H.R. 2023 — Women's Retirement Protection Act

This section states congressional findings on retirement savings gaps, particularly for women, including that (1) 28% of non-retired adults have no defined benefit plan or retirement savings; (2) one-third of private sector workers lack workplace plan access, with half of the workforce participating; (3) women aged 65+ had median income at 83% of men in 2022; (4) women aged 80+ had a 14.7% poverty rate (vs. 10.3% for men); (5) women comprise two-thirds of low-wage workers; (6) full-time women lose $398,160 over 40 years due to the pay gap; (7) average 2023 Social Security benefits were $1,638 monthly for women (vs. $2,020 for men); (8) only 1 in 5 full-year part-time workers are plan-eligible; (9) defined contribution plans lack spousal protections; and (10)-(12) Thrift Savings Plan spousal consent requirements, 990,000 divorces in 2020-2021, and rising qualified domestic relations order fees.

This section establishes new spousal consent requirements under ERISA for distributions from individual account plans (i.e., defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s) to which existing spousal consent rules in section 205 do not apply. (1) The requirements generally mandate written spousal consent—witnessed by a plan representative or notary, acknowledging the distribution's effect, provided after a written explanation of rights, and given within the 90-day consent period—except for minimum required distributions; distributions under $25% of the account balance (once per account); qualified joint/survivor annuities or substantially equal periodic payments for the joint lives of participant and spouse; the entire nonforfeitable benefit if 50% is transferred to the spouse's IRA; or certain direct trustee-to-trustee rollover distributions to another ERISA plan or spousal IRA (with beneficiary protections). (2) Exceptions apply if there is no spouse, the marriage is less than one year old, or the spouse cannot be located (per Treasury regulations). (Thus, plans must revise distribution procedures to protect surviving spouses' interests in defined contribution plan assets.)

This section establishes the effective date for the amendments made by section 3—increasing spousal protections under defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) plans)—as applying to distributions and rollover contributions made in plan years beginning after one year after enactment. It further provides plan amendment relief, under which conforming amendments to plans or annuity contracts (or related regulations) adopted by the last day of the first plan year beginning three years after that date (five years for governmental plans) are treated as in effect retroactively from the plan-specified effective date through adoption, provided the plan is operated accordingly during that interim period.

This section requires any financial product or service provider (i.e., any person offering retirement financial products or services) to include an easily accessible link to specified Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) consumer education materials on retirement planning or later life economic security in any offer for the sale, exchange, or transfer of such products or services to consumers (i.e., persons acquiring goods, products, services, or credit related to retirement or later life economic security). The Financial Literacy and Education Commission must determine and publish the appropriate CFPB website link, its preferred format, and any accompanying description.

This section authorizes the Secretary of Labor, acting through the Director of the Women's Bureau, to award competitive grants of not less than $250,000 to community-based organizations with experience serving working-age or retired women. The grants support financial literacy education, outreach, awareness, and counseling on retirement planning and consumer, economic, and personal financial concepts, with $100 million authorized for FY2026 and each succeeding fiscal year.

This section directs the Secretary of Labor, through the Director of the Women’s Bureau and the Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, to award competitive grants of at least $250,000 to community-based organizations experienced in serving women’s financial and retirement needs. The grants enable such organizations to develop programs assisting low-income women and survivors of domestic violence in preparing, obtaining, and effectuating qualified domestic relations orders (i.e., court orders dividing retirement plan benefits in divorce or separation proceedings under ERISA). Authorizes $100 million for FY2026 and each succeeding fiscal year.