I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2656 

To amend the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act of 1974 and 

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the electronic delivery 

of pension plan information. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2015 

Mr. POLIS (for himself, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. KIND, and Mr. KELLY

of Pennsylvania) 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 Employee Retirement and Income Security 

Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

to provide for the electronic delivery of pension plan 

information. 

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 ‘‘Receiving Electronic 

5 Statements To Improve Retiree Earnings Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION OF PENSION PLAN 

2 INFORMATION. 

3 (a) AMENDMENTS TO EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT IN4 COME SECURITY ACT OF 1974.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part 1 of subtitle B of title 

6 I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

7 of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended by 

8 adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 112. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION OF PENSION 

10 PLAN INFORMATION. 

11 ‘‘A document of any type that is required or per12 mitted under this title to be furnished to a plan partici13 pant, beneficiary, or other individual with respect to a pen14 sion plan may be furnished in electronic form if— 

15 ‘‘(1) the system for furnishing such a docu16 ment— 

17 ‘‘(A) is designed to result in effective ac18 cess to the document by the participant, bene19 ficiary, or other specified individual through 

20 electronic means, including— 

21 ‘‘(i) the direct delivery of material to 

22 an electronic address of such participant, 

23 beneficiary, or individual, 

24 ‘‘(ii) the posting of material to a 

25 website or other internet or electronic26 based information repository to which acVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Jun 05, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2656.IH H2656

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1 cess has been granted to such participant, 

2 beneficiary, or individual, but only if prop3 er notice of the posting has been provided 

4 (which may include notice furnished by 

5 other electronic means if the content of the 

6 notice conveys the need to take action to 

7 access the posted material), and 

8 ‘‘(iii) other electronic means reason9 ably calculated to ensure actual receipt of 

10 the material by such participant, bene11 ficiary, or individual, 

12 ‘‘(B) permits the participant, beneficiary, 

13 or other individual to select the specific elec14 tronic means through which such a document 

15 shall be furnished, to modify that selection at 

16 any time, or to elect at any time to begin re17 ceiving paper versions of such documents at no 

18 additional direct cost to the individual, and 

19 ‘‘(C) protects the confidentiality of per20 sonal information relating to such participant’s, 

21 beneficiary’s, or individual’s accounts and bene22 fits, 

23 ‘‘(2) an annual paper notice is provided to each 

24 participant, beneficiary, or other individual that de25 scribes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the selection of the specific electronic 

2 means for the furnishing of such documents 

3 made by the participant, beneficiary, or other 

4 individual under paragraph (1)(B) in effect at 

5 the time of the provision of the notice, or 

6 ‘‘(B) if applicable, the election made by the 

7 participant, beneficiary, or other individual 

8 under paragraph (1)(B) to be furnished paper 

9 versions of such documents, and 

10 ‘‘(3) the electronically furnished document— 

11 ‘‘(A) is prepared and furnished in a man12 ner that is consistent with the style, format, 

13 and content requirements applicable to the par14 ticular document, and 

15 ‘‘(B) includes a notice that apprises the in16 dividual of the significance of the document 

17 when it is not otherwise reasonably evident as 

18 transmitted. 

19 For purposes of this section, the term ‘document’ in20 cludes reports, statements, notices, notifications, and 

21 other information.’’. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

23 contents in section 1 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1001 

24 note) is amended by inserting after the item relating 

25 to section 111 the following: 

112. Electronic communication of pension plan information. 


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1 (b) AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF

2 1986.—Section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

3 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(z) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION OF PENSION

5 PLAN INFORMATION.—A document of any type that is re6 quired or permitted under this title to be furnished to a 

7 plan participant, beneficiary, or other individual with re8 spect to a plan to which this subchapter or section 457 

9 applies may be furnished in electronic form if— 

10 ‘‘(1) the system for furnishing such a docu11 ment— 

12 ‘‘(A) is designed to result in effective ac13 cess to the document by the participant, bene14 ficiary, or other specified individual through 

15 electronic means, including— 

16 ‘‘(i) the direct delivery of material to 

17 an electronic address of such participant, 

18 beneficiary, or individual, 

19 ‘‘(ii) the posting of material to a 

20 website or other internet or electronic21 based information repository to which ac22 cess has been granted to such participant, 

23 beneficiary, or individual, but only if prop24 er notice of the posting has been provided 

25 (which may include notice furnished by 


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1 other electronic means if the content of the 

2 notice conveys the need to take action to 

3 access the posted material), and 

4 ‘‘(iii) other electronic means reason5 ably calculated to ensure actual receipt of 

6 the material by such participant, bene7 ficiary, or individual, 

8 ‘‘(B) permits the participant, beneficiary, 

9 or other individual to select the specific elec10 tronic means through which such a document 

11 shall be furnished, to modify that selection at 

12 any time, or to elect at any time to begin re13 ceiving paper versions of such documents at no 

14 additional direct cost to the individual, and 

15 ‘‘(C) protects the confidentiality of per16 sonal information relating to such participant’s, 

17 beneficiary’s, or individual’s accounts and bene18 fits, 

19 ‘‘(2) an annual paper notice is provided to each 

20 participant, beneficiary, or other individual that de21 scribes— 

22 ‘‘(A) the selection of the specific electronic 

23 means for the furnishing of such documents 

24 made by the participant, beneficiary, or other 


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1 individual under paragraph (1)(B) in effect at 

2 the time of the provision of the notice, or 

3 ‘‘(B) if applicable, the election made by the 

4 participant, beneficiary, or other individual 

5 under paragraph (1)(B) to be furnished paper 

6 versions of such documents, and 

7 ‘‘(3) the electronically furnished document— 

8 ‘‘(A) is prepared and furnished in a man9 ner that is consistent with the style, format, 

10 and content requirements applicable to the par11 ticular document, and 

12 ‘‘(B) includes a notice that apprises the in13 dividual of the significance of the document 

14 when it is not otherwise reasonably evident as 

15 transmitted. 

16 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘document’ 

17 includes reports, statements, notices, notifications, 

18 and other information.’’. 

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

20 this section shall apply with respect to documents fur21 nished with respect to plan years beginning after Decem22 ber 31, 2015. 

Æ 


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