[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2018)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 45321-45323]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19514]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2018 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 45321]]


                Executive Order 13847 of August 31, 2018

                
Strengthening Retirement Security in America

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of the 
                Federal Government to expand access to workplace 
                retirement plans for American workers. According to the 
                Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23 percent of all private-
                sector, full-time workers lack access to a workplace 
                retirement plan. That percentage increases to 34 
                percent when part-time workers are taken into account. 
                Small businesses are less likely to offer retirement 
                benefits. In 2017, approximately 89 percent of workers 
                at private-sector establishments with 500 or more 
                workers were offered a retirement plan compared to only 
                53 percent for workers at private-sector establishments 
                with fewer than 100 workers. Enhancing workplace 
                retirement plan coverage is critical to ensuring that 
                American workers will be financially prepared to 
                retire.

                Regulatory burdens and complexity can be costly and 
                discourage employers, especially small businesses, from 
                offering workplace retirement plans to their employees. 
                Businesses are sensitive to the overall expense of 
                setting up such plans. A recent survey by the Pew 
                Charitable Trusts found that 71 percent of small- and 
                medium-sized businesses that do not offer retirement 
                plans were deterred from doing so by high costs; 37 
                percent cited high costs as their main reason for not 
                offering such a plan. Federal agencies should revise or 
                eliminate rules and regulations that impose unnecessary 
                costs and burdens on businesses, especially small 
                businesses, and that hinder formation of workplace 
                retirement plans.

                Expanding access to multiple employer plans (MEPs), 
                under which employees of different private-sector 
                employers may participate in a single retirement plan, 
                is an efficient way to reduce administrative costs of 
                retirement plan establishment and maintenance and would 
                encourage more plan formation and broader availability 
                of workplace retirement plans, especially among small 
                employers.

                Similarly, reducing the number and complexity of 
                employee benefit plan notices and disclosures currently 
                required would ease regulatory burdens. The costs and 
                potential liabilities for employers and plan 
                fiduciaries of complying with existing disclosure 
                requirements may discourage plan formation or 
                maintenance. Improving the effectiveness of required 
                notices and disclosures and reducing their cost to 
                employers promote retirement security by expanding 
                access to workplace retirement plans.

                Outdated distribution mandates may also reduce plan 
                effectiveness by forcing retirees to make excessively 
                large withdrawals from their accounts--potentially 
                leaving them with insufficient savings in their later 
                years.

                In light of the foregoing it shall, therefore, be the 
                policy of the Federal Government to address these 
                problems and promote retirement security for America's 
                workers.

                Sec. 2. Improving Retirement Security. (a) Expanding 
                access to Multiple Employer Plans and Other Retirement 
                Plan Options.

(i) The Secretary of Labor shall examine policies that would:

  (1) clarify and expand the circumstances under which United States 
employers, especially small and mid-sized businesses, may sponsor or

[[Page 45322]]

adopt a MEP as a workplace retirement option for their employees, subject 
to appropriate safeguards; and

  (2) increase retirement security for part-time workers, sole proprietors, 
working owners, and other entrepreneurial workers with non-traditional 
employer-employee relationships by expanding their access to workplace 
retirement plans, including MEPs.

(ii) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor 
shall consider, consistent with applicable law and the policy set forth in 
section 1 of this order, whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, 
other guidance, or both, that would clarify when a group or association of 
employers or other appropriate business or organization could be an 
``employer'' within the meaning of section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1002(5).

                    (b) Qualification Requirements for Multiple 
                Employer Plans. Within 180 days of the date of this 
                order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider 
                proposing amendments to regulations or other guidance, 
                consistent with applicable law and the policy set forth 
                in section 1 of this order, regarding the circumstances 
                under which a MEP may satisfy the tax qualification 
                requirements set forth in the Internal Revenue Code of 
                1986, including the consequences if one or more 
                employers that sponsored or adopted the plan fails to 
                take one or more actions necessary to meet those 
                requirements. The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
                consult with the Secretary of Labor in advance of 
                issuing any such proposed guidance, and the Secretary 
                of Labor shall take steps to facilitate the 
                implementation of any guidance, as appropriate and 
                consistent with applicable law.
                    (c) Improving the Effectiveness of and Reducing the 
                Cost of Furnishing Required Notices and Disclosures. 
                Within 1 year of the date of this order, the Secretary 
                of Labor shall, in consultation with the Secretary of 
                the Treasury, complete a review of actions that could 
                be taken through regulation or guidance, or both, to 
                make retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA 
                and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 more 
                understandable and useful for participants and 
                beneficiaries, while also reducing the costs and 
                burdens they impose on employers and other plan 
                fiduciaries responsible for their production and 
                distribution. This review shall include an exploration 
                of the potential for broader use of electronic delivery 
                as a way to improve the effectiveness of disclosures 
                and to reduce their associated costs and burdens. If 
                the Secretary of Labor finds that action should be 
                taken, the Secretary shall, in consultation with the 
                Secretary of the Treasury, consider proposing 
                appropriate regulations or guidance, consistent with 
                applicable law and the policy set forth in section 1 of 
                this order.
                    (d) Updating Life Expectancy and Distribution 
                Period Tables for Purposes of Required Minimum 
                Distribution Rules. Within 180 days of the date of this 
                order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, consistent 
                with applicable law and the policy set forth in section 
                1 of this order, examine the life expectancy and 
                distribution period tables in the regulations on 
                required minimum distributions from retirement plans 
                (67 Fed. Reg. 18988) and determine whether they should 
                be updated to reflect current mortality data and 
                whether such updates should be made annually or on 
                another periodic basis.

                Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

[[Page 45323]]

                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    August 31, 2018.

[FR Doc. 2018-19514
Filed 9-5-18; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F8-P