I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8990 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to permit 

default investment arrangements in annuities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2020 

Mr. NORCROSS (for himself and Mr. WALBERG) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

of 1974 to permit default investment arrangements in 

annuities, 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 ‘‘Lifetime Income For 

5 Employees Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFAULT INVESTMENT IN ANNUITY CONTRACTS. 

7 Section 404(c)(5) of the Employee Retirement In8 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1104(c)(5)) is 

9 amended— 


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1 (1) in subparagraph (A), by adding at the end 

2 the following: ‘‘Default investments made under this 

3 subparagraph may include a covered annuity con4 tract.’’; and 

5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(C) COVERED ANNUITY CONTRACT.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 

8 annuity contract’ means an investment in 

9 an annuity contract that meets the fol10 lowing requirements: 

11 ‘‘(I) The annuity contract does 

12 not impose a liquidity restriction on 

13 the transfer of invested amounts dur14 ing the 180-day period beginning on 

15 the date of the initial investment in 

16 such contract by the participant or 

17 beneficiary. 

18 ‘‘(II) The fiduciary ensures that 

19 each participant or beneficiary is pro20 vided not later than 30 days before 

21 the date of the imposition of a liquid22 ity restriction described in subclause 

23 (I) written notice in a manner that is 

24 reasonably designed to be understood 


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1 by the average plan participant, that 

2 includes— 

3 ‘‘(aa) an explanation of the 

4 circumstances under which assets 

5 in the account may be invested 

6 on behalf of the participant or 

7 beneficiary in the annuity con8 tract, including an explanation of 

9 the targeted range and maximum 

10 amount or percentage of such as11 sets to be invested; 

12 ‘‘(bb) an explanation of the 

13 rights, and any limitations or re14 strictions thereon, of a partici15 pant or beneficiary to direct or 

16 transfer amounts invested, or to 

17 be invested, in an annuity con18 tract to other investment alter19 natives available under the plan; 

20 ‘‘(cc) a general description 

21 of the annuity contract, including 

22 the duration of guaranteed pay23 ments and identification of the 

24 insurer; 


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1 ‘‘(dd) an explanation of how 

2 a participant or beneficiary may 

3 obtain additional information, in 

4 writing or electronically, about 

5 their investment alternatives; and 

6 ‘‘(ee) a copy of the annuity 

7 contract. 

8 ‘‘(III) The fiduciary allocates not 

9 more than 50 percent of any periodic 

10 contribution or, immediately after a 

11 rebalancing of account investments, 

12 50 percent of the value of the assets 

13 of the account, to the annuity con14 tract (or, as applicable, to the portion 

15 thereof to which a liquidity restriction 

16 applies after the 180-day period in 

17 subclause (I)). 

18 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION OF ANNUITY CON19 TRACT.—For purposes of this paragraph, 

20 the term ‘annuity contract’ means a con21 tract (or provision or feature thereof) 

22 that— 

23 ‘‘(I) is issued by an insurer quali24 fied to do business in a State; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) provides for the payment of 

2 guaranteed benefits annually (or more 

3 frequently) for a fixed term or for the 

4 remainder of the life of the partici5 pant or beneficiary or the joint lives 

6 of the participant and the partici7 pant’s designated beneficiary. 

8 ‘‘(D) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments 

9 made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the 

10 date of the enactment of the Lifetime Income 

11 For Employees Act.’’. 

Æ 


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