WASHINGTON – At a special award ceremony last night, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin received the "Restoring the Balance Award" from the National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL) for his work in passing pension reform legislation that increases the opportunity for state and local workers to save for retirement.

    Last year, Congress enacted into law Rep. Cardin's Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act, which makes it possible for more Americans to save for retirement. The law increases the amount of money employees can contribute to retirement savings plans and makes it easier for employees who change jobs to "roll over" pension funds into their new employer's plan or into an IRA.

    In accepting the award, Rep. Cardin thanked the NCSL for "shining national attention on the need for improved opportunities for employees to save for their retirement and on the improvements that have been made to make that possible."

    Rep. Cardin also stressed "that we now need to turn our attention to the many pension issues that have been raised by the collapse of Enron." This week, the Congressman introduced The Employee Retirement Savings Bill of Rights, which would provide employees with much greater control over their retirement savings.