Strengthening Retirement Security in America

Executive Order 13847 of August 31, 2018

Strengthening Retirement Security in America

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.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    August 31, 2018.