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American Benefits Council Amicus Brief in State Street Stock Drop Case (PDF)

28 pages. "Federal law strongly favors employee stock ownership. Unfortunately, plan investments in company stock are threatened by lawsuits that can be filed at any time that an employer's stock price declines or performs below expectations. These 'stock drop' lawsuits lead to expensive discovery and practical pressures to pay for settlements. They are having a severely detrimental effect on the voluntary employment-based retirement system and are undermining the public policy favoring investments in company stock."

State Street Global Investors Comment Letter to DOL on Lifetime Income Illustration in Pension Benefit Statements (PDF)

"[W]hile we support the concept of helping participants gain perspective on their future monthly income potential based on a current balance and an end-state balance, we believe the proposed approach to monthly income projections is just one step and the participant messaging should be carefully crafted to explain that there is room for error based on the uncertainties that a relatively long time horizon for these projections may entail."

American Benefits Council Summary of COBRA Provisions in the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007 (PDF)

4 pages. Excerpt: On October 31, 2007, the House passed H.R. 3920, the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007, which amends certain health provisions of the Trade Act of 2002. The 2002 Trade Act created a health care tax credit of 65% of the cost of qualified health insurance coverage for certain workers who were terminated due to foreign competition. The Act also gave these workers a second COBRA election period.

State Street Global Retirement Survey 2015 (PDF)

16 pages. "Among U.S. investors participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, 51% of these 'in-plan savers' feel extremely or very confident about their retirement readiness, up from 36% last year.... Among U.S. in-plan savers, 66% say the top reason for feeling confident is 'having invested appropriately.' In addition, 80% say 'have not saved enough' is the top reason for lack of confidence."

American Benefits Council Comments on Self-Insured Plan Reporting to State All Payer Claims Databases (APCDs) (PDF)

"[R]equiring employers to master the laws of 50 states and to submit different data sets, at different times, in different formats, for different populations would impose substantial burdens on self-insured plans. These significant costs would ultimately be borne in whole or in part by plan participants ... [We] ask that the Committee report and the subsequent DOL guidance to the states, state clearly and unequivocally that states cannot require self-insured plans to report to state APCDs."

American Benefits Council Letter to NCSL About State Legislation Mandating Provision of Paid Sick Leave by Employers (PDF)

"The Council is deeply concerned about the growing number of these types of laws and the difficulties and costs that they impose on employers.... [T]he Council urges the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to take a leadership role in facilitating the adoption of a more coordinated effort by state governments with respect to these types of laws -- one that focuses on the importance of paid leave programs without unduly burdening employers and their businesses."

American Benefits Council Letter to New Jersey Bureau of Securities: State Fiduciary Standards Should Not Apply to ERISA Plans (PDF)

"[The Council is] concerned that state action on this matter could quickly evolve into a major threat to the workability of employee benefit plans maintained by large multi-state plan sponsors because different states' rules will inevitably adopt standards different from each other and different from the federal standards imposed through ERISA. ERISA explicitly protects employee benefit plans from this type of disruption."

Letter from American Benefits Council to IRS Requesting Clarification of Prohibited Transaction Excise Tax Applicability to State-Sponsored Payroll Deduction Retirement Plans (PDF)

"As states move toward performing retirement functions currently performed exclusively by the private sector, it would be helpful for all stakeholders to understand whether states will be provided with special exemptions from rules universally applicable to the private sector. And states need to know their potential liabilities.... [P]articipants in these arrangements, who would no longer have the protections of ERISA under proposed regulations issued by the [DOL], need to know if the Code's protections will be fully applicable. And service providers participating in the state programs need to understand what potential liabilities could arise."

American Benefits Council Letter to EBSA on ERISA Preemption of State Fiduciary Rules (PDF)

"State fiduciary rules, like the one enacted in Nevada, are clearly preempted by ERISA.... ERISA defines who is a fiduciary, details that standard of care, and creates its own enforcement mechanisms through DOL, the IRS, and federal courts. States cannot add any new or additional requirements to that comprehensive system if their regulation 'relates to' an employee benefit plan."

American Benefits Council Letter to House Leaders about State-Sponsored Retirement Plans for Private-Sector Employees (PDF)

"While well intentioned, the rules could hurt retirement savings and participants by discouraging plan sponsorship and limiting protections for workers.... [Key issues include:] Undermining ERISA's protections ... Additional burdens on plans sponsors ... Less retirement savings ... Great potential for states to regulate retirement plans ... Great potential for conflicting mandates on multi-state employers ... Depriving the system of innovation."

American Benefits Council Letter to EBSA on Proposed Rule Regarding Savings Arrangements Established by State Political Subdivisions for Non-Governmental Employees (PDF)

"[The Council is] very concerned that the recently finalized safe harbor for state-run arrangements takes a significant step backward by facilitating state laws that undermine the current retirement system by increasing the costs and complexity for employers that maintain retirement plans. Unless adjustments are made to the safe harbor to prevent such results, extending the safe harbor to additional jurisdictions with QPS-run arrangements will only subject existing plan sponsors to even more cost and complexity and further discourage new plan sponsorship."

American Benefits Council Comment Letter to Oregon State Treasury on Oregon Retirement Savings Plan (PDF)

22 pages. "[T]he revised proposed rules would cause the [Oregon Retirement Savings Plan (ORSP)] to significantly disrupt existing Qualified Plans and their participants by effectively dictating the design of retirement plans that already meet the numerous and stringent requirements imposed by federal law. Although it has since been communicated that this was not the intent of the new language, this situation only highlights the importance of the Board examining how the ORSP could affect our current retirement system and avoiding any adverse effects on employers who currently sponsor a retirement plan. The only way to ensure that correct result is for the ORSP to permanently exempt all current plan sponsors from the Plan's requirements in accordance with Oregon's authorizing legislation."

American Benefits Council Urges Support for Pension 'Swaps' Amendment to Senate Financial Services Reform Legislation (PDF)

2 pages. "On behalf of the American Benefits Council, I would like to express support for the amendment to title VII of S. 3217, the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act of 2010, being offered by Senators Harkin and Casey. The Council has been extremely concerned about the requirement that a swap dealer owes a fiduciary duty to a plan solely by reason of entering into a swap with the plan."

American Benefit Council Response to Congressional Working Group RFI on Paid Leave (PDF)

24 pages. "[M]ulti-state companies face the significant challenge of navigating a maze of increasingly complex and inconsistent state paid leave mandates that undermines their ability to offer valuable paid leave benefits to their employees on a consistent basis nationwide.... To support and leverage employer-provided paid leave benefits, it is critical that federal legislation promote the harmonization of existing and potential forthcoming state paid leave programs so that multi-state employers can treat their employees equitably across the country."

House Judiciary Committee Issues Subpoenas to BlackRock, State Street for ESG Documents

"The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary ... issued subpoenas to BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors ... [requiring] both asset managers to turn over all documents and communications related to decarbonization goals, related investment decisions and agreements with other organizations related to decarbonization and environmental, social and governance investing."

Republicans Ask Federal Retirement Plan for Details on BlackRock, State Street's Votes

"Sens. Pat Toomey (R. Pa.) and Ron Johnson (R. Wis.) asked the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which oversees the government's $760 billion Thrift Savings Plan, to detail how [BlackRock Inc. and State Street Global Advisors] cast proxy votes over everything from who sits on corporate boards to executive pay and priorities at companies. They have also requested past communications with the firms and other information to determine whether the asset managers voted in ways that violated their responsibilities to those in the savings plan."

American Benefits Council Comment Letter to SEC on FBAR Issues (PDF)

3 pages. "The American Benefits Council is writing to urge guidance with respect to foreign financial account reporting (Form TD F 90-22.1 (Report of Foreign financial and Financial Accounts, or FBAR), to the effect that foreign accounts held in connection with retirement plan trusts are not considered 'financial accounts' for FBAR reporting purposes. We further request clarification that executives and managers who serve as trustees, fiduciaries, investment advisors or in other management or administrative capacities with respect to retirement plan trusts are exempt from FBAR reporting requirements with respect to those activities."

Testimony of American Benefits Council at House HELP Subcommittee Hearing on 'Examining Surprise Billing: Protecting Patients from Financial Pain' (PDF)

11 pages. "While a number of states have sought to address this problem through regulation of health insurance sold in the state, over 60 percent of employer-sponsored coverage is offered to employees through self-funded group health plans. ERISA exempts self-insured plans from state insurance regulations ... Accordingly, the problem of surprise billing cannot be left to the states to solve. Adequately addressing this problem in a way that limits the financial burden on all consumers necessitates a federal solution."

Text of American Benefits Council Amicus Brief in Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. City and County of San Francisco (PDF)

24 pages. "This case is of significant nation-wide importance to employer-sponsors of health benefits plans and their employees. Council members offer some of the Nation's most generous and well-managed health benefit plans, virtually all of which cover employees that reside in many states, counties, and cities. These multi-state plans are complex undertakings. If the Ordinance and other similar 'pay-or-play' laws are allowed, it will create a 'regulatory balkanization' that would strike at the heart of the purpose of ERISA preemption, which is to encourage employers to establish comprehensive health plans for their employees without regard to the particular state or locality in which they live."

Testimony of American Benefits Council on Proposed Regs for Minimum Present Value Requirements for Partial Annuity Distributions (PDF)

5 pages. "[The preamble to the proposed regulations states that,] when one portion of a retirement benefit distribution subject to the section 417(e) factors is a 'decreasing' benefit, both portions of the distribution are subject to the minimum present value requirements of section 417(e)(3). The Council believes that the current regulation does not clearly require that, and can be reasonably interpreted to reach the opposite result. Due to this uncertainty, the Council believes that the clarification of the rules, as provided by the proposed regulations, should apply prospectively, and that Treasury and the Service should clearly state that no inference should be drawn regarding the law prior to the effective date of the final regulation."