Members of the House Education and Labor Committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill, H.R. 7310, that could affect married people who want to take cash out of their 401(k) accounts.
The bill could also create a federal consumer savings program that would be managed by the Department of the Treasury, and it calls for the Department of Labor to improve defined contribution retirement plan fee disclosure rules.
Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., introduced H.R. 7310 — the Protecting America's Retirement Security Act bill — with help from 11 Democratic co-sponsors. The bill has no Republican co-sponsors.
The House Education and Labor Committee shares jurisdiction over the bill with the House Ways and Means Committee.
At deadline, Ways and Means had not scheduled a hearing or markup meeting for the bill.
H.R. 7310 Details
One section of the McBath bill would set new notification rules when a married person tries to take large sums of cash out of a 401(k) account or other individual account governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
A married participant would have to get consent from their spouse before withdrawing large sums of cash.
A participant would not have to get spousal consent to begin taking distributions in the form of a qualified joint and survivor annuity, or to roll account assets into another retirement savings arrangement that comes with similar spouse notification rules.
