‘‘(iii) of such other circumstances as 
the Secretary of the Treasury may by reg-
ulations prescribe. 
‘‘(3) CONSENT
LIMITED
TO
SPOUSE
AND 
EVENT.—Any written consent by a spouse under 
paragraph (1), or the establishment by a participant 
that an exception under paragraph (2) applies with 
respect to a spouse, shall be effective only with re-
spect to that spouse and to the distribution or des-
ignation or change of beneficiary to which it relates. 
‘‘(4) CONSENT PERIOD.—For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ‘consent period’ means, with re-
spect to any distribution— 
‘‘(A) the 90-day period immediately pre-
ceding the date of such distribution; or 
‘‘(B) such other period as the Secretary of 
the Treasury may provide. 
‘‘(f) DISCHARGE OF PLAN FROM LIABILITY.—Rules 
similar to the rules of section 205(c)(6) shall apply for 
purposes of this section.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
of part 2 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Retire-
ment Income Security Act of 1974 is amended by insert-
ing after the item relating to section 205 the following 
new item: 
‘‘Sec. 205A. Additional spousal consent requirements.’’. 
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(c) RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 502(a) of the Em-
ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 
U.S.C. 1132) is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 
paragraph (10), by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (11) and inserting ‘‘; or’’, and by adding at the end 
the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(12) by an individual for appropriate relief in 
the case of a violation of the individual’s rights 
under section 205A.’’. 
(d) PARALLEL AMENDMENT TO SECTION 205.—Sec-
tion 205(c)(2)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Se-
curity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1055(c)(2)(B)) is amended 
by inserting ‘‘, because due to exceptional circumstances 
requiring the participant to seek the spouse’s consent 
would be inappropriate’’ after ‘‘located’’. 
SEC. 4. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART- 
TIME WORKERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee Re-
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1052) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM-
PLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A pension plan that in-
cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange-
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ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree-
ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 
shall not require, as a condition of participation in 
the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 
complete a period of service with the employer (or 
employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 
the close of the earlier of— 
‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 
(a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara-
graph (B)(i) thereof) and section 410(a)(1) of 
such Code (determined without regard to sub-
paragraph (B)(i) thereof); or 
‘‘(B) the first 24-month period— 
‘‘(i) consisting of 2 consecutive 12- 
month periods during each of which the 
employee has at least 500 hours of service; 
and 
‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em-
ployee has attained the age of 21. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall not 
apply to employees who are included in a unit of em-
ployees covered by an agreement which the Secretary 
finds to be a collective bargaining agreement be-
tween employee representatives and 1 or more em-
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ployers, if there is evidence that retirement benefits 
were the subject of good faith bargaining between 
such employee representatives and such employer or 
employers. 
‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER RULES.—In 
the case of employees who are not highly com-
pensated employees (within the meaning of section 
414(q) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) and 
who are eligible to participate in the arrangement or 
agreement solely by reason of paragraph (1)(B): 
‘‘(A) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 
elect to exclude such employees from the deter-
mination of whether the plan that includes the 
arrangement or agreement satisfies the require-
ments of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), (k)(12), 
(k)(13), (m)(2), (m)(11), and (m)(12) of sec-
tion 401 of such Code, section 410(b) of such 
Code, and section 416 of such Code. If the em-
ployer so excludes such employees with respect 
to the requirements of any such provision, such 
employees shall be excluded with respect to the 
requirements of all such provisions. This sub-
paragraph shall cease to apply to any employee 
as of the first plan year beginning after the 
plan year in which the employee completes 1 
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year of service (without regard to paragraph 
(1)(B) of this subsection). 
‘‘(B) TIME OF PARTICIPATION.—The rules 
of subsection (a)(4) and section 410(a)(4) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply 
to such employees. 
‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 
subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 
the same manner as under the last sentence of sub-
section (a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periods be-
ginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 
into account.’’. 
(b) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee Re-
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 
1053(a)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 
paragraph (5) and by inserting after paragraph (3) the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of de-
termining whether an employee who is eligible to partici-
pate in a qualified cash or deferred arrangement or a sal-
ary reduction agreement under a plan solely by reason of 
section 202(c)(1)(B) has a nonforfeitable right to em-
ployer contributions— 
‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
each 12-month period for which the employee has at 
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least 500 hours of service shall be treated as a year 
of service; and 
‘‘(B) 12-month periods occurring before the 24- 
month period described in section 202(c)(1)(B) shall 
not be treated as years of service. 
For purposes of this paragraph, 12-month periods shall 
be determined in the same manner as under the last sen-
tence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 12-month peri-
ods beginning before January 1, 2019, shall not be taken 
into account.’’. 
(c) PENALTY.—Section 502 of the Employee Retire-
ment Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(n) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO PART-TIME EM-
PLOYEES.—In the case of a plan that fails to permit par-
ticipation as required by section 202(c), the Secretary may 
assess a civil penalty against the plan sponsor in an 
amount equal to $10,000 per year per employee to whom 
such failure relates. The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s 
sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under this sub-
section if the Secretary determines that the plan sponsor 
acted reasonably and in good faith.’’. 
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SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATES. 
(a) INCREASING SPOUSAL PROTECTION UNDER DE-
FINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS.—Except as provided in 
subsections (c) and (d), the amendments made by section 
2 shall apply to distributions and rollover contributions 
made in plan years beginning after the date that is 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) ENSURING COVERAGE FOR LONG-TERM PART- 
TIME WORKERS.—Except as provided in subsections (c) 
and (d), the amendments made by section 3 shall apply 
to plan years beginning after December 31, 2018. 
(c) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.—In the 
case of a plan maintained pursuant to one or more collec-
tive bargaining agreements between employee representa-
tives and one or more employers ratified before the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the amendments made by 
sections 2 and 3 shall not apply to distributions or rollover 
contributions on behalf of employees covered by any such 
agreement for plan years beginning before the earlier of— 
(1) the later of— 
(A) the date on which the last of such col-
lective bargaining agreements terminates (de-
termined without regard to any extension there-
of on or after such date of the enactment); or 
(B) the day after the date specified in sub-
section (a) or (b), whichever is applicable; or 
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(2) the date that is 3 years after the applicable 
day described in paragraph (1)(B). 
(d) PROVISIONS
RELATING
TO
PLAN
AMEND-
MENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—If this paragraph applies to 
any plan or contract amendment, such plan or con-
tract shall be treated as being operated in accord-
ance with the terms of the plan during the period 
described in paragraph (2)(C). 
(2) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH (1) 
APPLIES.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall 
apply to any amendment to any plan or annuity 
contract which is made— 
(i) pursuant to the amendments made 
by section 2 or 3 or pursuant to any regu-
lation issued under either such section; and 
(ii) on or before the last day of the 
first plan year beginning on or after the 
date that is 3 years after the applicable 
day described in subsection (c)(1)(B). 
In the case of a governmental plan (as defined 
in section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986), this subparagraph shall be applied by 
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substituting ‘‘5 years’’ for ‘‘3 years’’ in clause 
(ii). 
(B) CONDITIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall 
not apply to any amendment unless— 
(i) the plan or contract is operated as 
if such plan or contract amendment were 
in effect for the period described in sub-
paragraph (C); and 
(ii) such plan or contract amendment 
applies retroactively for such period. 
(C) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de-
scribed in this subparagraph is the period— 
(i) beginning on the effective date 
specified by the plan; and 
(ii) ending on the date described in 
subparagraph (A)(ii) (or, if earlier, the 
date the plan or contract amendment is 
adopted). 
SEC. 6. ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT CONSUMER INFORMA-
TION AND UNDERSTANDING. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘consumer’’ means any person 
who purchases or acquires any goods, products, serv-
ices, or credit related to the retirement or later life 
economic security of the consumer; and 
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(2) the term ‘‘financial product or service pro-
vider’’ means any person who engages in the busi-
ness of providing any retirement financial product or 
service to any consumer. 
(b) REQUIRED LINK TO CONSUMER AWARENESS IN-
FORMATION.—In any offer for the sale, exchange, or other 
transfer of a retirement financial product or service to a 
consumer carried out by a financial product or service pro-
vider, such provider shall provide, in a manner consistent 
with subsection (c), an easily accessible link to the website 
of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) 
at which the consumer may access information, literature, 
guides, programs, tools, strategies, or any other resource 
produced by the CFPB or other Federal agency relating 
to retirement planning or later life economic security. 
(c) DETERMINATION.—In order to ensure that the re-
quirement under subsection (b) is effectively carried out, 
the Financial Literacy and Education Commission 
(FLEC) shall determine and publish on its website the 
appropriate link to the CFPB’s website for access to the 
CFPB’s and other Federal agencies’ consumer education 
materials, the preferred format of such link, and any ac-
companying description of the CFPB and the consumer 
education materials associated with such link. 
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