WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Employer-Employee Relations (EER) Subcommittee today approved by voice vote the Retirement Security Advice Act (H.R. 2269), bipartisan legislation authored by Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH). The bill helps close the emerging “advice gap” many workers face in investing their retirement savings by allowing employers to provide their workers with access to professional investment advice.

            “With subcommittee passage today and the recent endorsement by the Labor Department, we are making great strides toward our ultimate goal of providing workers with access to quality investment advice,” Boehner said. “The more educated investors are, the better they’ll be able to deal with the volatility of market risk, make the choices that best serve their long term needs, and maximize the gain from their hard-earned retirement dollars.”

            “If we truly want to maximize the retirement security for millions of workers, we must provide them with access to quality investment advice,” Boehner said. “I believe that this legislation will give workers the kind of protections they need, but will also encourage a competitive, dynamic marketplace to develop ways of offering investment advice in a way that serves worker needs.”

            Subcommittee passage comes on the heels of the recent endorsement of the bill by the Department of Labor. On July 17, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefits Ann L. Combs embraced the bill and its goal of encouraging employers to provide their workers with access to high-quality investment advice, and praised provisions in the measure designed to ensure that workers receive advice solely in their best interests.

            In the more than 25 years since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) became law, employee-controlled retirement plans have become a critical element in millions of Americans’ personal investments. Yet, because of ERISA, the vast majority receives no investment advice on how best to structure their retirement accounts. H.R. 2269 addresses this issue by enabling the investments advisors to provide advice to workers.

            The bill currently has 41 cosponsors, including Democratic Caucus Chairman Martin Frost (D-TX), Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-OH); Democratic Reps. Brian Baird (WA), Ellen Tauscher (CA), Norm Dicks (WA); GOP reps. Ron Paul (TX), Tom Tancredo (CO), and others.

###

(Major provisions of H.R. 2269 follow.)

The 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) creates barriers that currently prevent employers and investment intermediaries from providing individualized investment advice to workers. Arcane and highly complex ERISA rules severely limit the ability of service providers (such as mutual funds, banks, or insurers) to provide investment advice to workers in the plans they service.

The Retirement Security Advice Act, introduced by Education & the Workforce Chairman John Boehner, addresses this issue by allowing employers to provide their workers with access to professional investment advice as long as the advisers fully disclose their fees and any potential conflicts.

· H.R. 2269 clarifies that employers are not responsible for the individual advice given by professional advisers to individual participants, removing the barrier to employers contracting with advice providers and their workers.

· Employers will remain responsible under ERISA fiduciary rules for the prudent selection and periodic review of any investment adviser.

· The measure protects workers from potential abuses.

· H.R. 2269 permits investment service firms to provide investment advice about all investment products, including their own as long as they disclose any relevant information about the advisers’ fees and potential conflicts.

· Investment advice may only be offered by “fiduciary advisers” -- qualified entities that are already regulated under other federal and state laws (such as registered investment advisers, registered broker dealers, insurance companies, and banks).

· Investment advisers will be subject to fiduciary liability under ERISA, including civil and criminal enforcement by the Labor Department.

· Under this fiduciary duty, advisers will be personally liable for any failure to act solely in the worker’s interest. This is the highest form of financial responsibility advisers can be held to under the law.

· The use of disclosure as a means of dealing with potential conflicts is well accepted in the securities laws and has been used in a number of ERISA exemptions granted by the Labor Department.

· Existing securities and state insurance law protections will continue to apply as well.

· H.R. 2269 does not require any employer to contract with an investment adviser and no employee is under any obligation to accept or follow any advice.

· Workers will have full control over their investment decisions, not the adviser.

The Retirement Security Advice Act will empower workers with the information they need to make the most of the retirement savings and investment opportunities afforded them by today’s 401(k)-type plans. The pension and investment world has changed dramatically in the 25 years since the passage of ERISA. It is time to modernize ERISA so that it reflects the financial realities of the new economy.