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Senate Resolutions Rein in State-Run Plan Regs

Federal regulations designed to help facilitate the formation of state-run retirement plans for private sector workers look more vulnerable now.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced two resolutions, S.J.Res. 32 and S.J.Res. 33, to undo the regulations published in the waning days of the Obama administration. The regulations fall within the time frame for repeal under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), meaning that passage requires just a simple majority vote, and isn’t subject to a filibuster in the Senate.

“These rules are yet another example of the previous administration’s preference for government solutions to every problem and its affinity for over-regulation and bureaucratic red tape,” Hatch said. “These proposed regulations encourage more mandates on job creators and promote locking American workers in risky state-run plans. Rolling the regulations back will give employees and small business owners more flexibility and freedom to choose how to financially invest and build a nest egg for retirement. Moreover, bipartisan, voluntary solutions exist that would address retirement coverage issues for private businesses and their employees that do not rely on government mandates or government run plans.”

House Resolutions

Last month the U.S. House of Representatives passed two identical resolutions of disapproval. H.J.Res. 66, introduced Feb. 8 by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), rolls back the regulatory “safe harbor” created by the Obama administration that will result in private-sector workers being forced into government-run IRAs managed by states. H.J.Res. 67, introduced by Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), blocks a second regulation that extended that safe harbor to include cities and counties.

The Labor Department’s final rule outlining the circumstances in which state retirement savings programs would not be treated as creating ERISA-covered pension plans was published last August, and a second final rule was published last December expanding the safe harbor, subject to certain conditions, to cover political subdivisions.

States that have enacted similar programs are Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon, while Washington State and New Jersey have both launched small plan marketplaces. Approximately half the states are currently considering measures to close the retirement coverage gap.

None of these programs have become operational to date, although Oregon has pledged to open its program for enrollment on a pilot program basis by July 2017.