To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for greater spousal protection under defined contribution plans, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The Women's Retirement Protection Act addresses the retirement savings gap between men and women. It amends both ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code to require spousal consent before distributions from defined contribution plans (like 401(k)s) that currently lack such protections, mirroring rules already in place for the federal Thrift Savings Plan. Exceptions include minimum required distributions, small amounts under 25% of the balance, joint survivor annuities, and direct trustee-to-trustee rollovers to plans with similar protections. The bill also requires financial product and service providers to include a link to CFPB consumer education resources in any retirement product offer. It authorizes million annually for grants to promote financial literacy among working-age and retired women, and another million annually for grants to help low-income women and domestic violence survivors obtain and enforce qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs) to secure their share of retirement assets in divorce.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Strengthen spousal protections for defined contribution retirement plans by requiring spousal consent for distributions and beneficiary changes, promote financial literacy for women, and provide grants to assist low-income women and domestic violence survivors in obtaining qualified domestic relations orders.
Who Benefits
- Spouses (predominantly women) of retirement plan participants
- Low-income women
- Domestic violence survivors
Who Bears Costs
- Retirement plan administrators
- Retirement financial product providers
- Plan participants seeking unilateral distributions
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Labor', 'evidence': ['3', '4']}, {'domain': 'Social Welfare', 'evidence': ['6', '7']}, {'domain': 'Finance', 'evidence': ['3', '5']}, {'domain': 'Education', 'evidence': ['5', '6']}
Primary Purpose
Strengthen spousal protections for defined contribution retirement plans by requiring spousal consent for distributions and beneficiary changes, promote financial literacy for women, and provide grants to assist low-income women and domestic violence survivors in obtaining qualified domestic relations orders.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Close the spousal protection gap in defined contribution plans to match protections already available in defined benefit plans and the federal Thrift Savings Plan, while investing in financial education and legal assistance for women."
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Baldwin (for herself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Blumenthal, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Consumers of retirement financial products, Low-income women and domestic violence survivors, Spouses of retirement plan participants
Defined contribution plan administrators, IRA custodians, Retirement financial product providers
Community-based organizations serving women, Community-based organizations with expertise in women s financial needs
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary_of_labor"
- → Secretary of Labor
- "secretary_of_treasury"
- → Secretary of the Treasury
- "cfpb"
- → Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
- "flec"
- → Financial Literacy and Education Commission
- "women_bureau"
- → Director of the Women's Bureau
- "secretary_of_labor"
- → Secretary of Labor
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any person who purchases or acquires any goods, products, services, or credit related to the retirement or later life economic security of the consumer.
Any person who engages in the business of providing any retirement financial product or service to any consumer.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology