[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 232 (Friday, December 1, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75578-75579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30628]



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Part IX





Department of Labor





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Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration



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2001 National Summit on Retirement Savings; Request for Information; 
Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration


2001 National Summit on Retirement Savings; Request for 
Information

AGENCY: Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice of request for information.

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SUMMARY: This document requests comments from the public for the 
purpose of developing a comprehensive agenda for the second National 
Summit on Retirement Savings (2001 National Summit), scheduled to be 
convened on or after September 1, 2001. The 2001 National Summit is 
called for by the Savings Are Vital To Everyone's Retirement (SAVER) 
Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-92). The first National Summit was held on 
June 4-5, 1998, in Washington, DC.

DATES: Written comments on suggestions for the agenda for the 2001 
National Summit on Retirement Savings must be received by January 31, 
2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments (preferably three copies) should be sent to 
the Office of Regulations and Interpretations, Pension and Welfare 
Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-5669, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. Attention: ``2001 
National Summit on Retirement Savings.'' All submissions will be 
available for public inspection in the Public Documents Room of the 
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 
Room N-5638, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Goodwin, Office of Regulations 
and Interpretations, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Room 
N-5669, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC 20210, telephone (202) 
219-8671. This is not a toll-free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    The Savings Are Vital to Everyone's Retirement (SAVER) Act of 1997 
(Pub. L. 105-92) amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (ERISA) by adding a new section 517,\1\ which calls for the 
convening of National Summits on Retirement Savings (National Summits). 
Section 517 of ERISA provides standards for the purposes, scope, 
participation, and administration of each National Summit.
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    \1\ 29 U.S.C. 1147.
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    As outlined in the Act, the purposes of the National Summits are 
(1) to increase the public awareness of the value of personal savings 
for retirement, (2) to advance the public's knowledge and understanding 
of retirement savings and its critical importance to the future well-
being of American workers and their families, (3) to facilitate the 
development of a broad-based, public education program to encourage 
individual commitment to a personal retirement savings strategy, (4) to 
identify the problems workers have in setting aside adequate savings 
for retirement, (5) to identify the barriers that employers, especially 
small employers, face in assisting their workers in saving for 
retirement, (6) to examine the impact and effectiveness of individual 
employers in promoting personal savings for retirement among their 
workers and workers' participation in company savings options, (7) to 
examine the impact and effectiveness of government programs at the 
Federal, State, and local levels in educating the public about and 
encouraging retirement savings, (8) to develop comprehensive 
recommendations for government and private sector actions to promote 
pensions and individual retirement savings, and (9) to develop 
recommendations for the coordination of retirement savings initiatives 
among the Federal, State, and local governments.
    The Act called for the convening of three National Summits. The 
first was held on June 4-5, 1998, in Washington, DC. The two remaining 
Summits are to be convened, respectively, on or after September 1, 2001 
and September 1, 2005. The SAVER Act requires the Secretary of Labor 
(Secretary) to prepare a report describing each Summit's activities and 
to submit it to the President and Congressional leaders following the 
Summit's adjournment.
    The SAVER Act provides that the National Summits are to be planned 
and conducted under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, in 
consultation with heads of other Federal agencies as designated by the 
President. The Act further provides that, in planning a National 
Summit, the Secretary shall consult with bipartisan Congressional 
leaders and with at least one organization composed of private sector 
representatives that partners with Governmental entities to promote 
retirement savings.

B. First National Summit

    The first National Summit was convened by the President and co-
hosted by members of the Congressional leadership on June 4-5, 1998. 
Following the Summit, a report entitled ``Report on the National Summit 
on Retirement Savings'' was prepared and submitted in accordance with 
the SAVER Act. This report is publically available through the 
Department of Labor's website at www.dol.gov/dol/pwba. The report 
describes the information exchanged at the Summit and the 
recommendations made by Summit participants to achieve the goal of a 
financially secure retirement for all Americans.

C. Information Requested

    The Department is now in the process of developing an agenda for 
the 2001 National Summit. The Department wishes to develop an agenda 
that builds on the primary recommendations for national retirement 
savings education programs presented at the first National Summit and 
that reflects, to the greatest extent possible, the purposes of the 
National Summit as set forth in ERISA section 517. To ensure that the 
Summit comprehensively serves its statutory purposes, the Department 
hereby solicits comments from organizations, both private and public, 
that have a mission to educate American workers about the importance of 
saving for retirement and ways to achieve retirement security. All 
information received will be used to develop the National Summit agenda 
and to help shape the information presented at the Summit. The 
Department intends to publish a proposed agenda in the Federal Register 
prior to the 2001 National Summit in accordance with the SAVER Act.
    The Department requests comments on the issues related to 
retirement savings education described above. The Department is 
particularly interested in comments concerning the following:
    1. Suggested topics for discussing the current state of retirement 
savings education in America and its effect on the national retirement 
savings rate;
    2. Ideas about programs and activities that would effectively reach 
the general public and, more specifically, low-income workers, women, 
small business owners, minorities, youth, and older workers;
    3. Success stories and model programs that have used effective 
communication techniques to educate low-income workers, women, small 
business owners, minority groups, youth, and older workers about the 
need to save and steps that should be taken to save for retirement;
    4. Measurement techniques used to assess the effectiveness of 
public

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outreach and media efforts regarding retirement savings; and
    5. Ideas for creating new partnerships among public and private 
sector organizations to enhance existing programs for encouraging 
retirement savings.
    Submitted comments may address any or all of the aforementioned 
categories of information and need not be limited to those categories. 
In submitting comments, please refer to the pertinent topic addressed 
by the comment by number. Comments must be received by January 31, 
2001, to be considered in conjunction with developing the agenda for 
the 2001 National Summit.

    Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1143; Secretary of Labor's Order No. 1-87, 
52 FR 13139.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of November, 2000.
Leslie B. Kramerich,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Pension and Welfare Benefits 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-30628 Filed 11-30-00; 8:45 am]
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