108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4324

AN ACT

To amend chapter 84 of title 5, United States

Code, to provide for Federal employees to makeelections to make, modify, and terminate contributions to the Thrift Savings Fund at anytime, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4324

AN ACT

To amend chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, to

provide for Federal employees to make elections to make,

modify, and terminate contributions to the Thrift Savings Fund at any time, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. ELECTIONS FOR THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN CON2 TRIBUTIONS.

3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

4 ‘‘Thrift Savings Plan Open Elections Act of 2004’’.

5 (b) IN GENERAL.—Section 8432(b)(1)(A) of title 5,

6 United States Code, is amended—

7 (1) in the first sentence—

8 (A) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before ‘‘The Execu9 tive Director’’; and

10 (B) by striking ‘‘shall be afforded a rea11 sonable period every 6 months to elect to’’ and

12 inserting ‘‘may’’;

13 (2) by striking the second sentence; and

14 (3) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(ii) An election to make contributions under this

16 paragraph—

17 ‘‘(I) may be made at any time;

18 ‘‘(II) shall take effect on the earliest date after

19 the election that is administratively feasible; and

20 ‘‘(III) shall remain in effect until modified or

21 terminated.’’.

22 (c) CONTINUATION OF NOT MAKING IMMEDIATE

23 AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 8432(b)(4)(C) of title

24 5, United States Code, is amended—

25 (1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(C)’’; and

26 (2) by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(ii) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) or (B),

2 contributions under paragraphs (1) and (2) of sub3 section (c) shall not begin to be made with respect

4 to an employee or Member described under para5 graph (2)(A) or (B) until the date that such con6 tributions would have begun to be made in accord7 ance with this paragraph as administered on the

8 date preceding the date of enactment of the Thrift

9 Savings Plan Open Elections Act of 2004.’’.

10 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

11 (1) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM PAR12 TICIPATION.—Section 8351(a)(2) of title 5, United

13 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘only during a

14 period’’ and inserting ‘‘as’’.

15 (2) CONTRIBUTIONS BY PREVIOUSLY INELI16 GIBLE EMPLOYEES.—Section 8432(b)(2) of title 5,

17 United States Code, is amended—

18 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sec19 ond period’’ and inserting ‘‘date’’;

20 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘sec21 ond period’’ and inserting ‘‘date’’; and

22 (C) in subparagraph (D) by striking

23 ‘‘other than during a period afforded’’ and in24 serting ‘‘as provided’’.
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1 (3) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Section

2 8439(c)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amend3 ed by striking ‘‘at least 30 calendar days before the

4 beginning of each election period under section

5 8432(b)(1)(A) of this title’’ and inserting ‘‘on a reg6 ular basis’’.

7 (4) JUSTICES AND JUDGES.—Section

8 8440a(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is

9 amended by striking ‘‘only during a period’’ and in10 serting ‘‘as’’.

11 (5) BANKRUPTCY JUDGES AND MAGISTRATE

12 JUDGES.—Section 8440b(a)(2) of title 5, United

13 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘only during a

14 period’’ and inserting ‘‘as’’.

15 (6) COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS JUDGES.—Sec16 tion 8440c(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is

17 amended by striking ‘‘only during a period’’ and in18 serting ‘‘as’’.

19 (7) JUDGES OF THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

20 APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS.—Section

21 8440d(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is

22 amended by striking ‘‘only during a period’’ and in23 serting ‘‘as’’.
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1 (8) MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERV2 ICES.—Section 8440e(b)(2)(A) of title 5, United

3 States Code, is amended—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘only during a period’’ and

5 inserting ‘‘as’’; and

6 (B) by striking all after section ‘‘8432(b)’’

7 and inserting a period.

8 SEC. 2. ENHANCING FINANCIAL LITERACY.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Retirement Thrift

10 Investment Board (in this section referred to as the

11 ‘‘Board’’) shall periodically evaluate whether the tools

12 available to participants provide the information needed

13 to understand, evaluate, and compare financial products,

14 services, and opportunities offered through the Thrift Sav15 ings Plan. The Board shall use these evaluations to im16 prove its existing education program for Thrift Savings

17 Plan participants.

18 (b) REPORT ON FINANCIAL LITERACY EFFORTS.—

19 The Board shall annually report to the Committee on Gov20 ernmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on

21 Government Reform of the House of Representatives on

22 its Thrift Savings Plan education efforts on behalf of plan

23 participants.

24 (c) STRATEGY.—As part of the retirement training

25 offered by Office of Personnel Management under section
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1 8350 of title 5, United States Code, the Office, in con2 sultation with the Board, shall—

3 (1) not later than 6 months after the date of

4 enactment of this Act, develop and implement a re5 tirement financial literacy and education strategy for

6 Federal employees that—

7 (A) shall educate Federal employees on the

8 need for retirement savings and investment;

9 and

10 (B) provide information related to how

11 Federal employees can receive additional infor12 mation on how to plan for retirement and cal13 culate what their retirement investment should

14 be in order to meet their retirement goals; and

15 (2) submit a report to the Committee on Gov16 ernmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee

17 on Government Reform of the House of Representa18 tives on the strategy described under paragraph (1).

19 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

20 Subchapter III of chapter 84 of title 5, United States

21 Code, is amended—

22 (1) in section 8433(d)(1), by striking ‘‘para23 graph (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2)’’; and

24 (2) in section 8440b(b)—
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1 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘bank2 ruptcy judge’s or magistrate’s’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘bankruptcy judge’s or magistrate judge’s’’;

4 and

5 (B) in paragraphs (4)(B) and (8), by strik6 ing ‘‘bankruptcy judge or magistrate’’ each

7 place it appears and inserting ‘‘bankruptcy

8 judge or magistrate judge’’.

Passed the House of Representatives November 19,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.