Issued on: August 31, 2018
By the authority vested in me as
President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it
is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy.
It shall be the policy of the Federal Government to expand access to workplace
retirement plans for American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 23 percent of all private-sector, full-time workers lack access to
a workplace retirement plan. That percentage increases to 34 percent
when part-time workers are taken into account. Small businesses are less
likely to offer retirement benefits. In 2017, approximately 89 percent of
workers at private-sector establishments with 500 or more workers were offered
a retirement plan compared to only 53 percent for workers at private-sector
establishments with fewer than 100 workers. Enhancing workplace
retirement plan coverage is critical to ensuring that American workers will be
financially prepared to retire.
Regulatory
burdens and complexity can be costly and discourage employers, especially small
businesses, from offering workplace retirement plans to their employees.
Businesses are sensitive to the overall expense of setting up such plans.
A recent survey by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 71 percent of
small- and medium-sized businesses that do not offer retirement plans were
deterred from doing so by high costs; 37 percent cited high costs as their main
reason for not offering such a plan. Federal agencies should revise
or eliminate rules and regulations that impose unnecessary costs and burdens on
businesses, especially small businesses, and that hinder formation of workplace
retirement plans.
Expanding
access to multiple employer plans (MEPs), under which employees of different
private-sector employers may participate in a single retirement plan, is an
efficient way to reduce administrative costs of retirement plan establishment
and maintenance and would encourage more plan formation and broader
availability of workplace retirement plans, especially among small employers.
Similarly,
reducing the number and complexity of employee benefit plan notices and
disclosures currently required would ease regulatory burdens. The costs
and potential liabilities for employers and plan fiduciaries of complying with
existing disclosure requirements may discourage plan formation or
maintenance. Improving the effectiveness of required notices and
disclosures and reducing their cost to employers promote retirement security by
expanding access to workplace retirement plans.
Outdated
distribution mandates may also reduce plan effectiveness by forcing retirees to
make excessively large withdrawals from their accounts — potentially leaving
them with insufficient savings in their later years.
In
light of the foregoing it shall, therefore, be the policy of the Federal
Government to address these problems and promote retirement security for
America’s workers.
Sec. 2. Improving
Retirement Security. (a) Expanding access to Multiple
Employer Plans and Other Retirement Plan Options.
(i)
The Secretary of Labor shall examine policies that would:
(1)
clarify and expand the circumstances under which United States employers,
especially small and mid-sized businesses, may sponsor or adopt a MEP as a
workplace retirement option for their employees, subject to appropriate
safeguards; and
(2)
increase retirement security for part-time workers, sole proprietors, working
owners, and other entrepreneurial workers with non-traditional
employer-employee relationships by expanding their access to workplace
retirement plans, including MEPs.
(ii)
Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor shall
consider, consistent with applicable law and the policy set forth in section 1
of this order, whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, other
guidance, or both, that would clarify when a group or association of employers
or other appropriate business or organization could be an “employer” within the
meaning of section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1002(5).
(b) Qualification
Requirements for Multiple Employer Plans. Within 180 days of the date
of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider proposing
amendments to regulations or other guidance, consistent with applicable law and
the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, regarding the circumstances
under which a MEP may satisfy the tax qualification requirements set forth in
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, including the consequences if one or more
employers that sponsored or adopted the plan fails to take one or more actions
necessary to meet those requirements. The Secretary of the Treasury shall
consult with the Secretary of Labor in advance of issuing any such proposed
guidance, and the Secretary of Labor shall take steps to facilitate the
implementation of any guidance, as appropriate and consistent with applicable
law.
(c) Improving
the Effectiveness of and Reducing the Cost of Furnishing Required Notices and
Disclosures. Within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretary
of Labor shall, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, complete a
review of actions that could be taken through regulation or guidance, or both,
to make retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA and the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 more understandable and useful for participants and
beneficiaries, while also reducing the costs and burdens they impose on
employers and other plan fiduciaries responsible for their production and
distribution. This review shall include an exploration of the potential
for broader use of electronic delivery as a way to improve the effectiveness of
disclosures and to reduce their associated costs and burdens. If the
Secretary of Labor finds that action should be taken, the Secretary shall, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, consider proposing appropriate
regulations or guidance, consistent with applicable law and the policy set
forth in section 1 of this order.
(d) Updating
Life Expectancy and Distribution Period Tables for Purposes of Required Minimum
Distribution Rules. Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall, consistent with applicable law and the
policy set forth in section 1 of this order, examine the life expectancy and
distribution period tables in the regulations on required minimum
distributions from retirement plans (67 Fed. Reg. 18988) and
determine whether they should be updated to reflect current mortality data and
whether such updates should be made annually or on another periodic basis.
Sec. 3. General
Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to
impair or otherwise affect:
(i)
the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head
thereof; or
(ii)
the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b)
This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to
the availability of appropriations.
(c)
This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE
WHITE HOUSE,
August 31, 2018.
August 31, 2018.
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