II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2110 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. STABENOW, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. HIRONO, and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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: 

7 (1) Approximately 45.9 percent of private sec8 tor workers do not participate in a workplace retireVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Oct 02, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2110.IS S2110

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1 ment savings program and, of those who do not par2 ticipate, 84 percent have reported that they do not 

3 have access to a workplace retirement program, ac4 cording to a September 2015 report on retirement 

5 coverage by the Government Accountability Office. 

6 (2) Women’s retirement preparedness often lags 

7 significantly behind their male counterparts, result8 ing in the median retirement income for women in 

9 2010 being just 59 percent of men’s retirement in10 come. 

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

12 live in poverty after age 65. 

(4) Women make up 2 13 ⁄3 of low-wage workers, 

14 even though they comprise less than half of all work15 ers, and low wage workers are less likely than other 

16 workers to participate in a retirement plan at work. 

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

18 workforce early to become caregivers, in terms of 

19 lost wages and Social Security benefits, equals 

20 $324,044 in lost retirement savings. 

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

22 full year are eligible for a retirement plan, and 

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

24 as men. 


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1 (7) While traditional defined benefit retirement 

2 plans have spousal protections, defined contribution 

3 retirement plans, which have become increasingly 

4 common, currently provide no similar spousal protec5 tions. 

6 TITLE I—IMPROVING PENSION 

7 PLAN COVERAGE 

8 SEC. 101. INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE9 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS. 

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

11 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

12 (29 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

13 section 205 the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 205A. ADDITIONAL SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIRE15 MENTS. 

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

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

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

19 be made under the plan unless the spousal consent re20 quirements of subsection (e) are met. 

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

22 in this section shall be construed to exempt an individual 

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

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


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

2 Subsection (a) shall not apply to— 

3 ‘‘(1) any distribution that is— 

4 ‘‘(A) a minimum required distribution de5 scribed in section 4974(b) of the Internal Rev6 enue Code of 1986; 

7 ‘‘(B) a result of the use of the partici8 pant’s accrued benefit as security for a loan, in9 cluding any distribution required by reason of a 

10 failure to comply with the terms of such loan; 

11 ‘‘(C) made upon hardship of the partici12 pant; or 

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

14 be made without the consent of the participant; 

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

16 joint and survivor annuity (as defined in section 

17 205(d)(1)), a qualified optional survivor annuity (as 

18 defined in section 205(d)(2)), a qualified preretire19 ment survivor annuity (as defined in section 205(e)), 

20 or a series of substantially equal periodic payments 

21 (not less frequently than annually) made for the 

22 joint lives (or life expectancies) of the participant 

23 and the participant’s spouse; or 

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

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


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

2 does not provide such a form of benefit, any dis3 tribution of the participant’s entire nonforfeitable 

4 accrued benefit if 50 percent of such accrued benefit 

5 is transferred to an individual retirement plan (as 

6 defined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Rev7 enue Code of 1986) of the spouse of the participant. 

8 A transfer described in paragraph (3) to an individual re9 tirement plan shall be treated in the same manner as a 

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

11 Code of 1986. 

12 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ROLLOVER CON13 TRIBUTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to any dis14 tribution that is an eligible rollover distribution (as de15 fined in section 402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code 

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

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

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986— 

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

20 205 applies; or 

21 ‘‘(2) to an individual retirement plan (as de22 fined in section 7701(a)(37) of the Internal Revenue 

23 Code of 1986) if— 

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

25 spouse of the participant, or the spousal conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Oct 02, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2110.IS S2110

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1 sent requirements of subsection (e) are met 

2 with respect to any designation of 1 or more 

3 other beneficiaries; and 

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

5 the spouse or other beneficiary designated 

6 under paragraph (1)) may not be changed un7 less— 

8 ‘‘(i) the spousal consent requirements 

9 of subsection (e) are met with respect to 

10 any such change, or 

11 ‘‘(ii) the spousal consent under sub12 paragraph (A) to the designation of a ben13 eficiary other than the spouse expressly 

14 permits such designation to be changed 

15 without the further consent of the spouse. 

16 ‘‘(e) SPOUSAL CONSENT REQUIREMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec18 tion, except as provided in paragraph (2), the spous19 al consent requirements of this subsection are met 

20 with respect to any distribution or any designation 

21 or change of beneficiary if— 

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

23 within a reasonable period of time before such 

24 distribution or designation or change of bene25 ficiary is made and consistent with such regulaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Oct 02, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2110.IS S2110

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1 tions as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre2 scribe, a written explanation of the rights of the 

3 participant and the participant’s spouse under 

4 this section; 

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

6 in writing to the distribution or designation or 

7 change of beneficiary; 

8 ‘‘(C) in the case of a distribution, the writ9 ten consent under subparagraph (B) is made 

10 during the consent period; and 

11 ‘‘(D) the written consent under subpara12 graph (B)— 

13 ‘‘(i) acknowledges the effect of such 

14 distribution or designation or change of 

15 beneficiary; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) is witnessed by a plan represent17 ative or a notary public. 

18 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS UNDER SECTION

19 205(c)(2)(B) TO APPLY.—The requirements of para20 graph (1) (other than subparagraph (A) thereof) 

21 shall not apply with respect to any distribution or 

22 designation or change of beneficiary if a participant 

23 establishes to the satisfaction of the plan adminis24 trator that— 

25 ‘‘(A) there is no spouse; 


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

2 spouse have not been married throughout the 1- 

3 year period ending on the date of the distribu4 tion or designation or change of beneficiary; or 

5 ‘‘(C) such consent cannot be obtained be6 cause— 

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

8 ‘‘(ii) due to exceptional circumstances, 

9 requiring the participant to seek the 

10 spouse’s consent would be inappropriate; 

11 or 

12 ‘‘(iii) of such other circumstances as 

13 the Secretary of the Treasury may by reg14 ulations prescribe. 

15 ‘‘(3) CONSENT LIMITED TO SPOUSE AND

16 EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 

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

18 that an exception under paragraph (2) applies with 

19 respect to a spouse, shall be effective only with re20 spect to that spouse and to the distribution or des21 ignation or change of beneficiary to which it relates. 

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

23 subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re24 spect to any distribution— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre2 ceding the date of such distribution; or 

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

4 the Treasury may provide. 

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

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

7 purposes of this section.’’. 

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

9 of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Retire10 ment Income Security Act of 1974 is amended by insert11 ing after the item relating to section 205 the following 

12 new item: 

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

13 (c) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the Em14 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 

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

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

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

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

19 the end the following new paragraph: 

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

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

22 under section 205A.’’. 

23 (d) PARALLEL AMENDMENT TO SECTION 205.—Sec24 tion 205(c)(2)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Se25 curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1055(c)(2)(B)) is amended 


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1 by inserting ‘‘, because due to exceptional circumstances 

2 requiring the participant to seek the spouse’s consent 

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

4 SEC. 102. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART5 TIME WORKERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee Re7 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM11 PLOYEES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A pension plan that in13 cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange14 ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 

15 Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree16 ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 

17 shall not require, as a condition of participation in 

18 the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 

19 complete a period of service with the employer (or 

20 employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 

21 the close of the earlier of— 

22 ‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 

23 (a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara24 graph (B)(i) thereof) and section 410(a)(1) of 


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1 such Code (determined without regard to sub2 paragraph (B)(i) thereof); or 

3 ‘‘(B) the first 36-month period— 

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

5 month periods during each of which the 

6 employee has at least 500 hours of service; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em9 ployee has attained the age of 21. 

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

11 apply to employees who are included in a unit of em12 ployees covered by an agreement which the Secretary 

13 finds to be a collective bargaining agreement be14 tween employee representatives and 1 or more em15 ployers, if there is evidence that retirement benefits 

16 were the subject of good faith bargaining between 

17 such employee representatives and such employer or 

18 employers. 

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

20 the case of employees who are not highly com21 pensated employees (within the meaning of section 

22 414(q) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and 

23 who are eligible to participate in the arrangement or 

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


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1 ‘‘(A) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 

2 elect to exclude such employees from the deter3 mination of whether the plan that includes the 

4 arrangement or agreement satisfies the require5 ments of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), (k)(12), 

6 (k)(13), (m)(2), (m)(11), and (m)(12) of sec7 tion 401 of such Code, section 410(b) of such 

8 Code, and section 416 of such Code. If the em9 ployer so excludes such employees with respect 

10 to the requirements of any such provision, such 

11 employees shall be excluded with respect to the 

12 requirements of all such provisions. This sub13 paragraph shall cease to apply to any employee 

14 as of the first plan year beginning after the 

15 plan year in which the employee completes 1 

16 year of service (without regard to paragraph 

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

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

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

20 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply 

21 to such employees. 

22 ‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 

23 subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 

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1 ginning before January 1, 2014, shall not be taken 

2 into account.’’. 

3 (b) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee Re4 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

5 1053(a)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

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

7 following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of de9 termining whether an employee who is eligible to partici10 pate in a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a sal11 ary reduction agreement under a plan solely by reason of 

12 section 202(c)(1)(B) has a nonforfeitable right to em13 ployer contributions— 

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

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

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

17 of service; and 

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

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

20 not be treated as years of service. 

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

22 be determined in the same manner as under the last sen23 tence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 12-month peri24 ods beginning before January 1, 2014, shall not be taken 

25 into account.’’. 


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1 (c) PENALTY.—Section 502 of the Employee Retire2 ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following new sub4 section: 

5 ‘‘(n) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO PART-TIME EM6 PLOYEES.—In the case of a plan that fails to permit par7 ticipation as required by section 202(c), the Secretary may 

8 assess a civil penalty against the plan sponsor in an 

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

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

11 sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under this sub12 section if the Secretary determines that the plan sponsor 

13 acted reasonably and in good faith.’’. 

14 SEC. 103. EFFECTIVE DATES. 

15 (a) INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE16 FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS.—Except as provided in 

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

18 101 shall apply to distributions and rollover contributions 

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

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

21 (b) ENSURING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART22 TIME WORKERS.—Except as provided in subsections (c) 

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

24 to plan years beginning after December 31, 2016. 


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1 (c) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—In the 

2 case of a plan maintained pursuant to one or more collec3 tive bargaining agreements between employee representa4 tives and one or more employers ratified before the date 

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

6 this title shall not apply to distributions or rollover con7 tributions on behalf of employees covered by any such 

8 agreement for plan years beginning before the earlier of— 

9 (1) the later of— 

10 (A) the date on which the last of such col11 lective bargaining agreements terminates (de12 termined without regard to any extension there13 of on or after such date of the enactment); or 

14 (B) the day after the date specified in sub15 section (a) or (b), whichever is applicable; or 

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

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

18 (d) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PLAN AMEND19 MENTS.— 

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

21 any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con22 tract shall be treated as being operated in accord23 ance with the terms of the plan during the period 

24 described in paragraph (2)(C). 


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1 (2) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1)

2 APPLIES.— 

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

4 apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 

5 contract which is made— 

6 (i) pursuant to the amendments made 

7 by this title or pursuant to any regulation 

8 issued under the Employee Retirement In9 come Security Act of 1974 as amended by 

10 this title; and 

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

12 first plan year beginning on or after the 

13 date that is 3 years after the applicable 

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

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

16 not apply to any amendment unless— 

17 (i) the plan or contract is operated as 

18 if such plan or contract amendment were 

19 in effect for the period described in sub20 paragraph (C); and 

21 (ii) such plan or contract amendment 

22 applies retroactively for such period. 

23 (C) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de24 scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 


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1 (i) beginning on the effective date 

2 specified by the plan; and 

3 (ii) ending on the date described in 

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

5 date the plan or contract amendment is 

6 adopted). 

7 TITLE II—IMPROVING 

8 FINANCIAL LITERACY 

9 SEC. 201. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA10 TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 

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

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

13 who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv14 ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 

15 economic security of the consumer; and 

16 (2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro17 vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi18 ness of providing any retirement financial product or 

19 service to any consumer. 

20 (b) REQUIRED LINK TO CONSUMER AWARENESS IN21 FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 

22 transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 

23 consumer carried out by a financial product or service pro24 vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 

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


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1 of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) 

2 at which the consumer may access information, literature, 

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

4 produced by the CFPB or other Federal agency relating 

5 to retirement planning or later life economic security. 

6 (c) DETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re7 quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 

8 the Financial Literacy and Education Commission 

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

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

11 CFPB’s and other Federal agencies’ consumer education 

12 materials, the preferred format of such link, and any ac13 companying description of the CFPB and the consumer 

14 education materials associated with such link. 

15 SEC. 202. GRANTS TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR 

16 WOMEN. 

17 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT AWARDS.—The Sec18 retary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Wom19 en’s Bureau, Department of Labor, shall award grants on 

20 a competitive basis to eligible entities to enable such enti21 ties to improve the financial literacy of women who are 

22 working age or in retirement, to increase the likelihood 

23 of their realizing a secure and stable retirement. 

24 (b) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec25 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a community-based 


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1 organization with proven experience and expertise in serv2 ing working-age or retired women. 

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

4 receive a grant under this section shall submit an applica5 tion to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such man6 ner, and accompanied by such information as such Sec7 retary may require. 

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

9 Labor shall award grants under this section in amounts 

10 of not less than $250,000. 

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

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

13 develop and implement financial literacy education, and 

14 related activities including outreach, awareness building, 

15 and counseling to increase women’s knowledge of retire16 ment planning and consumer, economic, and personal fi17 nancial concepts. 

18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

19 authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 

20 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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