Retirement Security Protection Act of 2002
Latest action. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Water and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 107-817.
Retirement Security Protection Act of 2002 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to set forth requirements for disclosure, diversification, account access, and accountability under defined contribution plans that are individual account plans (401(k) and similar plans). Requires pension plan administrators to provide certain benefit information to participants or beneficiaries periodically. Requires plan sponsors (employers) and plan administrators to provide all material investment information to participants and beneficiaries, in an accurate form, as required to be disclosed to investors under applicable securities laws, and treats misleading investment information as a violation. Establishes diversification standards for certain individual account plans holding employer stock and real property. Determines allowable employer asset percentages through formulas which include plan assets in defined benefit plans as well as those in defined contribution plans. Provides exceptions for certain employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Prohibits requiring a participant in or beneficiary of an individual account plan to invest employee contributions or elective deferrals, or earnings allocable to either, in employer assets. Requires individual account plans, if they permit participants or beneficiaries to exercise control over their plan account assets, to also allow, after one year of employee service, reinvestment of any employer contribution of employer assets in other investment options offered by the plan. Requires individual account plan fiduciaries to give 30 days notice to plan participants and beneficiaries before a lockdown limiting their control over their account assets, and limits the maximum duration of any such lockdown to ten business days. Limits fiduciary exceptions to liability during lockdown periods. Prohibits corporate executives from trading employer securities during lockdown periods. Requires each fiduciary of an individual account plan to be bonded or insured in an amount sufficient to ensure coverage of financial losses due to failures to meet certain ERISA requirements. Makes liable anyone who participates in or conceals certain breaches of fiduciary duty. Adds remedies, including punitive damages, for certain violations. Requires joint boards of trustees, representing interests of employers and those of employee participants and beneficiaries, to hold in trust the assets of single-employer plans which are individual account plans with some or all assets derived from employee contributions. Prohibits: (1) waiver of rights or claims under ERISA, with specified exceptions; and (2) interference with such rights. Establishes an Office of Pension Participant Advocacy in the Department of Labor. Directs the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to study and report to specified congressional committees on the feasibility of and options for developing an insurance system for individual account plans. Treats qualified public accountants as not independent with respect to an employee benefit plan if the accountant or any member or employee of the accountant's firm is employed by or performs services for compensation for any employer maintaining the plan.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on February 7, 2002. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 6, 2002: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 107-817.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 107th Congress (2001-02), 377 of the 9,126 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.1 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
PAUL WELLSTONE (D-MN) introduced it on February 7, 2002. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 7, 2002, 8981 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 8862 days ago, on June 6, 2002.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 107th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2003 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers