[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 774 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 774

 To place restrictions on the promotion by the Department of Labor and 
 other Federal agencies and instrumentalities of economically targeted 
         investments in connection with employee benefit plans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                  May 9 (legislative day, May 1), 1995

   Mr. Mack introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To place restrictions on the promotion by the Department of Labor and 
 other Federal agencies and instrumentalities of economically targeted 
         investments in connection with employee benefit plans.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that economically targeted 
investments violate sections 403 and 404 of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1103 and 1104) because such 
investments violate the principle of undivided loyalty that a fiduciary 
owes to employee benefit plan participants and beneficiaries and are 
made with the intent to benefit persons other than plan participants 
and beneficiaries and to serve interests other than those of plan 
participants and beneficiaries.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REGARDING ECONOMICALLY 
              TARGETED INVESTMENTS.

    (a) In General.--With respect to the investment by employee benefit 
plans of plan assets (and the interpretations and decisions by the 
Department of Labor regarding investment by such plans of plan assets), 
the application of sections 403 and 404 of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1103 and 1104) shall be 
determined--
            (1)  without  regard  to  Interpretive  Bulletin 94-1, 
        issued by the Secretary of Labor on June 23, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 
        32606; 29 C.F.R. 2509.94-1), and without regard to any other 
        regulation, interpretive bulletin, advisory opinion, 
        information letter, or other determination reaching the same 
        result as, or a result similar to, the result set forth in such 
        Interpretive Bulletin, and
            (2) with full regard to sections 403 and 404 of such Act.
    (b) Restrictions on Activities of the Department of Labor.--No 
officer or employee of the Department of Labor may travel, lecture, or 
otherwise expend resources available to such Department for the purpose 
of promoting, directly or indirectly, economically targeted 
investments.
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            (1) Economically targeted investment.--The term 
        ``economically targeted investment'' has the meaning given such 
        term in Interpretive Bulletin 94-1, as issued by the Secretary 
        of Labor on June 23,  1994  (59  Fed.  Reg.  32606;  29  C.F.R. 
         2509.94-1).
            (2) Employee benefit plan.--The term ``employee benefit 
        plan'' means an employee benefit plan within the meaning of 
        section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
        1974 (29 U.S.C. 1002(3)) which is covered under section 4 of 
        such Act (29 U.S.C. 1003).
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL AGENCIES AGAINST ESTABLISHING OR 
              MAINTAINING ANY CLEARINGHOUSE OR OTHER DATABASE RELATING 
              TO ECONOMICALLY TARGETED INVESTMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Part 5 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

 ``prohibition on federal agencies against establishing or maintaining 
 any clearinghouse or other database relating to economically targeted 
                              investments

    ``Sec. 516. (a) In General.--No agency or instrumentality of the 
Federal Government may establish or maintain, or contract with (or 
otherwise provide assistance to) any other party to establish or 
maintain, any clearinghouse, database, or other listing--
            ``(1) for the purpose of making available to employee 
        benefit plans information on economically targeted investments,
            ``(2) for the purpose of encouraging, or providing 
        assistance to, employee benefit plans or any other party 
        related to an employee benefit plan to undertake or evaluate 
        economically targeted investments, or
            ``(3) for the purpose of identifying economically targeted 
        investments with respect to which such agency or 
        instrumentality will withhold from undertaking enforcement 
        actions relating to employee benefit plans under any otherwise 
        applicable authority of such agency or instrumentality.
    ``(b) Economically Targeted Investment Defined.--For purposes of 
this section, the term `economically targeted investment' has the 
meaning given such term in Interpretive Bulletin 94-1, as issued by the 
Secretary on June 23, 1994 (59 Fed. Reg. 32606; 29 C.F.R. 2509.94-
1).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 2 of such 
Act is amended by inserting at the end of the items relating to part 5 
of subtitle B of title I the following new item:

``Sec. 516. Prohibition on Federal agencies against establishing or 
                            maintaining any clearinghouse or other 
                            database relating to economically targeted 
                            investments.''.
SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF CONTRACTS.

    The head of each agency and instrumentality of the Government of 
the United States shall immediately take such actions as are necessary 
and appropriate to terminate any contract or other arrangement entered 
into by such agency or instrumentality which is in violation of the 
requirements of the provisions of this Act or the amendments made 
thereby.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE

    The preceding provisions of this Act (and the amendments made 
thereby) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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