The House Education and Labor Committee passed Wednesday the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement, or RISE, Act, bipartisan legislation that creates an online searchable database to locate lost retirement accounts and raises the cap for transferring former employees' retirement funds to an IRA from $5,000 to $7,000.
The RISE Act "is an important building block for passing the next bipartisan retirement package and expanding retirement savings opportunities for Americans," Andy Banducci, Senior Vice President of Retirement and Compensation at the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), said Wednesday in a statement.
Banducci said the legislation is "a critical next step in building on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 and promoting the retirement security of workers and retirees."
RISE, H.R. 5891, was introduced by Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va.; ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif.; and subcommittee ranking member Rick Allen, R-Ga.
Scott said Wednesday during the bill's markup that according to the Government Accountability Office, more than 25 million people who changed jobs between 2004 to 2014 left behind one or more retirement accounts.
The RISE Act, "also clarifies rules regarding the recovery of inadvertent overpayments to minimize hardships for retirees," Scott explained, and requires the Labor Department "to review guidance from the mid-1990's regarding pension risk transfers."
