The U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee Thursday reported out a bill that could tighten the rules governing defined benefit plans and give financial services advisors a chance to offer retirement planning help to 401(k) plan members.[@@]
Changes approved by the committee watered-down some of the tough language in a far stronger bill proposed by the Bush administration earlier this year.
The insurance industry opposed the earlier, tougher version of the bill, H.R. 2830, the Pension Protection Act.
H.R. 2830 provides some hope that the defined benefit pension system is not doomed, says Lynn Dudley, a vice president at the American Benefits Council, Washington.
Lawmakers have approached the pension system reform issue with more urgency since UAL Corp., Chicago, decided to turn its pension program over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal pension insurance program.
