Required Notices and Disclosures. Within 1 year of the date of this order, 

the Secretary of Labor shall, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, complete a review of actions that could be taken through regulation 

or guidance, or both, to make retirement plan disclosures required under 

ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 more understandable and 

useful for participants and beneficiaries, while also reducing the costs and 

burdens they impose on employers and other plan fiduciaries responsible 

for their production and distribution. This review shall include an exploration of the potential for broader use of electronic delivery as a way to 

improve the effectiveness of disclosures and to reduce their associated costs 

and burdens. If the Secretary of Labor finds that action should be taken, 

the Secretary shall, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, consider proposing appropriate regulations or guidance, consistent with applicable law and the policy set forth in section 1 of this order. 

(d) Updating Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables for Purposes 

of Required Minimum Distribution Rules. Within 180 days of the date of 

this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, consistent with applicable 

law and the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, examine the life 

expectancy and distribution period tables in the regulations on required 

minimum distributions from retirement plans (67 Fed. Reg. 18988) and 

determine whether they should be updated to reflect current mortality data 

and whether such updates should be made annually or on another periodic 

basis. 

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed 

to impair or otherwise affect: 

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, 

or the head thereof; or 

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 


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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, 

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party 

against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, 

employees, or agents, or any other person. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

August 31, 2018. 

[FR Doc. 2018–19514 

Filed 9–5–18; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 3295–F8–P 


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