Leveling the Playing Field for Public Employee Retirement Security

公共雇员是当地社区的骨干，作为教师，消防员，警察，EMTS，Park员工以及许多其他职责的职位，使我们所有人受益匪浅。没有他们，没有城镇，城市或县可以发挥作用 - 但是在退休保障时，播放领域不适合公共员工。

适用于一些公共雇员裁定缴费退休计划的法律阻碍了低成本投资期权。具体而言，立法使得计划提案国无法实施自动入学和自动升级，这是增加参与和退休计划捐款的两个非常有效的策略。

作为公共部门界定缴费计划的领先提供商，ICMA-RC长期以来一直试图通过帮助雇员建立退休保障来缓解当地和州各国政府的负担。ICMA-RC的总裁高级副总裁Angela Montez是advocating for changes at both the federal and state level这将使公共雇员更容易保存退休金 - 并将其与私营部门公司的员工合作。II要求Montez更详细地了解了这种宣传倡议。

How did ICMA-RC’s advocacy get started?

ICMA-RC.has always engaged in advocacy through its participation and partnerships with other organizations. Over time, we’ve learned that public-sector retirement plan issues often get drowned out by the larger and more vocal private-sector plan community. We want to bring public sector issues into the conversation, and the public-plan perspective as members of Congress draft legislation and agencies develop regulations.

我们的重点是帮助公共部门员工准备退休，并在退休人员时的财务健康。我们还支持与较大退休社区相关的问题，为所有美国人提供更大的覆盖范围和更高的储蓄机会。

You’re working to make collective investment trusts, or CITs, eligible as 403(b) plan investments. Tell us about that.

从历史上看，403（b）计划是公立学校和某些其他免税组织的员工界定捐款（DC）退休计划，几乎完全投资了国内资产，以提供类似于界定的福利（DB）的保证收入流计划。在1974年之前，这些计划甚至不能包括相互资金。

Because of this history, you see significantly higher fee structures in 403(b) plans than in 401(k)s and 457 plans. CITs can help reduce expenses. They provide the same investment strategies as mutual funds with greater flexibility and at a significantly lower cost. It has been estimated that incorporating these vehicles into 403(b) plans could save teachers and other public employees as much as $10 billion per year¹- 对公共雇员退休保证的有意义贡献。

你在做什么来倡导这种变化？

今年早些时候，我们向美国国税局询问了私人信函裁决，以允许403（b）计划以有限的基础投资Cits。

更广泛地说,我们与组织ncluding the Coalition of Collective Investment Trusts, National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA), and the Stable Value Investment Association (SVIA), which are among the leading voices in the retirement industry.

We’ve also met with officials of leading legislators, including Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD), to advocate that the CIT provision be included along with a broad package of retirement savings reforms in the Retirement Security and Savings Act.

明年出现了大选。这对账单的前景如何？

有几个立法可以包括今年这项规定。与所有立法一样，明年将变得艰难，因为重点转向选举。好消息是退休是存在真正的两分之一的空间。我们的希望是，这位自行参案创造了一个环境，以允许403（b）计划提供Cits，使国家的勤奋教师受益。

您还致力于允许政府计划实施自动入学和自动升级。这是如何进展的？

自动注册改变了计划参与的动态，以便在一项新工作开始时轻松注册，目标是提高退休保障。该计划功能未被授权，参与者可以随时选择，但它在使用它的计划中大大增加了参与和退休金。

Governmental 457 and 403(b) plans are governed by state law – unlike corporate plans where the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempts conflicting state and local statutes. The issue is that many states have laws against garnishment or wage deduction. These laws have nothing to do with retirement, but they can effectively prohibit auto-enrollment, where employees have to actively opt out of, rather than opt into, a plan, and auto-escalation, where their contributions gradually increase over time.

Only a small number of states have amended their laws to permit or require auto-enrollment. In most cases, there’s been no real opposition to the change – it’s just a matter of making state legislators aware of what’s needed to make this feature available to public plans. For legislators who are interested, there is already model legislation.

这是一个国家的一个国家，我们与许多组织合作。今年，我们参加了国家立法者全国大会的年度峰会，以提高对该问题的认识，并获得了立法者及其员工的大量利益。我们打算每年专注于大约五个州，从已经引入立法或我们有强大的存在的地方开始。

It sounds like you have a lot of exciting initiatives in the works.

Yes, and it certainly would be exciting and beneficial to public employees if these changes are enacted.

了解有关关键问题的更多信息，ICMA-RC的宣传计划导致他们解决这些问题。