Title: Financial Factors in Selecting Retirement Plan Investments Act
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Financial Factors in Selecting Retirement Plan Investments Act
This bill permits fiduciaries of employer-sponsored retirement plans to consider environmental, social, governance, or similar factors when making investment decisions.
It also nullifies the rule published by the Employee Benefits Security Administration on November 13, 2020, that requires fiduciaries to select investments and investment courses of action based solely on financial considerations.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1762 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1762

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to permit 
 retirement plans to consider certain factors in investment decisions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 20, 2021

Ms. Smith (for herself, Mrs. Murray, and Mr. Blumenthal) 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 permit 
 retirement plans to consider certain factors in investment decisions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Financial Factors in Selecting 
Retirement Plan Investments Act''.

SEC. 2. ERISA AMENDMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 404 of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1104) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(3)(A) Provided that a fiduciary discharges the fiduciary's 
duties with respect to a plan in a manner otherwise consistent with 
this subsection, a fiduciary may--
            ``(i) consider environmental, social, governance, or 
        similar factors, in connection with carrying out an investment 
        decision, strategy, or objective, or other fiduciary act; and
            ``(ii) consider collateral environmental, social, 
        governance, or similar factors as tie-breakers when competing 
        investments can reasonably be expected to serve the plan's 
        economic interests equally well with respect to expected return 
        and risk over the appropriate time horizon.
    ``(B) In a case described in clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph 
(A), a fiduciary shall not be required to maintain any greater 
documentation, substantiation, or other justification of the 
fiduciary's actions relating to such fiduciary act than is otherwise 
required under this part.
    ``(C) Nothing in this part shall preclude an investment selected in 
accordance with clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A) from being 
treated as a default investment or a component of such a default 
investment (as described in regulations issued by the Secretary under 
subsection (c)(5)(A)), if such investment would otherwise qualify for 
such treatment under such regulations.''.
    (b) Effect on Regulations.--The rule entitled ``Financial Factors 
in Selecting Plan Investments'', published by the Employee Benefits 
Security Administration of the Department of Labor on November 13, 2020 
(85 Fed. Reg. 72846), shall cease to have force or effect on the date 
of enactment of this Act.
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