IRI unveils 2023 roadmap for federal legislation, policy impacting retirees

The Insured Retirement Institute has unveiled its 2023 security blueprint, an ambitious and comprehensive roadmap for the association’s federal legislative and regulatory public policy agenda.

The reveal is an annual event for the IRI and despite the length and breadth of the 28 new initiatives, the association says it’s batting almost .500 in getting things done at the Federal level for retirees and would-be retirees.

“Last year's blueprint had 33 proposals of which 15 were enacted,” said Paul Richman, the IRI’s chief government political affairs officer. “So I'd say we're pretty good.”

In 2019 and 2022, Congress enacted sweeping changes to enhance the private sector retirement system with the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0. The measures are expected to generate billions more in retirement savings and, most importantly says the IRI, strengthen retirement security for millions of America’s workers and retirees.

Strengthening SECURE 2.0 targeted

The new IRI initiatives seek to broaden and strengthen those SECURE, particularly through regulatory enhancements and amendments, but also close the retirement system gap in which 48% of small business employees don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan.

“This year we're looking to enact measures that would require all but the smallest employers to maintain an automatic retirement savings plan,” said Richman. “It would also require that those automatic retirement plans offer their participants who have balances in their retirement accounts of $200,000 or more a choice to take a distribution of up to 50% of that vested balance in a protected guaranteed lifetime income product.”

That measure, he said, would create $7 trillion in additional retirement savings with 62 million new retirement savers.

Among the 28 proposals, the IRI is calling for the expansion of lifetime income products as default investment options, workplace retirement plans for legal cannabis industry employees (about 320,000 individuals, the authorization of indexed and variable annuities in qualifying longevity annuity contracts, and the national use of remote electronic notarizations.

“Various laws and rules applicable to the insured retirement industry require individuals to be physically present to conduct business and access the products and services needed to prepare for retirement,” the IRI blueprint says. “As federal and state regulators responded to the pandemic by authorizing temporary relief measures, it became clear that the use of virtual meetings, signatures, and notarizations were a safe and effective manner of conducting business. It would be beneficial to consumers to make those interim measures permanent.“

Other initiatives call for boosting protections to safeguard consumers from financial abuse and scams. Congress should pass legislation such at the “Empowering States to Protect Seniors from Bad Actors Act.” The bill would establish a program at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Advocate to provide grants on a competitive basis to state insurance and securities departments to increase efforts to compact consumer fraud schemes.

Blueprint calls for presidential commission

The IRI Blueprint also calls for the establishment of a Presidential Commission on Financial Inclusion.

“Many workers and retirees in America today still cannot equitably access, properly utilize, and successfully reap the benefits of the financial system to build short-term stability and long-term financial security,” the blueprint says. “These underserved populations — frequently made up of people of color — often lag far behind in participating in employer-based retirement plans and accumulating retirement savings. To advance greater diversity, equity, and inclusion among people of color and address their retirement insecurity, the President should establish a Commission on Financial Inclusion in the Treasury Department.”

The blueprint Al’s asks Congress to continue to promote retirement savings by “maintaining its tax-deferred treatment as a necessary tool that helps America’s workers to plan for and achieve a secure and dignified retirement.”

The majority of the blueprint deals with Congressional initiatives but some fall into the regulatory area.

“Most of the time when Congress does enact something, there are regulatory obligations that flow from that,” said Jason Berkowitz, IRI’s chief Legal & regulatory affairs officer. “So, you know, with SECURE passing at the end of last year, that created a lot of regulatory requirements for the Department of Labor, Treasury and the IRS. So we'll be engaging on those to make sure that as they're implementing what Congress passed, they're doing so the way that Congress intended.”

Despite everything on Congress plate this year, including proposed tax cuts, health care reform, the debt ceiling, reauthorization of the Farm Bill, and many other issues, it’s a fair question to ask how much the IRI can really expect to accomplish.

Officials there are making no predictions.

“It’s too early to say,” said Richman. “Clearly, Congress sees sees the merits of all our proposals. But we're just now acclimating the members of Congress, and new members of Congress, to these issues and to the challenges and obstacles that remain for greater retirement security for more of America's workers and retirees.”

Doug Bailey is a journalist and freelance writer who lives outside of Boston. He can be reached at [email protected].

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