75578 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / Notices

1 29 U.S.C. 1147.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Pension and Welfare Benefits

Administration

2001 National Summit on Retirement

Savings; Request for Information

AGENCY: Pension and Welfare Benefits

Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice of request for

information.

SUMMARY: This document requests

comments from the public for the

purpose of developing a comprehensive

agenda for the second National Summit

on Retirement Savings (2001 National

Summit), scheduled to be convened on

or after September 1, 2001. The 2001

National Summit is called for by the

Savings Are Vital To Everyone’s

Retirement (SAVER) Act of 1997 (Pub.

L. 105–92). The first National Summit

was held on June 4–5, 1998, in

Washington, DC.

DATES: Written comments on

suggestions for the agenda for the 2001

National Summit on Retirement Savings

must be received by January 31, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments

(preferably three copies) should be sent

to the Office of Regulations and

Interpretations, Pension and Welfare

Benefits Administration, U.S.

Department of Labor, Room N–5669,

200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20210. Attention:

‘‘2001 National Summit on Retirement

Savings.’’ All submissions will be

available for public inspection in the

Public Documents Room of the Pension

and Welfare Benefits Administration,

U.S. Department of Labor, Room N–

5638, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Goodwin, Office of Regulations

and Interpretations, Pension and

Welfare Benefits Administration, Room

N–5669, U.S. Department of Labor,

Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202)

219–8671. This is not a toll-free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

The Savings Are Vital to Everyone’s

Retirement (SAVER) Act of 1997 (Pub.

L. 105–92) amended the Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974

(ERISA) by adding a new section 517,1

which calls for the convening of

National Summits on Retirement

Savings (National Summits). Section

517 of ERISA provides standards for the

purposes, scope, participation, and

administration of each National

Summit.

As outlined in the Act, the purposes

of the National Summits are (1) to

increase the public awareness of the

value of personal savings for retirement,

(2) to advance the public’s knowledge

and understanding of retirement savings

and its critical importance to the future

well-being of American workers and

their families, (3) to facilitate the

development of a broad-based, public

education program to encourage

individual commitment to a personal

retirement savings strategy, (4) to

identify the problems workers have in

setting aside adequate savings for

retirement, (5) to identify the barriers

that employers, especially small

employers, face in assisting their

workers in saving for retirement, (6) to

examine the impact and effectiveness of

individual employers in promoting

personal savings for retirement among

their workers and workers’ participation

in company savings options, (7) to

examine the impact and effectiveness of

government programs at the Federal,

State, and local levels in educating the

public about and encouraging

retirement savings, (8) to develop

comprehensive recommendations for

government and private sector actions to

promote pensions and individual

retirement savings, and (9) to develop

recommendations for the coordination

of retirement savings initiatives among

the Federal, State, and local

governments.

The Act called for the convening of

three National Summits. The first was

held on June 4–5, 1998, in Washington,

DC. The two remaining Summits are to

be convened, respectively, on or after

September 1, 2001 and September 1,

2005. The SAVER Act requires the

Secretary of Labor (Secretary) to prepare

a report describing each Summit’s

activities and to submit it to the

President and Congressional leaders

following the Summit’s adjournment.

The SAVER Act provides that the

National Summits are to be planned and

conducted under the direction of the

Secretary of Labor, in consultation with

heads of other Federal agencies as

designated by the President. The Act

further provides that, in planning a

National Summit, the Secretary shall

consult with bipartisan Congressional

leaders and with at least one

organization composed of private sector

representatives that partners with

Governmental entities to promote

retirement savings.

B. First National Summit

The first National Summit was

convened by the President and cohosted by members of the Congressional

leadership on June 4–5, 1998. Following

the Summit, a report entitled ‘‘Report on

the National Summit on Retirement

Savings’’ was prepared and submitted in

accordance with the SAVER Act. This

report is publically available through

the Department of Labor’s website at

www.dol.gov/dol/pwba. The report

describes the information exchanged at

the Summit and the recommendations

made by Summit participants to achieve

the goal of a financially secure

retirement for all Americans.

C. Information Requested

The Department is now in the process

of developing an agenda for the 2001

National Summit. The Department

wishes to develop an agenda that builds

on the primary recommendations for

national retirement savings education

programs presented at the first National

Summit and that reflects, to the greatest

extent possible, the purposes of the

National Summit as set forth in ERISA

section 517. To ensure that the Summit

comprehensively serves its statutory

purposes, the Department hereby

solicits comments from organizations,

both private and public, that have a

mission to educate American workers

about the importance of saving for

retirement and ways to achieve

retirement security. All information

received will be used to develop the

National Summit agenda and to help

shape the information presented at the

Summit. The Department intends to

publish a proposed agenda in the

Federal Register prior to the 2001

National Summit in accordance with the

SAVER Act.

The Department requests comments

on the issues related to retirement

savings education described above. The

Department is particularly interested in

comments concerning the following:

1. Suggested topics for discussing the

current state of retirement savings

education in America and its effect on

the national retirement savings rate;

2. Ideas about programs and activities

that would effectively reach the general

public and, more specifically, lowincome workers, women, small business

owners, minorities, youth, and older

workers;

3. Success stories and model

programs that have used effective

communication techniques to educate

low-income workers, women, small

business owners, minority groups,

youth, and older workers about the need

to save and steps that should be taken

to save for retirement;

4. Measurement techniques used to

assess the effectiveness of public

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / Notices 75579

outreach and media efforts regarding

retirement savings; and

5. Ideas for creating new partnerships

among public and private sector

organizations to enhance existing

programs for encouraging retirement

savings.

Submitted comments may address

any or all of the aforementioned

categories of information and need not

be limited to those categories. In

submitting comments, please refer to the

pertinent topic addressed by the

comment by number. Comments must

be received by January 31, 2001, to be

considered in conjunction with

developing the agenda for the 2001

National Summit.

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1143; Secretary of

Labor’s Order No. 1–87, 52 FR 13139.

Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of

November, 2000.

Leslie B. Kramerich,

Acting Assistant Secretary, Pension and

Welfare Benefits Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–30628 Filed 11–30–00; 8:45 am]

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