Bill > S988

This bill, known as the "Women's Retirement Protection Act," aims to address significant retirement disparities faced by women by introducing several key provisions. The legislation mandates additional spousal consent requirements for defined contribution retirement plans, ensuring that spouses must provide written consent for certain distributions, beneficiary changes, and withdrawals, similar to protections already in place for the federal Thrift Savings Plan. The bill acknowledges substantial gender-based retirement challenges, including that women make up two-thirds of low-wage workers, typically earn less over their careers, and receive lower Social Security benefits. To address these issues, the bill establishes two grant programs: one to promote financial literacy for women by providing competitive grants to community-based organizations, and another to help low-income women and domestic violence survivors obtain qualified domestic relations orders to secure their rightful retirement benefits. Additionally, the bill requires financial product providers to include an easily accessible link to consumer financial education resources from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The legislation seeks to improve retirement security for women by increasing transparency, providing educational resources, and creating mechanisms to protect spousal interests in retirement accounts.

Health and Social Services

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/988/all-info