Bill > HR2023

This bill addresses retirement disparities and protections for women by introducing several key provisions. The bill first highlights significant economic challenges facing women in retirement, including lower wages, higher poverty rates, and less access to retirement plans. To address these issues, the bill mandates new spousal consent requirements for defined contribution retirement plans, ensuring that spouses must provide written consent before certain distributions or beneficiary changes can be made, similar to protections already in place for federal government retirement plans. Additionally, the bill establishes two grant programs: one to promote financial literacy for women by funding community-based organizations that provide education and counseling about retirement planning, and another to help low-income women and domestic violence survivors obtain qualified domestic relations orders to secure their rightful retirement benefits. Each grant program would be funded at $100 million annually and would award grants of at least $250,000 to eligible community-based organizations with proven experience serving women. The bill also requires financial product and service providers to include an easily accessible link to consumer financial education resources from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. These provisions aim to improve women's retirement security by addressing systemic financial inequities and providing targeted support and education.

Education

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2023/all-info